Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Hail to the Chief

Language like this is what keeps legal opinions from getting too dry. Nice to see it from the Supreme Court, not just the lower courts. Enjoy Detective Noir, a la the Chief Justice:

North Philly, May 4, 2001. Officer Sean Devlin, Narcotics Strike Force, was working the morning shift. Undercover surveillance. The neighborhood? Tough as a threedollar steak. Devlin knew. Five years on the beat, nine months with the Strike Force. He'd made fifteen, twenty drug busts in the neighborhood.

Devlin spotted him: a lone man on the corner. Another approached. Quick exchange of words. Cash handed over; small objects handed back. Each man then quickly on his own way. Devlin knew the guy wasn't buying bus tokens. He radioed a description and Officer Stein picked up the buyer. Sure enough: three bags of crack in the guy's pocket. Head downtown and book him. Just another day at the office.

Cert denial of Pennsylvania v. Dunlap (U.S. 2008) (Roberts, C.J., dissenting)

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