4th Amendment

Can police search a bag in your car without a warrant? The Supreme Court says yes—and this decision affects thousands of traffic stops and drug arrests every year.

In California v. Acevedo (1991), the U.S. Supreme Court expanded the automobile exception to the Fourth Amendment, allowing police to search containers inside a vehicle if they claim probable cause—even without a warrant.

But probable cause is often overstated, misunderstood, or flat-out wrong.

I’m a criminal defense attorney, and in this video I explain:

When police can search your car or a bag inside it

When a warrant is still required

How officers misuse the automobile exception

How illegal searches can lead to suppressed evidence and dismissed cases

If you were stopped, searched, or arrested after a traffic stop, drug investigation, or vehicle search, this case may determine whether the evidence against you is constitutional—or throw-outable.

📍 Facing criminal charges?
Do not assume the police search was legal. An experienced defense attorney can challenge probable cause, stop unconstitutional searches, and protect your rights.

👉 Contact a criminal defense lawyer immediately if police searched your vehicle or personal property.

Read more here: California v. Acevedo, 500 U.S. 565 (1991), https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/500/565/#tab-opinion-1958783

Anton Vialtsin, Esq.
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Based in San Diego, CA
Licensed: California, Nevada, and Federal Courts

The San Diego-based business litigation and criminal defense attorneys at LAWSTACHE™ LAW FIRM are experienced and dedicated professionals singularly focused on one goal: achieving the best results for our clients. Through our hard work and expertise, we guarantee all of our clients that we will diligently protect their rights and zealously pursue justice. Our clients deserve nothing less!

Can an honest—but unreasonable—mistake erase criminal intent?
In People v. Hendrix (2022), the California Supreme Court tackled this exact question after a man was convicted of burglary for walking into a home he thought belonged to his cousin.

⚖️ This video breaks down the Supreme Court’s ruling that a mistake of fact doesn’t have to be reasonable to negate specific intent crimes like burglary.
The justices reversed the conviction because the jury was incorrectly told that Hendrix’s mistake had to be “reasonable” — a legal misstep that could have statewide consequences.

Read the full case here: People v. Hendrix, 13 Cal. 5th 933 (2022), https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S265668.PDF

Anton Vialtsin, Esq.
LAWSTACHE™ LAW FIRM | Criminal Defense and Business Law
https://lawstache.com
(619) 357-6677

Do you want to buy our Lawstache merchandise? Maybe a T-shirt?
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Want to mail me something (usually mustache-related)? Send it to 185 West F Street, Suite 100-D, San Diego, CA 92101

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Based in San Diego, CA
Licensed: California, Nevada, and Federal Courts

The San Diego-based business litigation and criminal defense attorneys at LAWSTACHE™ LAW FIRM are experienced and dedicated professionals singularly focused on one goal: achieving the best results for our clients. Through our hard work and expertise, we guarantee all of our clients that we will diligently protect their rights and zealously pursue justice. Our clients deserve nothing less!

🚨 USA v. Bejar-Guizar (2025) – Border Patrol Stop & 9th Circuit Immigration Ruling Explained 🚨

In this video, we break down the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in United States v. Bejar-Guizar, a key 2025 immigration case involving a border patrol stop near San Diego, California. The court upheld the legality of the stop based on reasonable suspicion as it related to immigration charge under 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(1).

👮‍♂️ Was the Border Patrol stop constitutional?
📍 What evidence is needed to prove illegal detention?
⚖️ How does this case impact immigration and 4th Amendment law?

👉 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the 🔔 for more updates on immigration law, federal court rulings, and border-related cases.

#BejarGuizar #ImmigrationLaw #BorderPatrol #FourthAmendment #9thCircuit #IllegalEntry #Section1325 #LawExplained #FederalAppeals #LAWSTACHE

Read the full case here: https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2025/07/09/23-3201.pdf

Anton Vialtsin, Esq.
LAWSTACHE™ LAW FIRM | Criminal Defense and Business Law
https://lawstache.com
(619) 357-6677

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Want to mail me something (usually mustache-related)? Send it to 185 West F Street, Suite 100-D, San Diego, CA 92101

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Based in San Diego, CA
Licensed: California, Nevada, and Federal Courts

The San Diego-based business litigation and criminal defense attorneys at LAWSTACHE™ LAW FIRM are experienced and dedicated professionals singularly focused on one goal: achieving the best results for our clients. Through our hard work and expertise, we guarantee all of our clients that we will diligently protect their rights and zealously pursue justice. Our clients deserve nothing less!

The Fifth Amendment’s privilege against selfincrimination generally applies only to those who “claim it.” Saechao, 418 F.3d at 1077 (quotation omitted). However, this general rule does not apply when an individual is “denied the free choice to admit, to deny, or to refuse to answer.” Id. This can occur when the government creates a situation where “an individual’s refusal to answer incriminating questions subjects him to a penalty.” Id. In a “penalty situation,” the Fifth Amendment becomes selfexecuting. Murphy, 465 U.S. at 435–36. In other words, “if the state, either expressly or by implication, asserts that invocation of the privilege would lead to revocation of probation . . . the failure to assert the privilege would be excused, and the probationer’s answer would be deemed compelled and inadmissible in a criminal prosecution.” Id. at 435.

In the probationary [or parole] context, this means that although the state is permitted to require a probationer to “appear and discuss matters affecting his probationary status,” the probationer may not be required under threat of revocation of probation to respond to “questions put to [him], however relevant to his probationary status, [that] call for answers that would incriminate him in a pending or later criminal proceeding.”

Read the full case here: USA v. Watson, https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2025/05/23/24-1865.pdf

Anton Vialtsin, Esq.
LAWSTACHE™ LAW FIRM | Criminal Defense and Business Law
https://lawstache.com
(619) 357-6677

Do you want to buy our Lawstache merchandise? Maybe a T-shirt?
https://lawstache.com/merch/

Want to mail me something (usually mustache-related)? Send it to 185 West F Street, Suite 100-D, San Diego, CA 92101

Want to learn about our recent victories?
https://lawstache.com/results-notable-cases/

Are you a Russian speaker? Вы говорите по-русски?
https://russiansandiegoattorney.com

Based in San Diego, CA
Licensed: California, Nevada, and Federal Courts

The San Diego-based business litigation and criminal defense attorneys at LAWSTACHE™ LAW FIRM are experienced and dedicated professionals singularly focused on one goal: achieving the best results for our clients. Through our hard work and expertise, we guarantee all of our clients that we will diligently protect their rights and zealously pursue justice. Our clients deserve nothing less!

While “knock and talks”—as defined by the United States Supreme Court—are
considered constitutional, “knock and talks”—as defined and executed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”)—are not. Considering the policies and practices governing how ICE conducts its “knock and talks,” the more accurate title for certain law enforcement operations would be “knock and arrests.” This Order serves to vacate those unlawful policies and practices.

Read more here: https://www.aclusocal.org/sites/default/files/kidd_msj_order.pdf

Anton Vialtsin, Esq.
LAWSTACHE™ LAW FIRM | Criminal Defense and Business Law
https://lawstache.com
(619) 357-6677

Do you want to buy our Lawstache merchandise? Maybe a T-shirt?
https://lawstache.com/merch/

Want to mail me something (usually mustache-related)? Send it to 185 West F Street, Suite 100-D, San Diego, CA 92101

Want to learn about our recent victories?
https://lawstache.com/results-notable-cases/

Are you a Russian speaker? Вы говорите по-русски?
https://russiansandiegoattorney.com

Based in San Diego, CA
Licensed: California, Nevada, and Federal Courts

The San Diego-based business litigation and criminal defense attorneys at LAWSTACHE™ LAW FIRM are experienced and dedicated professionals singularly focused on one goal: achieving the best results for our clients. Through our hard work and expertise, we guarantee all of our clients that we will diligently protect their rights and zealously pursue justice. Our clients deserve nothing less!

“The automobile exception provides ‘police who have probable cause to believe a lawfully stopped vehicle contains evidence of criminal activity or contraband may conduct a warrantless search of any area of the vehicle in which the evidence might be found.’” (People v. McGee(2020) 53Cal.App.5th 796, 801, quoting People v. Evans(2011) 200Cal.App.4th 735, 753.) The scope of a warrantless search is “defined by the object of the search and the places in which there is probable cause to believe that it may be found.” (United States v. Ross(1982) 456 U.S. 798, 824 (Ross).)

Here, the searching police officer received information via a radio broadcast from another officer that a juvenile on probation with a firearm restriction likely placed a firearm under the front passenger seat in defendant Hilario Leal, Jr.’s car before the defendant got into his car and drove away. Defendant’s car was under constant surveillance from the time of the alleged firearm placement until the searching officer conducted the search. When search the passenger compartment of defendant’s car yielded no firearm, the searching officer decided to search the trunk, where he discovered a firearm. Defendant was charged with several offenses and filed a motion to suppress the firearm; the trial court denied the motion. Defendant ultimately pled no contest to being a felon in possession of a firearm. The question presented is whether the search of the defendant’s trunk was justified under the automobile exception. We conclude it was not.

Read full case here: California v. Leal, https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2023/c096463.html

Anton Vialtsin, Esq.
LAWSTACHE™ LAW FIRM | Criminal Defense and Business Law
https://lawstache.com
(619) 357-6677

Do you want to buy our Lawstache merchandise? Maybe a T-shirt?
https://lawstache.com/merch/

Want to mail me something (usually mustache-related)? Send it to 185 West F Street, Suite 100-D, San Diego, CA 92101

Want to learn about our recent victories?
https://lawstache.com/results-notable-cases/

Are you a Russian speaker? Вы говорите по-русски?
https://russiansandiegoattorney.com

Based in San Diego, CA
Licensed: California, Nevada, and Federal Courts

The San Diego-based business litigation and criminal defense attorneys at LAWSTACHE™ LAW FIRM are experienced and dedicated professionals singularly focused on one goal: achieving the best results for our clients. Through our hard work and expertise, we guarantee all of our clients that we will diligently protect their rights and zealously pursue justice. Our clients deserve nothing less!

What Officer Hill reasonably suspected, namely that Lopez–Soto had not affixed a registration sticker to his rear window, simply was not a violation of Baja California law. This cannot justify the stop under the Fourth Amendment. Nor is it possible to justify the stop objectively, as did the court in Sanders, with the facts available to Officer Hill when he made the stop: in his mistaken belief that Baja California law required the registration sticker to be visible from behind, Officer Hill did not check the windshield for the sticker. The information that he did gather—that there was no sticker on the rear or left windows—did not make it any less likely that Lopez–Soto was operating his car in conformity with the law.

We have no doubt that Officer Hill held his mistaken view of the law in good faith, but there is no good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule for police who do not act in accordance with governing law. See United States v. Gantt, 194 F.3d 987, 1006 (9th Cir.1999). To create an exception here would defeat the purpose of the exclusionary rule, for it would remove the incentive for police to make certain that they properly understand the law that they are entrusted to enforce and obey.

Read the full case here: United States v. Lopez-Soto, 205 F.3d 1101, 1106 (9th Cir. 2000), https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/205/1101/559308/

Anton Vialtsin, Esq.
LAWSTACHE™ LAW FIRM | Criminal Defense and Business Law
https://lawstache.com
(619) 357-6677

Do you want to buy our Lawstache merchandise? Maybe a T-shirt?
https://lawstache.com/merch/

Want to mail me something (usually mustache-related)? Send it to 185 West F Street, Suite 100-D, San Diego, CA 92101

Want to learn about our recent victories?
https://lawstache.com/results-notable-cases/

Are you a Russian speaker? Вы говорите по-русски?
https://russiansandiegoattorney.com

Based in San Diego, CA
Licensed: California, Nevada, and Federal Courts

The San Diego-based business litigation and criminal defense attorneys at LAWSTACHE™ LAW FIRM are experienced and dedicated professionals singularly focused on one goal: achieving the best results for our clients. Through our hard work and expertise, we guarantee all of our clients that we will diligently protect their rights and zealously pursue justice. Our clients deserve nothing less!

The government argues that we should credit Jankowski’s testimony because of his nineteen years of experience as a police officer and thousands of hours of “stash house” surveillance. But while courts analyze the facts leading to an investigatory stop in light of a trained officer’s experience, these facts must be “more than the mere subjective impressions of a particular officer.” Hernandez-Alvarado, 891 F.2d at 1416. Reasonable suspicion must be based on more than an officer’s “inchoate and unparticularized suspicion or `hunch.’ ” Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 27 (1968).

Here, Jankowski testified that the dropping of marijuana packages -onto what surface he did not specify -made “a flat-sounding kind of thump” that, to him was “pretty” distinctive “at times.” He could not describe the sound in any more detail, and he did not explain how it differed from thumps made by other kinds of packages.

Marijuana has a distinctive appearance, taste, and odor, and perhaps even a feel, but it does not have a distinctive sound. This is true regardless of how it is packaged.

A hunch may provide the basis for solid police work; it may trigger an investigation that uncovers facts that establish reasonable suspicion, probable cause, or even grounds for a conviction. A hunch, however, is not a substitute for the necessary specific, articulable facts required to justify a Fourth Amendment intrusion.

Because the investigatory stop of Thomas violated the Fourth Amendment, the district court was required to suppress the evidence that resulted from the stop as the fruit of the poisonous tree. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 484-85 (1963). This evidence includes the marijuana, the shotgun, and Thomas’s incriminating statements. It also includes the packages of marijuana found in the bathroom adjoining the garage at the residence under surveillance. As the district court found, ” [t]he evidence obtained in the Thomas stop led Officers back to [the house at ] 5825 East 23rd.” Because there is at least a reasonable possibility that the evidence obtained as a result of the unlawful stop contributed to Thomas’s convictions, we reverse those convictions and remand for further proceedings.

Read the full case here: United States of America v. Andrew Charles Thomas, 211 F.3d 1186 (9th Cir. 2000), https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/211/1186/582645/

Anton Vialtsin, Esq.
LAWSTACHE™ LAW FIRM | Criminal Defense and Business Law
https://lawstache.com
(619) 357-6677

Do you want to buy our Lawstache merchandise? Maybe a T-shirt?
https://lawstache.com/merch/

Want to mail me something (usually mustache-related)? Send it to 185 West F Street, Suite 100-D, San Diego, CA 92101

Want to learn about our recent victories?
https://lawstache.com/results-notable-cases/

Are you a Russian speaker? Вы говорите по-русски?
https://russiansandiegoattorney.com

Based in San Diego, CA
Licensed: California, Nevada, and Federal Courts

The San Diego-based business litigation and criminal defense attorneys at LAWSTACHE™ LAW FIRM are experienced and dedicated professionals singularly focused on one goal: achieving the best results for our clients. Through our hard work and expertise, we guarantee all of our clients that we will diligently protect their rights and zealously pursue justice. Our clients deserve nothing less!