In State v. Wright, the Iowa Supreme Court recently banned warrantless searches of curbside trash. This landmark ruling puts an end to an investigative technique used by police for decades. The issues before the Iowa Supreme Court were matters of first impression. The drug defense attorneys at GRL Law are the first to ever raise […]
There was a time when the impaired driving defense lawyers at GRL Law only encountered search warrants for blood in felony OWI cases. Especially those involving serious injuries. Those were the days. The police no longer reserve search warrants for just serious injury accidents. Now, it seems they pursue blood warrants for all types of […]
Greenfield, Adair County, Iowa. The drug defense attorneys at GRL Law prevailed again today by successfully securing a court order for the return of over-the-counter cannabidiol (CBD) products seized by local law enforcement. The estimated retail value of these CBD products exceeded $3,000, which is believed to be the largest seizure of its kind in […]
Cooperating individuals, or snitches, work closely with police in exchange for either money or leniency with their own drug charges. They are permitted to operate with virtual anonymity in order to set up as many people as possible. Police and prosecutors also go to great lengths to protect the identity of these assets from being […]
The odor of burnt or raw marijuana, when detected by a law enforcement officer, supplies the requisite probable cause in Iowa to search a vehicle or apply for a warrant to search another’s property. You might think that a district court judge would require proof of some level of training and certification before determining the […]
Colin Murphy was once again named to the Great Plains Super Lawyers list in 2020, an honor reserved for those lawyers who exhibit excellence in practice. Only 5 percent of attorneys in the region receive this distinction.
Trash rips. The low-hanging fruit of narcotics investigations. In terms of evidence gathering for the local drug task force, nothing beats the simplicity of stealing a homeowner’s curbside garbage bags at midnight and spending the rest of the shift rifling through the contents. The goal? Like any prospector with a newly staked claim, the officers […]
