Crim Pro Flashcards
School Search Standards
- Kids at extracurricular activities can be randomly drug tested
- Warrantless searches of public school children’s effects are valid if they have a moderate chance of finding evidence of wrongdoing, the measures are reasonably related to the objective of the search, and not excessively intrusive.
Rights to Counsel
- 5th Amendment (Miranada)
- not offense specific
- 6th Amendment (after charges are brought)
- Is offense specific
- right to counsel at all critical stages of trial
Right to a Jury Trial
If criminal offense carries penalty exceeding 6 months
At least 6 jurors (need to be unanimous at 6, but not unanimous if more)
Ineffective Assistence of Counsel
But for defficient performance of counsel the result would have been different
Defendant must show particular errors made by counsel
Guilty Pleas and Plea Bargaining
- Generally a court will not disturb a guilty plea after sentencing, unless:
- plea was involuntary (plea taking ceremony error); lack of jurisdiction; ineffective assistence of counsel; failure of prosecutor to keep an agreed upon plea bargain
- Plea Taking Ceremony:
- Judge must explain the nature of the charge, the penalties involved, inform of right to demand a trial, and all this must be on the record
Double Jeopardy Exceptions
- Hung Jury
- Mistrail for manifest necessity (medical reason)
- Retrial after successful appeal (unless, overturned for insufficient evidence; but can’t be charged with a more serious offense)
- Breach of plea bargain by defendant
Search and Seizure: Global Issues
- Whether search or seizure is governed by 4th Am.
- Whether search or seizure with a warrant satisfies 4th Am.
- Whether search or seizure without a warrant satisfies 4th Am.
- Extent to which evidence obtained in violation of 4th Am. is admissible in court
Is Search or Seizure Governed by 4th Amendment?
- Executed by Government Agent
- Area or Item Protected by 4th Am.
- Two Theories
- Trespass Theory
- Reasonable Expectation of Privacy
- Standing to Challenge Government Conduct
Areas/Items Protected by 4th Amendment
4th Am. protects from unreasonable searches and seizures of:
- Persons
- Houses (+Curtilage)
- Papers (Correspondence)
- Effects (personal belongings)
Trespass Theory
Physical intrusion on a constitutional area to obtain information
Privacy Based Theory
Violation of a Reasonable Expectation of Privacy
Individual must show:
- Actual or subjective expecation of privacy AND
- Privacy expectation is “one that society recognizes as reasonable”
Technology Standard
Search is unreasonable if:
- it uses a device not in public use
- to learn details that otherwise could not have been known without physical intrusion
Standing to Challange Search or Seizure
General Prinicipal: Assert violation of personal privacy rights (not those of third party)
Does a search conducted with a warrant satisfy the 4th Amendment?
- Neutral and Detached Magistrate?
- Supported by Probable Cause and Particularity?
- If not, did officers rely on warrant in good faith?
- Proper execution?
Probable Cause
Probable cause requires proof of a “fair probability” that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in the area searched
- Can rely on heasay
- Can rely on anonymous tips if corrobarted by enough information to make a “common sense practical” determinatino that probable cause exists based on a totality of the circumstances
Particularity
- The place to be searched AND
- The items to be siezed
Good Faith Reliance on a Defective Warrant
Generally good faith overcomes a deficient warrant, but there are exceptions:
- Warrant is so egregiously lacking in probable cause that no office would have relied on it
- Warrant is so facially deficient in particularity that officers could not reasonably presume it to be valid
- Warrant relies on knowing or reckless falsehoods that are necessary to the probable cause finding
- Issued by biased magistrated
Proper Execution of a Warrant
- Compliance with terms and limitations of warrant
- only items that could contain items being searched for
- Knock and Announce Rule
- Must knock and announce unless futile, dangerous, or would inhibit investigation
Does a warrantless search satisfy the 4th Amendment? (Exceptions to the Warrant Requirement)
- Exigent Circumstances
- Search Incident to Arrest
- Consent
- Automobile
- Plain View
- Inventory
- Special Needs
- Terry - Stop and Frisk
Exigent Circumstances
Exception to the Warrant Requirement
- Evanescent Evidence - would dissipate or disappear in the time required to get a warrant
- Hot Pursuit of a Fleeing Felon
- Can enter a home when in hot pursuit
- Items in plain view can be seized
- Emergency Aid
- Police may enter a home if there is an objectively reasonable basis for believing that a person inside is in need of emergency aid to prevent injury
Search Incident to Arrest
Exception to Warrant Requirement
- Must be contemporaneous with arrest
- Limited to wingspan of arrestee and containers in immediate control
- Can search interior cabin of automobile including closed containers, but not trunk
- If arrestee secured - can only search of evidence relating to arrest
Automobile Exception
Exception to Warrant Requirement
- Justified by lesser expection of privacy in vehicle and mobility of vehicle
- Officers need probable cause to believe that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found
- Can search entire vehicle and open any container that can reasonably contain itmes for which there was probable cause to search
Plain View
Exception to the Warrant Requirement
- Lawful access to the place (e.g., hot pursuit of felon)
- Lawful access to the item (e.g., cannot search backpack while in hot pursuit of felon)
- Criminality of item must be immediately apparent
Inventory Searches
Exception to Warrant Requirement
- of Arrestees when booked into jail
- of vehicles when impounded
Consitutional if:
- Governed by reasonable regulations of scope
- Search complies with regulations
- Search is done in good faith - i.e., solely done as routine matter
Terry Stop - Stop and Frisk
Exception to Warrant Requirement
- Terry Stop - brief stop to investigate suspicious conduct
- Seized when a reasonable person would not feel free to leave of decline to answer questions (consider whether officer brandished weapon; tone and demeanor)
- Terry Frisk - Patdown of the body and outer clothing for weapons when justified by an officer’s belief that suspect is armed and dangerous
- Can seize weapon or contraband that is immediately apparent without manipulation
- Supported by reasonable suspicion - specific and articulable facts that inform an officer’s belief that criminal activity is present (and for frisk, that person is armed and dangerous)
Can evidence obtained in violation of 4th amendment be used in court?
Exclusionary Rule: Evidence that is obtained in violation of 4th amendment is inadmissible in court, bu there are exceptions:
- Only excluded from prosecutor’s case in chief; can be used to impeach defendant’s testimony
- Does not apply to violations of knock and announce
- Only applies if police error is deliberate, reckless, or grossly negligent; does not apply to officer’s reasonable mistakes
- Fruit of the poisonous tree
Fruit of the Poisonous Tree
Generally derivative evidence from improperly obtained direct evidence is inadmissible as “fruit of the poisonous tree” unless:
- There is an independent source
- Inevitable discovery - would necessarily been discovered through lawful means
- Attenuation - passage of time, intervening events, and non-flagrant nature of violation “purge the taint”
Law of Arrest
- Arrest occurs when police take someone into custody against his will for prosecution or interrogation
- Supported by probable cause
- No warrant needed to arrest in public place
- Warrant needed to arrest in home
Constitutional Challanges to Confessions
- 14th Am. DPC
- 6th Am. Right to Counsel
- 5th Am. Miranda Doctrine
Excluding Confessions under DPC
Confession excluded if involuntary, meaning product of police coercion that overbears the suspects will
6th Amendment Right to Counsel
- Attaches when formally charged (not upon arrest)
- Applies at all “critical stages” of prosecution
- Offense Specific
- Confessions Violate 6th Am. if deliberately illicted and the defendant did not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waive his right to counsel
5th Amendment Miranda
- Implied in self-incrimination clause of 5th Am.
- Miranda warnings
- Necessary for custodial interrogation
- Custody
- reasonable person would not feel free to leave or end interrogation
- Inherently coercive environment
- Interrogation
- Police conduct that police knew or should have known would elicit an incriminating statement
- Custody
- Necessary for custodial interrogation
Miranda Waiver
- Must be knowing and intelligent
- understand nature of rights and consequences of waiver
- Must be voluntary
- May be implied (Waiver need not be express)
- Prosecution must prove waiver by a preponderance of evidence
Invoking Miranda Rights
- Right to Remain Silent
- Must be unambiguously invoked
- Officer’s must scrupulously honor
- Must wait a significant amount of time and obtain a valid waiver to reinitiate questioning
- Right to Counsel
- Must be sufficiently clear
- All questioning must cease, unless intiated by suspect
- Not offense specific
- Request for counsel expires 14 days after release
