Ken Wallentine

Law Enforcement and the Law

Ken Wallentine is the chief of the West Jordan (Utah) Police Department and former chief of law enforcement for the Utah Attorney General. He has served over three decades in public safety, is a legal expert and editor of Xiphos, a monthly national criminal procedure newsletter. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Death and serves as a use of force consultant in state and federal criminal and civil litigation across the nation.

Full list of Ken Wallentine results

Will a policy violation lead to liability?
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Though an officer ostensibly made his rounds, he did not physically enter the video arraignment room as required by policy – during which time an inmate overdosed
Victory for sexually abused inmate on negligent hiring
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No qualified immunity is granted to the sheriff in a case of negligent hiring, the court of appeals decides
Desire to eat tween boys merits continued incarceration
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No compassionate release was granted for a child sex offender who had yet to undergo treatment in the correctional facility
Where to spend the holidays? Prison?
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Court says no to compassionate release request for convicted murderer and drug kingpin in this recent case
Sistine Chapel nudes OK, Coppertone girl bare bum not OK
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The appellate court addresses the degree of deference corrections facilities have when it comes to prison regulation
Qualified immunity for strip search of prison visitor
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Though other federal courts had already determined a prison visitor must be given the option to leave rather than submit to a strip search, the 9th Circuit had not spoken sufficiently to clearly establish that right in its jurisdiction
Cell phone search by probation officer ruled invalid
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A couple of lessons stand out in this case
Solid policy and practice supports body cavity search
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The court cited the “heft of the security interest at stake” in holding the proper standard for a body cavity search in a jail is reasonable suspicion
Cruel and unusual punishment from secondhand smoke?
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An inmate diagnosed with asthma sued prison officials, alleging they were deliberately indifferent to the secondhand smoke’s impact on his health
Court: Prisoner mail policy is proper
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Prisoner mail policy helps reduce the risk of contraband entering the jail and cuts staff time required to check incoming mail
Failure to provide sex change is not cruel and unusual punishment
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Vanessa Lynn Gibson asserted that sexual reassignment surgery is essential medical care and denying the surgery violates the Eighth Amendment
Was electronic control device use proper? You decide!
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Consider a roundtable discussion of these two cases during roll call training