In the summer of 2014, a man named Joshua Corbett allegedly broke into the very well-secured Los Angeles home of Sandra Bullock while she was sleeping. His creeping around woke her up, and she proceeded to call 911 from inside her bedroom closet.
After Corbett was arrested, LAPD investigators “found an extensive weapons arsenal at his home that included assault rifles and machine guns” and charged him with “weapons violations” in addition to “stalking and burglary.” But on Tuesday, over two years after the incident, an appeals court ruled that the LAPD’s search of Corbett’s home—the one during which they found “a cache of automatic weapons”—was illegal, which means “24 of the 26 felony charges against [him]” could soon be tossed out.
The LA Times reports detectives “began questioning” Corbett 30 hours after his arrest, but before he was allowed a phone call. “At the end of the interrogation,” they write, “police said that he consented both verbally and in writing to a search of his home.” But Corbett’s lawyers successfully convinced a state appeals court that none of that was on the up-and-up.
Writes The LA Times:
…Corbett’s attorneys argued that the questioning was unlawful and pointed out that detectives ignored his requests not to be interviewed and pressured him to sign a consent form of the search by threatening to use “a pry bar and battering ram” to open his parents’ home.
Tuesday’s ruling says “there is no dispute that Corbett’s 5th Amendment rights were violated here.” His attorneys, who claim their client “needs mental health treatment, not incarceration,” plan to ask for a reduction of his $2 million bail “once the majority of charges are dismissed.”
