Randolph Greenwald Attorney at Law, LLC, 7543 Broadview Rd, Suite 6, 44131 Cleveland, OH, US

If you're going to use deadly force to protect your home it's important to remember that you may only do so if you believe you or someone else is in imminent risk of serious bodily harm or death. If this isn't the case and you shoot someone, you will not be protected from prosecution. Two things I'd advise not doing, for both legal and moral reasons are: firing through doors (if there is a door between you you aren't likely at imminent risk of harm, and you have no idea wh...o you're shooting at) and as in this case, shooting someone who runs away. A person running away isn't placing you in danger. You are now the aggressor in the eyes of the law. The tragedy here is twofold. One young man, who though he was committing a crime, did not deserve to die, and another who is likely going to spend time in prison. Remember, deadly force should only be used as a last resort.

In a decision that has important effects on constitutional search and seizure law, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that police cannot utilize a drug-sniffing dog during or after the course of a stop for a traffic violation without additional facts which create a reasonable suspicion that another crime that is unrelated to the traffic violation is being committed. What this means as a driver is that if you are stopped for a traffic violation a police officer must ask for c...onsent to have a dog sniff your vehicle and you should unquestionably deny that consent. Without additional evidence of a crime, such as the odor of drugs evident to the officer or drugs in plain view, your denial bars the officer from having the dog sniff your car. As in any situation, whether you think you've broken the law or not, if a police officer requests permission for a search you should always say NO and seek legal counsel for advise when you are free to do so.