Maryland’s highest court has tossed the conviction of a man on drug charges because the arresting officer in Prince George’s County based his search and subsequent arrest on the odor of ether, an ingredient in PCP. The officer found a small, half-full glass vial of the drug in the pocket of the suspect’s pants, but the court ruled that merely smelling it did not meet the requirements to legally conduct the search. According to a news report by Peter Hermann in the Baltimore Sun, the court’s ruling limits law enforcement officers during “stop and frisk” actions. Aggressive stop and frisks were associated with the so-called “zero-tolerance policing.”

In the movies you frequently hear the phrase, “No one is above the law.” It’s a nice idea. But what if you are local law enforcement and the suspect is a paid informant for the Feds? Anyone familiar with the sordid tale of Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger can tell you that these kinds of arrangements can get people killed. But there are other cases of a lower profile that, while not as deadly, can be every bit as frustrating for a police officer trying to bring a protected informant to justice. Meet Josef Franz Prach von Habsburg-Lothringen, the Prince of Austria. If that fake name is too much of a mouthful, try using the suspect’s real name –  Josef Meyers.

It does not matter how many people have been freed from death row based on new evidence or how much states and counties spend trying to carry out capital punishment. For the families and friends of the victims, you can not put a price tag on the sense of justice, and closure, that comes with a death sentence being carried out, survivors say. In Topeka, Kansas recently, relatives of murder victims pleaded with Kansas lawmakers not to abolish the state's death penalty, saying that the penalty should not be abandoned over concerns about what it costs the state. "You cannot put a price tag on my sister's life," Jennifer Sanderholm told the Senate Judiciary Committee.