Shawn Patrick Ellis created quite a kerfuffle in more ways than one.
His defiant middle finger and later refusal to identify himself to law enforcement resulted in a Superior Court criminal conviction for Resisting Officers.
On a day focused on NC court closures, continuances, and the Coronavirus, Justice Robin Hudson delivered an opinion addressing the legality of giving someone the middle finger.
No. COA17-477-2
Filed: 20 August 2019
Search Warrants are subject to Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. 
Without “probable cause,” a search is ordinarily deemed “unreasonable” and therefore improper. As is the case with many legal issues involving criminal charges, there are certain exceptions.
Searches of a home or residence invite additional scrutiny by Courts, given there is a substantial expectation of privacy within “hearth and home.”
If you’ve been in District Court in North Carolina, most likely you’ve heard mention of two relatively recent cases that the Courts have been bantering about.
North Carolina Court of Appeals – Publication Date August 4, 2015
“Probable cause for an arrest has been defined to be a reasonable ground of suspicion supported by circumstances sufficiently strong in themselves to warrant a cautious man in believing the accused to be guilty…. To establish probable cause the evidence need not amount to proof of guilt, or even to prima facie evidence of guilt, but it must be such as would actuate a reasonable man acting in good faith.” 5 Am.Jur.2d, Arrest § 44 (1962); State v. Harris, 279 N.C. 307, 182 S.E.2d 364 (1971).
Probable Cause Hearings in North Carolina
Modified Transcript of “Probable Cause to Arrest DWI” for Hearing Impaired:
Modified Transcript of “Reasonable Suspicion To Stop” for Hearing Impaired:
. . .By a reasonable and articulable suspicion that the person seized is engaged in criminal activity.
Carolina Law Blog