Professor Fareed Hayat — a law professor, then at Howard University Law School, and today at Seton Hall — was erroneously accused of having abducted three children, when in fact he had simply placed his own children in his car. When police approached him at his home, he denied any wrongdoing and retreated into his house. Police broke into his home, threw him to the floor, and handcuffed him in front of his own children and wife. When they realized their error, they left. Professor Hayat sued, but lost — both at the district court level and in front of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Georgetown Law Clinic, which represents Hayat, turned to the CSU Law Appellate Practice Clinic to author an Amicus Brief in support of a petition to the Fourth Circuit to rehear this case en banc. The Brief was on behalf of several nationally-ranked Fourth Amendment Scholars, including CSU Law Professor Jonathan Witmer Rich.
The Clinic students immediately responded to the call. Faith Croskey, Renata Kosc-Harmatiy, Matt Mayberry, and Rachel Revehl spent long days, nights, and weekends to properly understand the complex legal issues involved — including current Supreme Court jurisprudence, the limits of a Terry stop (which began right here, less than a few blocks from the Law School), and the role of Amici in persuading a Federal Court of Appeals to reverse the panel’s opinion.
Professor Doron Kalir supervised the work and served as counsel of record.
