U.S. Martinez-Garcia

US v. Martinez-Garcia, No. 03-30532 (2-11-05). Can’t speak English? Don’t understand the warrant? Not a problem, because, you see, the 4th amendment’s protections for defendant’s white house with pink trim (suspected of harboring a meth lab) are, when it comes to reading the warrant, merely aspirational, requiring a bit of “good faith,” and a shrug while the Spanish interpreter is summoned. So, for an hour and forty minutes we can rummage through the house, because we complied with the warrant requirement, and only then does the defendant get a chance to understand. It’s good enough for the 9th. As for the claim that the search failed to comply with Rule 41, well, this was a state search, see, with state police, and a state magistrate, so that although the evidence was used in federal court, we don’t need to bother with pesky federal statutes. Finally, as for Franks and some, well, misstatements, heck, they weren’t intentional, and so no hearing.