In Missouri recently, a woman from the city of Joplin got her stolen ring back after the suspect in the theft inadvertently admitted he was the culprit. The thief literally coughed up the ring in front of the police. Police say the ring belonging to Rebecca Moore and was inside her purse in a vehicle parked at a local mall. Someone broke into the vehicle and stole the purse. The victim’s husband, Tom Moore, said the two-carat diamond ring is worth about $20,000 and is a family heirloom passed down to his wife from her mother.

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.