Danville, Va Judge rules that citizens can have access to the video and audio of traffic stops and arrests in Danville, Va General District Court. Commonwealth vs. Merle T. Rutledge Jr

Merle Rutledge

City of Danville, Va Judge rules that Merle Rutledge can now have access to all video and audio tapes of traffic stops or arrests in the City of Danville, Va and its police department introduce as legal evidence at any court proceeding.about an hour ago
Danville, Va General District Court Judge rules that citizens can demand and have access to all stops that are recorded by video and audio in the City of Danville, Va, and there reason for refusal, is not constitutional. So if you have questions about a stop and know cops are lying than you have a legal right to have the video and audio presented at trial.
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Josephine Rutledge, Teresa Wilson and 2 others like this.Merle Rutledge I lost in order to win. Even though the judge gave the City of Danville, Va officers a victory even though they could not state specifically what was hanging from the rear view mirror. He did acknowledge that their is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a conversation with police officers and Virginia law may conflict with is opinion and the case was sent to Circuit Court for review. However, he now recognizes a common law right to retrieve evidence, such as audio and video, from the police department of the traffic stop. My next date is August 27, 2013.
28 minutes ago · LikeMerle Rutledge It took 2 hours for the judge to find me guilty and a boalant load of books because he was not familiar with subject matter being presented. The judge scolded the officers for not knowing what was obstructing my view. One officer said I had a chain up and another officer stated I had large box type flag up. Despite their blatant contradictions, the judge still favor the City of Danville, Va. However, at the end of the hearing, the judge stated that he commended me for the work that I do in the area and how well I represented myself in court. He also stressed that now citizens have a equal hand in getting the evidence from the police department of their traffic stop and interactions with police because of my case in his court. He said anytime I need the video tape than I can have it, and now my friends like Michael Elder and more must have access to their stops or arrests done in the Commonwealth of Virginia unless the Circuit Court intervenes. The judge basically made us even with police on having the truth in his court and therefore I respect him.

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  Merle Rutledge The Judge sent the matter to Circuit Court
  because it hinges on if the audio and video was illegally recorded and if so than it will be dismiss
  however, it would also mean that citizens can not get access to the video. He has to give out a final judgement in order for the Circuit Court to hear the matter. This case is going to be very interesting.

  4 minutes ago · Like
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  Michael Elder If I’m right that my court date. I will be in town…Yea it’s that day @ 10am in circuit court…

  a few seconds ago · Edited · Like
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  Merle Rutledge but i open a very important door for black people in the area that complain of brutality or cops lying
  the video and audio does not lie
  but its only been ruled on in his court
  its going to be a very important case

  about a minute ago · Like · 1

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North Carolina bra search is a big constitutional test! Mark my words

The Associated Press © February 13, 2012

By Martha Waggoner

RALEIGH, N.C.

A student who had to pull her bra away from her body so school officials could check whether she was hiding drugs must have been humiliated and frightened by the unreasonable search, her lawyer told the North Carolina Supreme Court on Monday. An attorney for the state argued the search was minimally invasive.

The state’s high court heard oral arguments in the case involving a student known only as T.A.S — unidentified in court because she was 15 years old when the “bra-lift search” occurred at the Brunswick County Academy in 2008. The justices will decide whether the search violated the Constitution’s protection against unreasonable searches.

“It is unconstitutional for our daughters to be treated this way by the public schools of North Carolina,” attorney Geeta Kapur told the state’s highest court.

Sandra Robinson, the principal of the alternative school for students with disciplinary and other problems, called for the searches after a general tip from other students that prescription pills were coming into the school. She got no more details on what kind of pills or who was bringing them, but knew students usually would hide drugs and other contraband in their underwear, including bras, and their socks and tongues of their shoes.

During the search, students passed through metal detectors, then waited in the lunchroom before being brought one-by-one to a classroom to be searched. The female students had to pull out their shirts and place their thumb underneath the bra to pull it out, allowing any hidden drugs to fall out. Attorneys said there’s no evidence the boys participated in a similar search.

Only the principal testified at trial, and she didn’t witness the search, which occurred in front of three adults, two of them men.

Assistant Attorney General LaToya Powell said the search was minimally invasive because no skin was shown. “By doing this, absolutely no body parts were exposed,” she said.

During the search, a white powder identified as Percocet and drug paraphernalia were found on the student. The student asked a trial judge to prevent the evidence from being used, but the judge refused. She pleaded guilty in March 2009 to two drug-related misdemeanors.

A divided state Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in favor of the student, finding the search was “degrading, demeaning and highly intrusive.” The state appealed that decision. The state Supreme Court decision is expected to affect 1.5 million public school students.

Powell said the search was not unreasonable because there was “a compelling governmental need” that outweighed the rights of individual privacy, she said. The school’s primary responsibility “was to promote the health and safety of students,” she said.

Although she said in her brief that students at an alternative school have a lower privacy right than those at other schools, Powell told the justices that wasn’t the case. Under questioning by Justice Mark Martin, she said students at alternative schools have the same rights as those at traditional schools.

Kapur argued that two men should not have watched the search because it that violates the Brunswick County school board policies. “We don’t know what happened in that room,” she said. “We don’t know if the two men saw her breasts or positioned themselves to see her breasts.”

Justice Paul Newby asked if the issue of exposure was contested on appeal. It was not, Kapur said.

But in the end, she said: “Who was looking … whether anyone saw any private parts … is irrelevant to Fourth Amendment rights” against unreasonable searches.

Merle T. Rutledge Jr response – Should adult men and women that are not related or have legal guardianship be allowed to view the private areas of underage teenagers without a warrant.  I believe the answer should be “no” because it would violate public policy.  They would literally have to release sex offenders that was only merely peeping toms back into society because this argument would be used to validate other arguments on the matter.  This is a sensitive issue and beware because we look at the black and white of it as being right for government’s purpose.  Can the public actually use that purpose to further pedophilia agendas.  A warrant needs to be secured under conditions of removal of clothes.  I believe, if they are going to be more intrusive than they need to be more inclusive to more civil rights for children.

Mark my words NC, this can blow up in your face in light of victory.  Some victories are just worth giving up in order to protect the safety and health of the people in which the state serves.  I could see a blistering of legal arguments for adults that have view even pornography because one part of the skin or “sensitive areas” may be considered no different than others.  It is the same reason why pedophiles conviction for videotaping underneath women skirts was overturned.

Children must go to school.  Children are not forced to ride a airplane.  If you want to ride the plane than you must follow those rules.  The schools have a extreme amount of power when it comes down to children civil rights and that is why it must be scrutinize from time to time.  This is a great case, but to say the TSA and FAA is a valid argument for this type of search is hogwash.  Being forced and being compelled are two different subjects.

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Half Truth Relationships – The Ugly Truth Mack Series

There are a lot of men and women frustrated that are single or in a relationship.  The biggest question that goes through everyone mind is do I really know the person I am with, or do I know the part that this person is ok with me knowing.  Secrets are the biggest problem in a relationship especially when it gets exposed after a relationship.  Their are men and women that consider their dark pass the sexual fantasies that they have accomplish, the friends that they may have turned their back on or whom may have even dated one of their friends significant others, or even had some personal information get exposed to the public without their consent.  However big or small the situation, it becomes a issue if it is considered something that you dont condone or the past should not consume the good that is left in the possible future.  Some of these very things is really shallow and petty but should be exposed before getting into any relationship that may have the possibility of being more.  It is the worse feeling when you find out the person that you are with has done the very things in which you may or may not want to be associated with, but the biggest issue is having the opportunity to be provided with credible and reliable information of who your partner is.  We all deserve the truth, and some will probably be very supportive and others may look at you negatively.  This is the difference between the lie and the ugly truth.  No one is perfect and if you willing to go deep with someone than expect for it to have problems with a shallow end.  Tell whomever the truth about you and than make the decision of whether you want to be with this person or not.  Also dont expect to settle for less and not expect the same thing for them.  Now if they tell you the truth even at the detriment of losing out on a relationship than this person is something special.   Im sure we all death with the results of what we thought was special and it was nothing more than a fallacy of deception.  You choose!  How can someone know the truth about you epecially when you do not know the truth about yourself!

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