Crim Pro 4th Amendment

Question 1

What is the 4th amednment?

Answer 1

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures by the government without a valid warrant that is supported by a probable cause +oath or affirmation + issued by a neutral judicial officer. Describing “ particularly” the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Question 2

Searches defined

Answer 2

A search is an invasion of a protected privacy interest.

Question 3

The Supreme Court has set out a two-pronged test to determine whether a privacy interest exists

Answer 3

1) First, there must be an expectation of privacy that society is prepared to regard as reasonable. This prong refers to objective reasonableness, and

2) Second, there must be a subjective expectation of privacy on the part of the individual.

Question 4

Example of a reasonable expectation of privacy #1

Answer 4

A retreats into a closed telephone booth and speaks in a quiet voice to B. A believes his conversation will remain private, and society regards this expectation as reasonable. Therefore electronic interception of A’s conversation constitutes a search.

Question 5

Example of a reasonable expectation of privacy #2

Answer 5

If A possess illegal drugs in his home, but A leaves the window shade up so that the drugs are visible from the street, then the objective privacy accorded individuals for activity in their homes would be lost because A did not take adequate steps to ensure his privacy. To put it another way, even if A had a subjective intent to keep it private, this is not an expectation society would recognize as reasonabl

Question 6

Who bears the burden of proof to establish the objective reasonableness of privacy expectation.

Answer 6

The Defendant

Question 7

What are the Protected Areas that requires a warrant to be searched? (3)

Answer 7

1) House
2) Curtilage

Question 8

What is considered a house in the context of searches?

Answer 8

“House” is broadly construed to include virtually all structures that people commonly use as residences, whether on a temporary basis, such as:

1) a hotel room or

2) on a long-term basis, such as an apartment.

Houses also include buildings connected to a residence such as a garage.

Offices, stores and other commercial buildings are included within the term

Question 9

What is considered a house in the context of Curtilage.?

Answer 9

Curtilage refers to the area surrounding a home that is associated with the privacy and sanctity of a person’s residence.

A barn is generally not considered part of the curtilage, while areas like a front porch or backyard would be included.

Factors that determine the extent of the curtilage include:
1) Proximity of the area to the home.
2) Whether the area is within the enclosure surrounding the home.
3) The nature of the area’s uses.
4) Steps taken to protect the area from observation.

Question 10

What about searching Open fields?

Answer 10

Protection does not include open fields or vacant and undeveloped land outside the curtilage.

For this reason, entry onto an open field is not covered by the Fourth Amendment, and none of its requirements (e.g., probable cause, warrant) apply

Question 11

What is “papers” in the context fo the 4th amendment?

Answer 11

“Papers” encompass personal items, such as letters, diaries, and pictures, as well as impersonal business records.

Question 12

what is “effects” in the context of the 4th amendment?

Answer 12

automobiles, luggage, other containers, clothing, weapons, and even the fruits of a crime.

Question 13

privacy is evaluated in terms of

Answer 13

reasonable expectations

Question 14

Tor F: A nonsearch is not
regulated by the Fourth Amendment (only searches trigger 4th amednment ); it may be done for no reason or any reason at all.

Answer 14

True.

Question 15

What are some police actions that do not amount to searches: (7)

Answer 15

1) Plain View
2) Beepers and other enhanced technology
3) Aerial surveillance
4) Canine sniffs
5) Conversations
6) Garbage
7) Pen registers

Question 16

What is plain view?

Answer 16

is a legal concept that allows law enforcement officers to seize evidence without a warrant if the evidence is plainly visible from a lawful vantage point.

Plain view doctrine: According to the plain view doctrine, if a law enforcement officer is lawfully present in a location and sees an object or evidence that is immediately recognizable as contraband, illegal activity, or evidence of a crime, they can seize it without a warrant.

Question 17

Three requirements: For a plain view search to be valid, three conditions must be met:

Answer 17

1) The officer must be lawfully present in the location where the evidence is observed.
2) The incriminating nature of the evidence must be immediately apparent (i.e., without further search or investigation).
3) the officer must have a lawful right of access to the evidence.

Question 18

What is the scope of plain view search?

Answer 18

Limited scope: The plain view doctrine only allows for the seizure of evidence that is in plain sight. It does not permit officers to conduct a further search or manipulate objects to find additional evidence.

Question 19

If an officer’s plain view observations lead them to believe that further evidence of a crime exists, they can use those observations as..

Answer 19

probable cause to obtain a search warrant for a more extensive search.

Question 20

How can Beepers and other enhanced technology be valid and not trigger search under the 4th amendment?

Answer 20

2

If the enhanced technology merely increases the depth of information not otherwise protected by an expectation of privacy, the government’s use of enhanced technology to see or hear better is not a search.

However, Law enforcement’s use of sense-enhancing technology to see details of a private home that would not be discoverable without physically entering the home constitutes a Fourth Amendment search.

e.g.:

The use of a hidden beeper to track a barrel of chloroform (used to manufacture speed) was not an invasion of privacy where the information gleaned consisted of movements over public highways. However, if the monitoring continued after the barrel was taken inside a house and was no longer visible from outside, then a beeper locating the barrel within the structure constitutes an invasion of privacy

Training a thermal imaging device that reveals heat patterns within the home (indicative of marijuana grow lights), constitutes a search.

Question 21

Aerial surveillance valid search that does not trigger search within 4th amendmen?

Answer 21

Aerial surveillance, such as the use of airplanes, helicopters, drones, or satellite imagery, can be a valid form of search under the Fourth Amendment in certain circumstances.

1) Activities conducted in open spaces visible from the air, such as open fields or public streets, may not trigger Fourth Amendment protections.

2) law enforcement has a right to fly over navigable airspace, which includes the airspace above private property, without violating the Fourth Amendment. Therefore, if aerial surveillance occurs within the legally permissible airspace, it may not require a warrant.

3) Navigable airspace for fixed-wing aircraft is above 1,000 feet;

and there is no minimum level for helicopters.

Note: So far, all aerial surveillance has been
approved

Question 22

Do Canine sniffs amount to unconstitutional search?

Answer 22

Exposure of luggage, located in a public place or another place where the drug detection dog is authorized to be, to a “canine sniff” does not amount to a search because a “canine sniff” by a well-trained dog is 1) less intrusive than opening the luggage, and 2) the information obtained is limited to presence or absence of narcotics.

Question 23

Do people have a reasonable expectations of privacy when it comes to conversations?

Answer 23

An individual is held to assume the risk that anything said to another, or in their presence, may be revealed, recorded, or transmitted by their auditor.

Any person may be surveilled in this way outside the Fourth Amendment.

Thus, an informer, even one planted by the government, may reveal what she has heard the defendant say. She may also wear a wire or transmitter to record the conversation or broadcast it to another officer. No warrant or probable cause is required. If they are properly authenticated, tapes and listener testimony may be offered by the prosecution.

Question 24

What is the limitations to conversations searches?

Answer 24

It requires that one of the participants consents to reveal the contents of the conversation.

Electronic surveillance may not be used against persons who would otherwise have an expectation of privacy in their conversations without the consent of one of the participants.

Unless someone was loud in a public place (no reasons for privacy expectations) AKA: eavesdropping.

Question 25

Can police search Garbage without a warrant?

Answer 25

There is no Fourth Amendment search where the defendant exposes garbage in the public street for mixing with other trash before being carted away.

There is no objective expectation of privacy in garbage because garbage left on street is readily accessible to animals, children, scavengers and snoops, and curb-side garbage is left to be conveyed by a third party.

Question 26

Is there any reasonable expectations of privacy to Pen registers?

Answer 26

Pen registers record the numbers dialed on a telephone by monitoring electrical impulses; they do not monitor the content of the conversations.

Law enforcement use of pen registers is not a “search” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Unlike wiretaps and bugs, which permit the police to acquire the contents of communications, pen registers only reveal the number called.

The phone numbers of parties to a communication are necessarily made available to a third person, namely the telephone company, every time a call is made

Question 27

A seizure of property is an act that invades..

Answer 27

invades an individual’s possessory interest in
that property

Question 28

When is Tangible property is seized in Fourth Amendment terms..

Answer 28

“when there is some meaningful interference with an individual’s possessory interest” in that property.

Question 29

The general rule is that a “seizure” occurs when a police officer..

Answer 29

exercises control over the defendant’s property by destroying it, or by removing it
from the suspect’s actual or constructive possession.

Question 30

A house or office and its contents are arguably “seized” when…

Answer 30

the police secure the premises

Question 31

Seizure of property requires?

Answer 31

probable cause, the absence of which constitutes a Fourth Amendment violation.

Question 32

A seizure of property does not occur under the following circumstances: (2)

Answer 32

a. Temporary possession. No seizure occurs when an officer merely picks up an object to look at it or moves it a small distance, because any interference with a suspect’s possessory interest in such circumstances is not “meaningful.” Intimate looking could constitute a search, however.

b. Beepers. The addition of a hidden beeper does not meaningfully interfere with the
possession of a beeper-free barrel of chloroform. Hiding a beeper in the item is therefore not a seizure.

Question 33

When does D have standing to raise 4th amendment violations?

Answer 33

1) only when that violation invades the defendant’s own Fourth Amendment rights, as opposed to someone else’s rights.

2) When the defendant has a legitimate expectation of privacy in the place being searched.

3) When there is a state action, or when private actors acted under the assistance of state actors

Question 34

When does a person has a legitmate expectations of privacy?

Answer 34

1) in her own person.

2) in her own premises, even if she is not home at the time of the search.

Question 35

Do guests have a reasonable expectations of privacy?

Answer 35

1) An overnight guest, for example, always has a legitimate expectation of privacy in the residence.

2) a guest may have a legitimate expectation of privacy if he has a significant connection to the house, as shown by factors such as: (1) the length of the stay (more than a few hours); (2) previous significant connections with the resident; (3) using the house to store possessions with the owner’s permission; or (4) engaging in non-commercial activities in the home

Question 36

When is there legitimate expectation of privacy in certain areas of a house or building?

Answer 36

1) A homeowner has a
legitimate expectation of privacy in the entire home.

2) A guest, only have a legitimate expectation of privacy in certain areas: she would have a legitimate expectation of privacy in the guest room where she was staying; she also has a legitimate expectation of privacy in common areas (such as a family room)

Question 37

Is there a legitmate expectations of privacy in Cars? (OWNER)

Answer 37

An owner of a car has a legitimate expectation of privacy in the contents of that car, even if she temporarily loans it to another person.

If the owner gives another person complete control over the car for an extended period of time, however, courts may hold the owner no longer as a legitimate expectation of privacy.

Question 38

Is there a legitmate expectations of privacy in Cars? (passengers/possessor)

Answer 38

A person in possession of a car, even if not the owner, has a legitimate expectation of privacy of the car if the owner is absent.

If the car owner is present, however, a passenger is much less likely to have a legitimate expectation of privacy in the car.

Question 39

Traffic Stop: Search of Car versus Seizure of Person (passengers)

Answer 39

if a car is illegally stopped and then searched, the passenger lacks standing to contest the illegal search of the car.

However, the passenger does have standing to contest the illegal traffic stop, because her person was seized by the stopping of the car

Question 40

Probable cause is

Answer 40

is a measure of the probability that a crime was committed and (for searches) that evidence of it will be found

Question 41

Informants’ tips probable cause can be found..

Answer 41

The probable cause should be assessed under the “totality of the circumstances” standard, taking into account various factors.

1) Informant’s veracity/credibility. This can be established by a track record of accurate tips; some motivation to tell the truth; or corroboration of the tip.

2) Basis of knowledge. This can be established by the detail in the source of the information; corroboration, especially of non-public details of the tip can
also, help establish the informant’s basis of knowledge.

Question 42

Victim/witness statements probable cause

Answer 42

May form the basis of probable cause even without a track record or corroboration of the reported information.

An individual reports to a police officer that her purse was snatched and points to the perpetrator or gives a detailed description, which the arrestee matches. This constitutes probable cause to arrest despite the absence of a track record of reliability or corroboration.

Question 43

Observations by the police and probable cause

Answer 43

if they reach the threshold
of a fair probability of crime, can form the basis for probable cause

e.g. Police observe one individual hand another a small container, of the type often used to contain drugs, in exchange for cash. Probable cause exists to search or arrest for drug distribution/possession.

Question 44

When is a warrant issued?

Answer 44

Warrants are issued by a judicial officer after an ex parte
review of an affidavit which is supported by oath or affirmation.

Question 45

What if there is False information in affidavit that was used to produce a search warrant?

Answer 45

If the defendant makes a substantial preliminary
showing that a false statement was made in the affidavit, he is entitled to a hearing
on the issue.

Question 46

Whats the remedy for false information in the affidavit that was used to produce a search warrant?

Answer 46

The remedy for such a faulty affidavit is to redact the affidavit of the erroneous facts and to conduct the probable cause determination anew

Question 47

Is there a Prohibition against general warrants?

Answer 47

The Fourth Amendment text
specifies that warrants shall particularly describe the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

Particularity limits the government to a search of no greater scope or intensity than is necessary to locate the items
named in the warrant

Question 48

What is Particularity in describing persons

Answer 48

The name and address of the person to be arrested is sufficient particularity.

Question 49

What is the Particularity of place to be searched/and wiretaps?

Answer 49

The Court has been
quite lenient in allowing law enforcement flexibility in describing the place to
be searched, and especially so for wiretaps.

Question 50

Particularity in describing the thing to be seized.

Answer 50

A warrant must describe
the items to be seized with as much particularity as is reasonably possible. However, If
the item is of a generic type (e.g., lumber) a general description will do.

Question 51

T or F: The judicial officer issuing warrants must be neutral and detached.

Answer 51

The Court has held that a magistrate who personally visited a bookstore to determine which materials were pornographic lost the character
of detachment.

The Supreme Court has held that a magistrate lacked neutrality where he received $5 for each warrant issued and nothing for each denied.

Question 52

How does the court deal with magistrate errors

Answer 52

if an officer relies on objective
good faith on a warrant that – it is later found – lacks probable cause, any resulting evidence will not be suppressed.

Question 53

T or F: The Court has extended the “good faith”
exception to warrantless searches and seizures made pursuant to a statute later
declared unconstitutional.

Answer 53

True

Question 54

What happens if police officers, Exceed the scope of the warrant.

Answer 54

Reasonable mistakes in executing the scope of the warrant do not make for an unreasonable search.

e.g. Execution of a search warrant against the wrong apartment in a multi-apartment complex does not invalidate the search unless the mistake
itself is unreasonable.

Question 55

What if police officers Seize items not specified in the warrant?

Answer 55

The plain view doctrine serves
as an independent basis to seize clearly incriminating items not specified in the warrant whether or not the police had reason to know they were there

Question 56

Plain view seizures must pass a three-prong test:

Answer 56

1) The officer must be lawfully present in the location where the evidence is observed.

the officer is located in a public place or has the authorization to be where he or she is at the time the evidence comes into view, e.g., warrant, consent, exigency, etc.,

2) The incriminating nature of the evidence must be immediately apparent (i.e., without further search or investigation).

3) the officer must have a lawful right of access to the evidence. (the access is consistent with his limited authorization)

e.g. : A policeman who lawfully enters a house to check out the sound of gunfire cannot move stereo equipment to record its serial numbers. While the officer was entitled to be in the house without a warrant due to the exigent circumstances created by the gunshots, moving the stereo was a separate search that must be supported by probable cause. To put it another way, the serial numbers were not in plain view.

Question 57

What if police were searching for items not described in the warrant.

Answer 57

Searching for items that
could not otherwise be found while looking for the items described in the warrant is impermissible, as is searching persons not described in the warrant.

Question 58

Can police search persons found on the premises where a warrant is executed.

Answer 58

No.

A search warrant to search the premises implicitly authorizes temporary detention of occupants during a search.

However, others found on the premises may be frisked for weapons if there is reasonable suspicion they are armed and dangerous, but a separate warrant is required to conduct a full-blown search of persons found on the premises.

Question 59

If police had reasonable suspicion that some patrons or guests in the building being searched is armed, what is the process?

Answer 59

e.g. While executing a Warrant to search the bartender and bar for cocaine, the police may frisk or pat-down bar patrons found on the premises if there is reasonable suspicion, but they cannot conduct a full-blown evidentiary search.

However, if during the frisk or pat-down, the police detect contraband whose character is immediately apparent, the police may exceed the limits of the frisk and seize the illegal contraband under the “plain feel doctrine.”

Question 60

Whats the plain feel doctrine?

Answer 60

if during the frisk or pat-down, the police detect contraband whose character is immediately apparent, the police may exceed the limits of the frisk and seize the illegal contraband.

Question 61

What is the common law knock-and-announce principle

Answer 61

Police must ordinarily knock on the door of a
dwelling and announce their presence before entering forcefully or not.

However, an exception is in the event that the police have reasonable suspicion of resistance or destruction of evidence by those within they do not have to know and announce. Such a case-particular exception may be contained in the warrant or may arise at the time of its execution.

Question 62

Is a violation of the “knock and
announce” rule would result in suppression of the fruits of the resultant search?

Answer 62

No. , that the exclusionary rule would not apply to searches that were illegal solely because of a violation of the knock-and-announce rule.

Accordingly, the correct answer in a situation in which the police should have, but did not, knock and announce before entering a home is that the failure to knock and announce violated the 4th Amendment but the results of any search
will nevertheless not be suppressed.

Question 63

Nightime searches?

Answer 63

Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 41(c) requires that “the warrant shall be served in the daytime, unless the issuing authority, by appropriate provision in the warrant, and for reasonable cause shown, authorizes its execution at times other than daytime.”

Question 64

What are Exigent circumstances?

Answer 64

The police may enter a protected area without a warrant to search or arrest under exigent (emergency) circumstances.

Question 65

What is required to search under exigent circumstances?

Answer 65

Probable cause to search or arrest is still required.

Under the exigent-circumstances exception
to the warrant, the requirement is whether the officers have probable cause to believe that if they do not enter immediately:

a. evidence may be destroyed or removed,

b. the suspect may escape,

c. harm will occur to the police or others, either inside or outside the dwelling;
or,

d. they are in hot pursuit of a fleeing felon

Question 66

T or F: If the police have reason to believe that an armed felon raced into a house, they may follow in pursuit without a warrant.

Answer 66

True.

However, The Court has disallowed the use of the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement where the crime is a minor misdemeanor.

Question 67

Are police stakeouts around or “campouts” on the premises while a warrant is being sought allowed?

Answer 67

Yes. It has also approved the exclusion of the occupant from the home for the same
purpose.

Question 68

What if there was consent to search a house?

Answer 68

A validly obtained consent justifies an officer in conducting a search and neither probable cause (nor any other level of suspicion) nor a warrant is required.

Any evidence discovered may be seized pursuant to the plain view doctrine (discussed above).

Question 69

Valid consent must be given..

Answer 69

voluntarily.

Question 70

For consent to be voluntary, consent must be free .

Answer 70

from duress or coercion, express or implied

Question 71

Factors supporting the conclusion that coercion impelled the consent include:

Answer 71

1) a show of force by the police, such as a display of guns, that would suggest to the person that she is not free to refuse consent,

2) evidence relating to the consenting person’s age, level of education, emotional state, or mental condition that makes it reasonable to infer that
she will be overborne by the officer’s conduct.

Question 72

Do Police have to inform the person of the right to refuse consent?

Answer 72

No. Police do not have to
inform the person of the right to refuse consent.

Consent is valid even though the suspect was not aware of the right to refuse.

Question 73

What is the Scope of a consent search?

Answer 73

A suspect may delimit the scope of consent and may withdraw consent.

The standard is what would a reasonable person have understood the grant of consent to search to mean. Thus, consent to search a car for drugs includes all searchable areas where drugs could possibly be located, including containers in the car.

Question 74

What about third-party consent?

Answer 74

Third-party consent to common areas

Question 75

Consent to search given by third
parties may be upheld based on either of two theories:

Answer 75

1) common authority over the premises: mutual use by persons having joint access or control for most purposes; or

2) a reasonable belief by the officer that there was common authority even where the third party did not in fact have authority to authorize consent

Question 76

an express refusal of consent by one
party with joint authority over a home renders a warrantless search of the home..

Answer 76

unreasonable as to him regardless of whether another person with joint authority consented to the search.

Question 77

What are “containers”

Answer 77

Containers are “effects” within the terms of the Fourth Amendment.

Containers include suitcases, briefcases, backpacks, purses, and any other item capable of containing another item.

Question 78

Do people have a reasonable expectation of privacy when it comes to their containers?

Answer 78

An individual ordinarily has an expectation of privacy in her containers.

Question 79

There are three ways in which a container may be searched:

Answer 79

1) when there is probable cause

2) Search pursuant to an incident to arrest.

3) During an Inventory/booking search.

Question 80

If a police officer has probable cause to search a container.

e.g. A drug dog “alerts” to a suitcase on an airport baggage carousel.

Answer 80

With probable cause, an officer may seize a
container; however, it may not be opened, without a warrant.

Note: No warrant is required if the container is in a vehicle (below).

Question 81

Are there any containers with no expectation of privacy?

Answer 81

Certain containers are so indicative of illegal contents (e.g. crack vial), that their appearance alone provides probable cause to seize them.

Question 82

Pursuant to a valid arrest the police may search
containers…

Answer 82

within the area of the arrestee’s immediate control (often called the “Chimel” area). No additional basis for this search is required.

Note: special rules on search incidents to arrest in a vehicle (below).

Question 83

During an Inventory/booking search..

Answer 83

A person being booked into a stationhouse or jail
custody may be searched, along with items in his possession.

Question 84

Automobile searches, what do they require?

Answer 84

It is an exception to the warrant requirement if probable cause is to be found.

If the Automobile searches are based on probable cause. The automobiles and containers found therein may be searched without a warrant.

In general, the scope of automobile searches extends to wherever probable cause exists to suspect that an item subject to seizure may be found.

e.g. Police have probable cause to believe a van contains stolen TV’s. They may search areas that might hold the TVs, including the trunk, but not
the glove box or consoles.

Question 85

T or F: The “automobile exception” is an exception to the warrant requirement, not to the need for probable cause to search an automobile

Answer 85

True.

Question 86

Can police conduct searches of automobiles away from the scene?

Answer 86

Yes only if a warrantless search of an automobile would be valid if it were conducted at the scene,
i.e., at the place where it was stopped or first discovered, is also permitted if it
takes place away from the scene.

Question 87

What about containers during an automobile search?

Answer 87

A container that might contain the object of a search within a vehicle may be opened and searched without a warrant.

This is true even if probable cause for the container existed before it was placed in the vehicle, and even if the container could not have been searched without a warrant before it was placed in the vehicle.

e.g. Police have probable cause to believe drugs are in a vehicle. They may search anywhere in the vehicle drugs may be hidden, including
the purse of a passenger

e.g. Police have probable cause to believe a particular suitcase contains contraband. They observe it being placed into the trunk of a car.
They may search the trunk, seize the suitcase, and open it without a warrant.

Question 88

Searches incident to an arrest. There are two exceptions to the warrant requirement that may apply when a person is arrested and taken into custody while driving her car. These are:

Answer 88

1) Interior of the car, when within reaching distance. However, If, at the time of the search, the person arrested is no longer within reaching distance of the interior of the car, this exception does not apply.

2) For evidence relating to the crime of arrest.
When the person is arrested and the police have “reason to believe [that] evidence relevant to
the crime of arrest might be found in the vehicle,” police may search anywhere in the car for which there is reasonable suspicion the evidence
might be found.

e.g.
Police pull over a car for exceeding the speed limit. They arrest the driver when they discover she has a suspended license. Police also have reasonable suspicion, but not probable cause, to believe the driver is storing marijuana in the car.

Police may not search for the marijuana under this exception, because the marijuana would not be evidence of the crime for which the driver was arrested – driving on a suspended license.

Question 89

T or F: There is no lawful search incident in a traffic
citation or any other form of noncustodial “arrest.”

Answer 89

True. however, states can pass what they consider citation traffics arrests

Question 90

Pretext Arrests..

Answer 90

If authorized by law, an officer may use his or her
discretion in taking a person into custody even if the arrest is a “pretext” to perform a search incident to the arrest

Question 91

Warrantless, suspicionless automobile inventory searches are

Answer 91

constitutional under the Fourth Amendment.

why:

a) to safeguard items in the car,
b) to present an accounting to rebut potential claims of theft, and
c) to confiscate any dangerous items left in the car

Question 92

What is the Scope and discretion in impoundment and inventory searches?

Answer 92

The inspecting officer may exercise discretion in impounding the automobile and in conducting the search as long as that discretion is exercised according to “standardized criteria.” T

he Court has struck down inventory searches conducted without any criteria, for example, on when closed containers can be opened.

Question 93

What are Terry searches of automobiles?

Answer 93

The car interior, including containers, may be searched for weapons without a warrant on the basis of reasonable suspicion that an occupant is armed and dangerous.

The plain view doctrine applies to items found in a car during a Terry search. In addition, passengers may be subjected to a Terry search if there is reasonable suspicion they are armed and dangerous.

Question 94

T or F: The owner, driver, or one with apparent authority, may consent to a search of the car, and the scope of the consent is defined by the object being searched for.

Answer 94

True. Once a car is stopped, the law enforcement officer may use the opportunity to obtain consent.

Even if the stop or search was a “pretext” for criminal investigation, that motivation is irrelevant
and does not render an otherwise lawful act unlawful.

Question 95

Administrative searches/Roadblock checks

Answer 95

• Special government needs searches are evaluated based on the reasonableness clause of the Fourth Amendment.
• The balancing test weighs the individual’s interest in liberty against society’s interest in security.
• Administrative searches are conducted for non-criminal purposes, such as public health, safety, border protection, or maintaining an educational environment.

Question 96

A search primarily intended for criminal law enforcement does not qualify as a..

Answer 96

As an administrative search. However, they must apply to everyone the same.

i.e. stopping every car

Question 97

Can homes be inspected without a warrant?

Answer 97

No. May be inspected for health and safety violations with a warrant issued on the basis of reasonable legislative or administrative standards
(e.g. age or type of building). Such a warrant is required.

Question 98

Can Businesses be inspected without a warrant?

Answer 98

Businesses ordinarily can be searched under the same conditions as a home.

However, businesses that are licensed or ones traditionally subject to governmental regulation, do not require a warrant for administrative searches.

Question 99

A person maintains a reasonable expectation
of privacy in his fire-damaged home, unless the

Answer 99

unless the fire is “so devastating”
that no reasonable privacy interest remains in the ash and ruins.

Question 100

Do 4th amendment protections apply to prisons?

Answer 100

Prisons. No Fourth Amendment protections apply.

Also to prisoners, parolees, etcs..

Question 101

Do 4th amendment protections apply to schools?

Answer 101

While the Fourth Amendment applies to school officials, they may search a student and her belongings on “reasonable grounds.” This is
less than probable cause and possibly less than reasonable suspicion.

Question 102

Do 4th amendment protections apply to International checkpoints and border searches

Answer 102

Persons may be stopped at the international border or its functional equivalent (e.g., at an airport where an international flight arrives), and they and their effects may be searched, without a warrant and in the absence of any suspicion of wrongdoing.

Question 103

T or F if there is reason to believe that drug traffickers swallowed balloons containing drugs does it give rise to more intrusive border searches?

Answer 103

Yes. If the officials have reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, the scope of a border search may exceed routine customs search,

Question 104

Is a warrant necessary to search Probationer/Parolee without a warrant?

Answer 104

Yes.

Question 105

Checkpoints searches?

Answer 105

Checkpoints at which vehicles are stopped on a regular basis (e.g. every car, every other car) have been upheld when designed to assure road safety (alcohol) but checkpoints stopping all drivers are unreasonable when employed for general crime
detection, such as drug law enforcement.

Question 106

When is suspicionless urine testing valid without a warrant?

Answer 106

a) Transportation workers involved in accidents;

b) Law enforcement officers applying for jobs or promotions;

c) Public school students participating in competitive extracurricular activities

The Court has struck down suspicionless drug testing of candidates for public office and pregnant women for cocaine use when the results would
be used to prosecute

Question 107

Drug testing without a warrant:

Answer 107

Fourth Amendment only applies where the government conducts drug testing.

Private drug testing does not involve state action. Therefore, the Fourth Amendment would not apply.

Question 108

Electronic surveillance is a warrant required?

Answer 108

A warrant (order) is required for nonconsensual electronic surveillance.

To intercept wire or electronic conversations, the government must seek a warrant from a judge based upon probable cause

Question 109

Title III covers wiretapping, interception of cell phone calls, email, and electronic or mechanical interception of oral conversations in which there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. This coverage includes private parties as well as state actors.

Answer 109

True. Needs warrant for all of these.

Question 110

An exception to Title III.

Answer 110

Consensual monitoring.

Title III allows one party to give permission to allow a phone conversation to be overheard or recorded without a court order. The government does not need to get a warrant to have an informant wear a wire or record a consensual conversation.

Question 111

What are the sanctions for violations of Title III?

Answer 111

Title III has a statutory exclusionary rule that is broader than the Fourth Amendment’s, barring use in all judicial, administrative proceedings, including the grand jury. There are also civil and criminal sanctions for illegal surveillance.

Question 112

What is considered to be a seizure?

Answer 112

It is when a reasonable person would not feel free to leave.

Question 113

What is considered to be a seizure?

Answer 113

It is when a reasonable person would not feel free to leave.

Question 114

What is an Arrest?

Answer 114

It is the taking of a person into custody for the purpose of charging.

Probable cause is required.

PC to believe that a crime has been committed and the suspect committed it is required for an arrest

Question 115

Arrest warrant needed?

1) Houses
2) Public places

Answer 115

1) Houses. The Court has held that the Fourth Amendment prohibits warrantless, nonconsensual entry into a suspect’s home to make a “routine” arrests, i.e., absent exigent circumstances.

2) Public places. The Court has validated warrantless arrests in public places except for misdemeanors not committed in the officer’s presence.

Question 116

T or F: A search of the area within the suspect’s
immediate control incident to an arrest comes with the arrest.

Answer 116

True.

Question 117

T or F: The Court has held that a full search of the person is permitted incident to a custodial arrest under the reasonableness clause of the Fourth Amendment. This same rule applies to arrests in vehicles.

Answer 117

True.

Thus, the police may search the entire passenger
compartment, including containers, without a search warrant incident to a lawful custodial arrest of any occupant in the vehicle, so long as the person under arrest is within reaching distance of the interior compartment of the car.

Question 118

What is a Protective sweep?

Answer 118

During a lawful entry to arrest, the arresting officers may

1) automatically, i.e., without probable cause or reasonable suspicion, conduct a “protective sweep” of the areas adjacent to the arrest for persons who might pose a danger to the officers or others, and

2) if there is reasonable suspicion that there are other persons who may pose a danger to the officers elsewhere, the officers may sweep the building to verify or dispel that suspicion.

Question 119

With warrantless arrests, before an extended restraint on liberty may be imposed there must be a probable cause determination by a judicial officer promptly after the arrest within..

Answer 119

within 48 hours of arrest.

Detention beyond that time is presumptively unreasonable in the absence of extenuating circumstances such as emergency closure of the courts or mass arrests.

Question 120

Stops and frisks. What is a Terry stop?

Answer 120

A Terry stop is a brief detention amounting to a seizure under the Fourth Amendment.

It may be performed on the basis of “reasonable” or “articulable” suspicion.

e.g. an anonymous tip predicting future public behavior that lacks the distinct corroboration for probable cause might suffice to provide reasonable suspicion. “Innocent” actions, in conjunction with circumstances, can establish reasonable suspicion.

A limited search, a frisk outside of outer garments to feel for weapons, is permitted upon “reasonable suspicion” that the suspect is armed and dangerous.

Question 121

Examples of reasonable suspicion vs. no reasonable suspicion

Answer 121

Fleeing at the sight of police in a high-crime neighborhood constitutes reasonable suspicion.

An anonymous tip describing an individual and reporting his possession of a weapon was insufficient to establish reasonable suspicion
without some corroboration other than the person’s presence at the location

Question 122

What is the limitations of a terry stop:

Answer 122

A Terry stop is limited, both in time and degree of intrusiveness.

Both must be reasonably related to the purpose of the stop: to confirm or dispel the suspicion.

While the Court has upheld a detention of 20 minutes, it has disapproved one of 90 minutes. Movement of the suspect, especially to a more private, and therefore confining, location also tends to make the detention more like an arrest (requiring probable cause) and less like a stop.

Question 123

T or F: Moving the traveler to an office and holding his ticket for a lengthy period exceeded the limits of a Terry stop and constituted an arrest
requiring probable cause.

Answer 123

True

Question 124

Scope of frisk:

Answer 124

A Terry frisk of outer garments is allowed when the officer has reasonable suspicion that the suspect is armed and dangerous.

Question 125

The frisk is limited to

Answer 125

It is limited to a patdown feel for weapons and must stop when it is apparent there is no weapon.

However, the officer may seize non-weapon contraband detected during a protective pat down search of the sort permitted by Terry, so long as the search stayed within the bounds delineated by Terry and the officer knows it is contraband by plain view or feel.

Plain-feel seizures are evaluated under a three-prong test analogous to plain-view seizures.

Question 126

T or F: The Court has extended Terry to a weapons search of the passenger compartment of an automobile stopped during a lawful investigation of its driver.

Answer 126

True. It is authorized to conduct a “frisk” of [portions of] an automobile for weapons if there is reasonable suspicion that the suspect has a weapon in the vehicle.

Question 127

Are Consensual encounters a temporary seizures?

Answer 127

A “seizure” of a person occurs when a police officer’s conduct would cause a reasonable person to believe that he is not free to terminate the encounter.

If a reasonable person would feel free to go about his business in the circumstances, then the individual has not been seized. Instead, he is participating in a “consensual encounter.”

The officer need not inform the person that he may refuse to cooperate. The subjective impressions of the person accosted are irrelevant, as are the silent intentions of the law enforcement officer.

The reasonable person in this test “presupposes an innocent person.” A consensual encounter falls short of a seizure and thus is subject to no Fourth Amendment restrictions

Question 128

Consensual encounters. During a consensual encounter, the police may:

Answer 128

1) approach a person;
2) pose questions;
3) ask for identification or travel documents;
4) request consent to search.

Example: Accosting a suspect on a city bus and asking for permission to search his travel bag does not constitute a seizure because a reasonable person would know that he was free to decline the officer’s request.

Question 129

A police-citizen confrontation does not
amount to a “seizure” unless the officer

Answer 129

unless the officer adds to the pressure inherent in the situation “by engaging in conduct significantly beyond that accepted in social intercourse.” Such conduct includes:

1) pointing a police weapon;

2) encircling the suspect;

3) roughly touching the suspect; and,

4) speaking in a tone indicating commands rather than requests.

Question 130

Where the suspect flees rather than submits to police authority, seizure does not occur until

Answer 130

the police officer lays on hands or applies physical force to restrain movement, even if ultimately unsuccessful.

example: If after spotting a suspected drug trafficker, a law enforcement officer seeks to question the suspect but the suspect flees, the stop or arrest does not occur until the law enforcement officer has gained physical control over the suspect or applied force. Therefore, regardless of the justification for the seizure, the exclusionary rule does not apply to any contraband dropped by the fleeing suspect during the attempted escape because the tossing preceded the challenged seizure.

Question 131

If the information given by an informant was stale (old) e.g. incident that happened two months ago.. then there is no..

Answer 131

If the information is stale, it will defeat probable cause by diminishing the possibility that the items in question are still at the location.