Absent such a determination by the courts, police are incentivized to act like this:
"We know they are guilty so we will take all their stuff. This inconveniences them so bad they will plead to some misdemeanor even if we can't hitch them up as they deserve, just to get their stuff back. The fact they plead to something gives us cover to have taken it in the first place, so it's all good."
Among the chief things required to fix the grand jury system is to take the away from prosecutors. Return to Grand Juries being regularly and openly empaneled, with perjury charges attaching to any testimony/evidence given them. Privacy is to be at the behest of the accused, not the state, with no indictment proceeding unless conviction seems plausible and in the public interest.
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Seizures without warrants or probable cause.
Absent such a determination by the courts, police are incentivized to act like this:
"We know they are guilty so we will take all their stuff. This inconveniences them so bad they will plead to some misdemeanor even if we can't hitch them up as they deserve, just to get their stuff back. The fact they plead to something gives us cover to have taken it in the first place, so it's all good."
Fixing Grand Juries
Among the chief things required to fix the grand jury system is to take the away from prosecutors. Return to Grand Juries being regularly and openly empaneled, with perjury charges attaching to any testimony/evidence given them. Privacy is to be at the behest of the accused, not the state, with no indictment proceeding unless conviction seems plausible and in the public interest.