Crim Pro Flashcards
4th Amendment rights
-Prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures
-Exclusionary rule
5th Amendment rights include
-No self-incrimination
-No double jeopardy
-Miranda rights
-RtC before crim proceedings begin
6th Amendment rights
-Speedy trial
-Public trial
-Trial by jury (crim/civil)
-Confrontation of witnesses
-RtC after crim proceedings begin
8th Amendment rights include
-No cruel and unusual punishment
-No excessive fines
A seizure is
any exercise of control by governmental agent over a person or thing
Determining that a seizure occurred requires finding
under the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable person would feel they are not free to decline the officer’s request or leave
An arrest must be based on
Probable cause
Probable cause is
based on the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable person would believe that a crime is being/has been committed
Terry Stop requires
Terry Frisk requires
Articulable facts supporting:
Stop - reasonable suspicion of criminal activity
Frisk - reasonable suspicion that the individual is armed and dangerous
Whether an officer had requisite suspicion to support a Terry Stop is judged based on
Totality of the circumstances
Reasonable suspicion is
More than vague suspicion, but less than probable cause
Reasonable suspicion can be based on an informants tip if
There is an indicia of reliability
To comport with durational limits of a Terry stop, the police must
act diligently and reasonably to confirm or dispel their suspicions
During a Terry stop, the police may ask _____ and may ____ if they refuse to respond
the person to identify themselves
arrest them
A detention becomes an arrest if
PC arises OR if the police exert sufficient control
The police can stop a car if
they have reasonable suspicion that a law has been violated
A dog sniff around a car ____ a search _____
is NOT
so long as it occurs during the stop and the stop is not extended beyond the time necessary to conclude the interaction
The effect of a police officer’s good faith mistake of law on a seizure
It does not invalidate the seizure as long as it was reasonable
An automobile stop constitutes a stop of _____ meaning ____
ALL occupants
They have standing to assert a violation of their 4th A by unreasonable seizure
A checkpoint is allowed if guided by:
-a neutral, articulable standard
-closely related to a special law enforcement need relating to vehicles
Police may in the interest of safety, order occupants out of a vehicle and frisk if ____
Frisk - if they reasonably believe the occupants are armed
Pretextual stops are _____
allowed so long as there is at least reasonable suspicion to believe a law has been violated
Detentions to obtain a warrant are ____ if ____
Valid
The officer has reasonable suspicion there are drugs hidden in the home (valid to preserve evidence)
The use of deadly force is a _____ warranted under the 4th Amendment only _____
seizure
where reasonable to do so under the circumstances
The 4th Amendment only protects against ____ conduct
Unreasonable Governmental
The 4th A is implicated by a search and seizure if either
- A governmental agent searches/seizes an area where the individual had a reasonable expectation of privacy
OR - Physical intrusion by the government into a constitutionally protected area to obtain info
To have standing to object to a search at a residence, a person must
-Own or have a right to possession of the place
-be in their home (whether they own)
-be an overnight guest of the owner of the place
If a person has no interest in the place of seizure but does have an interest in the property, a person has standing to challenge under 4th A rights if
They had a reasonable expectation in the item or area searched
There is no right to privacy in
things held out to the public (voice, handwriting, paint on outside of car, account records from a bank, open fields, airspace, odors, garbage on the curb)
To be facially valid, a warrant must be
Supported by probable Cause to believe seizable evidence will be found
AND
Particularity about place to be searched/items to be seized
AND
Issued by a neutral and detached magistrate
A warrant to search authorizes police to _____ nonsuspects but not to _____
detain
search them unless there is pc
Exceptions to the Warrant Req
Well Erica: Space Ass Can Seem Super Plain, But Clap Cheeks
-SITA
-Automobile Exception
-Consent
-Stop and frisk
-Spoliation of Evidence
-Plain View
-Border searches
-Convos
-Conscience
SITA is valid if
Contemporaneous to a constitutional arrest
Scope of a SITA (in general)
Must be incident to a constitutional arrest and contemporaneous to arrest
Scope includes:
-The person of the arrestee
-Anywhere within their reach
-Areas they could obtain weapons or destroy evidence
-And a premises sweep if accomplices are present
Search is proper even if the suspect is secured
Scope of a SITA involving an autombile
A search of the passenger compartment is allowed IF
1. The arrestee is unsecured (not handcuffed/in the car)
OR
2. The police reasonably believe that evidence of the offense for which the person was arrested may be found in the vehicle
An inventory search incident to arrest is allowed if
Pursuant to an established department procedure
The Automobile Exception to the Warrant Req allows a search if
The police have probable cause to believe that a vehicle contains fruits, instrumentalities, or evidence of a crime
The scope of a search pursuant to the automobile exception to the warrant requirement is
Anywhere in the vehicle, including any containers or passenger’s belonging, so long as the area might reasonably contain the item for which they had probable cause to search
The Plain View exception to the warrant requirement allows a warrantless seizure if
-The officer is legitimately on the premises
-Evidence of crime or contraband is in plain view
-It is immediately apparent that the item is evidence
Consent allows a warrantless search if
Any person with apparent equal right to use or occupy the property gives consent UNLESS a co-occupant is present and objects.
Stop and Frisk (Terry Stop) allows a warrantless search if
The stop is supported if there is articulable and reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and a search is of the outer garments is supported if there is articulable reasonable suspicion that the suspect is armed
The plain feel doctrine allows
An officer to reach into a suspect’s clothing if the officer reasonably believes, based on plain feel alone, that there is a weapon or contraband
An automobile stop can turn into a terry stop if
there is reasonable belief that a person in the car is armed and dangerous, allowing search of the suspected person and the vehicle (limited to where the weapon could be)
Concern for spoliation of evidence allows a warrantless search if
Evidence could disappear before a warrant is obtained
Hot pursuit justifies a warrantless search if
The police are in hot pursuit of a fleeing felon (typically within 15 minutes)
A search in a public school
Doesn’t require a warrant or probable cause, it only requires reasonable suspicion and
-moderate chance of finding evidence of wrongdoing
-methods of search are reasonably related to the purpose of the search
-search is not excessively intrusive
Border searches are valid without a warrant if
An officer reasonably suspects that a vehicle contains undocumented aliens
Wiretapping requires a warrant and can be issued if
- There is PC
- The suspects are named
- The conversations are described with particularity
- The tap is for a limited time
- The tap is terminated when the desired info has been obtained
- The court is informed what was recorded
A warrant is required for a wiretap, but a speaker assumes risk that
the person they are talking to has allowed the government to listen or is wired for sound. There is no 4th Amendment claim if they make no attempt to keep a conversation private.
The catchall for warrantless searches states
That any evidence obtained in a manner that shocks the conscience is inadmissible
For a confession to be admissible under the 14th A it must be
Voluntary as determined by the totality of the circumstances. It is not involuntary if there is some official compulsion.
Admission of an involuntary confession may not warrant overturning the conviction if
It was harmless error
The 6th Amendment right to counsel requires counsel at
all critical stages after judicial proceedings have begun
Unlike the 5th Amendment right to counsel, the 6th is
Offense specific and does not apply until after formal proceedings begin
The 6th Amendment right to counsel can
be knowingly and voluntarily waived. Counsel doesn’t have to be present for the waiver UNLESS counsel has been requested.
The failure to provide counsel at trial results in
an automatic reversal of the conviction
The 5th Amendment Miranda rights are triggered by
Custody and interrogation
Interrogation occurs
- Where a person is being interrogated by someone they know is a government agent
AND - The agent uses words or conduct likely to elicit incriminating responses
Custody occurs if
A reasonable person would not feel free to terminate the interrogation
AND
(for Miranda purposes) if the environment is inherently coercive similar to a station house interrogation
Invocation of right to remain silent must be ____ by the police
Scrupulously honored (can only be reinitiated after a substantial amount of time and a new Miranda warning)
The invocation of right to counsel and the right to silence must be
explicit and unambiguous
Once the right to counsel is asserted
All questioning must cease unless
-Detainee reinitiates questioning
-Detainee is released and reMirandized after 14 days
Evidence obtained in violation of Miranda rights is
Generally inadmissible except for as impeachment
A second properly warned confession is inadmissible if ____, may be admissible if ___
inadmissible if the violation was intentional to obtain information without providing Miranda warnings
May be admissible if it was not in bad faith
Nontestimonial evidence obtained as a result of unmirandized questioning is
admissible unless the failure was purposeful
An exception to the Miranda requirement exists if
there is a reasonable concern for public safety
The 6th A RtC provides the right for certain identifications post charge
Line up - right to counsel
Photo array - no right
A lineup violates due process if it is
Unnecessarily suggestive AND there is substantial likelihood of misidentification
An identification may be admissible even where a lineup violated due process if
there is an independent source for the identification (like a witness from the scene of the crime)
Examples of exceptions to the fruit of the poisonous tree:
-fruits of unmirandized statements
-independent source
-sufficient attenuation
-violations of the knock and announce rule
-good faith mistake
A prosecutor has a duty to disclose evidence that is ____ when ____
-Evidence is favorable for def
-Reasonable probability the result would be different
A codefendant’s confession implicating the other is inadmissible unless
-All parts referring to the other def can be eliminated
OR
-Confessing def takes the stand
OR
-Confession of nontestifying co-def is being used to rebut the def’s claim of a coerced confession
