Complying With The Fourth Amendment Flashcards
A search or seizure:
Must be reasonable to comply with the Fourth Amendment
You need a warrant or an exception
If police obtain a warrant to conduct the search or seizure…
It creates a presumption of reasonableness.
To challenge a search or seizure, the defendant bears the burden of proving:
The warrant: was not based on valid probable cause
The magistrate: was not neutral or detached
The warrant: failed to describe with particularity the thing to be seized or the place to be searched
A valid warrant to search or seize must be…
Issued by a neutral and detached magistrate
Based on probable cause, and
Describe with particularity the thing to be seized or the place to be searched.
The information (affidavit) presented to the magistrate must provide relevant facts that lead to the conclusion that:
it is more probable than not (fair probability) that a person committed a crime or evidence will be found at the location
The information presented to the magistrate must not be stale.
It is improper to issue a warrant, even when there is probable cause,
if the method of intrusion is unreasonable.
Knock and Announce Requirement, Exception, and Implication
Police must normally: knock and announce their identity before entering a home
Knock and announce is not required if: police have reasonable suspicion that doing so will endanger them, lead to destruction of evidence or flight of the suspect
The violation of the “knock and announce” rule violates fourth amendment but doesn’t trigger exclusionary rule
Probable Cause
Required at the time of the arrest, is the measure of justification that applies to full-scale intrusion —searches, seizures, and arrests.
It is defined as that quantity of facts and circumstances within the police officer’s knowledge that would warrant a reasonable person to conclude that the individual in question has committed a crime (for an arrest) or that specific items related to criminal activity can be found at a particular location (for a search).
Probable cause is always required to engage in a:
full scale intrusion – full blown evidentiary search or arrest
Probable cause is often established based on:
Police observation, eye witness accounts, forensic evidence or tests, suspects admissions or conduct
Probable cause may also be based on: a tip from a confidential or anonymous informant
_______ is used to assess reliability of informants tip to establish probable cause
Totality of circumstances test
The factors considered in assessing the reliability of an informants tip are:
- Veracity of the informant
- Basis of knowledge
- Police investigation that corroborates the facts in the tip and establishes the accuracy of the informants predictions
- Identity of the Informant (Bolsters Reliability)
For an informant’s tip to establish probable cause…
Police corroboration must establish that the tipster provided predictive insider information.
A prediction that any neighbor or “enemy” could make to the police (like the car someone drives, the route they take to work, or the time they normally leave every day) does not indicate insider access, and therefore normally will not establish probable cause.
Reasonable Suspicion
is a belief based upon articulable information that is more than a mere hunch used by a reasonable person or police office that the suspect has or is about to engage in illegal or criminal activity.
Courts must look to the totality of the circumstances of each case to see whether the police officer has a “particularized and objective basis” for suspecting legal wrongdoing
Reasonable suspicion is a level of certainty that will justify:
Only a brief investigatory seizure (terry stop) or cursory protective search (terry frisk)
