Greenville South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog

Scholarly work has suggested that people in South Carolina and elsewhere can make errors when picking a person out of a lineup. In some cases, an individual will pick up on a cue given by a police officer. Research also suggests that a person has a hard time recognizing someone of a different race. Over time, an individual may be manipulated into feeling more confident in his or her choice, and he or she may actually offer testimony at trial.

The way that a police lineup is put together can also have an effect on who a person identifies as the individual who committed a crime. While researchers were initially rebuffed or ignored by police departments, some cities and states have made changes to how witnesses identify individuals in a lineup. For example, they may be told that the person who committed the crime isn't necessarily among the choices.

Two years ago, in neighboring North Carolina, Rick Siskey took his life upon learning he was under investigation for fraud. Now, $10 million from the insurance payout Siskey’s wife received after his death is being distributed to investors.

Siskey had been running a Ponzi scheme through one of his several companies, owing 100 investors, $19 million at the time of his death.

On June 22, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement agencies must generally obtain a warrant before accessing someone's cell site location information, or CSLI. Legal experts say the 5-4 decision modernizes the Fourth Amendment and provides important new privacy protections for all U.S. citizens, including the residents of South Carolina.

CSLI uses cellphone towers to precisely identify a cell phone user's location at any given time. Wireless providers collect this data for business purposes, but law enforcement officers have found it useful to track criminal suspects. The case before the court, Carpenter v. United States, involved a defendant who was convicted of robbery partly because law enforcement officers tracked his location via CSLI for 127 days. They were able to do this because the Federal Communications Act allowed authorities to access a suspect's CSLI if they could provide "reasonable grounds" that the information would aid an ongoing investigation.

Reboot, a Greenville retail location where individuals can buy, sell and trade consumer electronics has been accused of conducting a variety of fraudulent activities. More than a dozen Reboot employees were indicted earlier this month in federal court on the charge of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud.

The business was raided in January by Secret Service agents as well as Greensville County deputies. Law enforcement officers discovered a number of stolen goods, and the Greensville County Sheriff’s Office referred to Reboot as a “fencing operation.”