Crim Pro Flashcards
What is the community caretaking exception reasonableness test?
In order for public servant exception of community caretaking doctrine to apply:
(1) Police must be able to point to specific, objective, and articulable facts that would reasonably suggest to an experienced officer that a citizen is in need of assistance.
(2) The police caretaking action must be independent from the detection, investigation, and acquisition of criminal evidence. (independent of any law enforcement concerns).
(3) The level of intrusion must match with the perceived need of assistance.
What is the community caretaking exception balancing test?
Balancing an individual’s interest in being free from police intrusion with State’s legitimate interest in public welfare. First, evaluate the degree to which an officer intrudes upon a citizen’s freedom of movement and privacy. Second, courts must determine whether the degree of public interest and exigency of the situation justified the seizure for community caretaking purposes
What are the three specific exceptions encompassed by community caretaking doctrine? What do they each contemplate?
(1) Emergency aid
(2) Automobile impoundment/inventory
(3) Public servant/public safety
Each exception contemplates that the police officer’s actions be motivated by a desire to render aid or assistance rather than the investigation of criminal activity.
What happens once you’re out of community caretaking exception and into a search and seizure?
Once you’re out of community caretaking exception and into a search and seizure, the full panoply of the 4th amendment protections applies.
What was the takeway from Katz?
The Fourth Amendment applies when there is a reasonable expectation of privacy
The Fourth Amendment protects people, not places.
Harlan’s concurrence became the takeaway from Katz. There is a twofold requirement; First, that a person have exhibited an actual (subjective) expectation of privacy, and, second, that the expectation be one that society is prepared to recognize as “reasonable”.
What was the takeaway from Jones?
Trespass test, Fourth Amendment is based on property, so trespasses definitely require 4th Amendment rights. Trespasses allow fourth amendments to be found on narrower grounds.
What is the plain view doctrine?
An exception to the 4th amendment. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in matters left within plain view.
What is the test for plain view?
To qualify for plain view treatment, the police officer must view the item from a place where she has a right to be.
(1) What level of effort did police have to engage in to get to the spot where they saw it? The more effort, the less likely plain view.
(2) Was any technological enhancement necessary? The more enhancements, the less likely plain view.
(3) Any physical manipulation of the item or space to make it in plain view also makes it less likely in plain view.
What is the scale of what is outside the 4th amendment, and what is under the 4th amendment?
Outside the 4th Amendment: Conversations Public welfare functions (community caretaking exception) Plain view Into the 4th Amendment: Stops Search Arrest
What is the Mendenhall test?
How to determine a stop: Whether or not a reasonable person in that situation would feel free to leave, or to terminate the encounter.
When is reasonable suspicion required?
In order to justify a stop there has to be reasonable suspicion.
When is an investigatory stop justified?
An investigatory stop is justified if at the time of the stop the officer has an articulable suspicion that criminal conduct has taken place, is occurring, or imminently will occur, and the officer’s assessment of the existence of specific and articulable facts sufficient to warrant the stop is objectively reasonable in the totality of the circumstances.
What actors does the 4th amendment apply to?
The Fourth amendment only applies to state action.
How do you determine if a private actor is acting under state action.
(1) Whether law enforcement actively participate in or encouraged the private search, and
(2) Whether the private individual intended to assist law enforcement or had some other independent motivation.
What are the two definitions of reasonable suspicion?
Specific articulable facts that support an inference that criminal activity is a foot
Something more than a hunch, less than probable cause.
What is the totality of the circumstances rule for reasonable suspicion?
Reasonable suspicion requires a determination that, under the totality of the circumstances, the officers had a particularized and objective basis for suspecting the particular person stopped of criminal activity.
What are factors considered in the totality of the circumstances?
Time of day
Area, no apparent purpose
Proximity to crime scene
Erratic behavior
Running from police
disposing/concealing objects (evidence)
Demeanor and dress (appearance)How are high crime areas relevant to reasonable suspicion?
Presence in a high-crime area can be a factor in reasonable suspicion, but standing alone is not enough for reasonable suspicion.
How are anonymous tips relevant to reasonable suspicion?
Anonymous tips can contribute to reasonable suspicion only if the police can find independent corroboration of significant details, especially of predicted future actions of the suspect, in the informant’s tip.
What are whren stops?
“Whren stops” = stops based on reasonable suspicion of a traffic violation, but the stop is intended to further investigation of some other crime.
What is the minority rule regarding pretextual stops?
Minority (Washington) approach: A totality of the circumstances approach– Trial courts may inquire both about the subjective intent of the officer as well as the objective reasonableness of the officer’s behavior to determine whether a stop was pretextual or not. (Reasonable officer “would have”).
What is the majority and minority rule regarding criminal profiles?
Majority: does not allow the match to a police department’s criminal profile, standing alone, to constitute reasonable suspicion. Match to a profile will add weight to reasonable suspicion calculation.
Minority: rejects any reliance on the use of profiles to add any weight to facts observed in the field.
The federal law places no independent weight, positive or negative, on the existence of a profile. Some state courts reject particular components of a profile, without rejecting the reliance on profiles generally.
What is the majority approach to relying on race in reasonable suspicion?
Most courts allow the police to rely on race as one among many components of reasonable suspicion, particularly if the police use the racial element of a description received from a victim or witness of the crime.
What is the holding of Terry v. Ohio?
Where a police officer observes unusual conduct which leads him to reasonably conclude in light of his experience that criminal activity may be afoot and that the persons with whom he is dealing may be armed and presently dangerous, where in the course of investigating this behavior he identifies himself as a policeman and makes reasonable inquiries, and where nothing in the initial stages of the encounter serves to dispel his reasonable fear for his own or others’ safety, he is entitled for the protection of himself and others in the area to conduct a carefully limited search of the outer clothing of such persons in an attempt to discover weapons which might be used to assault him.
What is the plain feel doctrine?
Under the “plain feel” doctrine, if an officer conducts a properly circumscribed Terry search for weapons and feels an object that is not a weapon, the officer can seize the item if it is “immediately apparent” that the item is contraband or evidence of a crime.
How far do frisks extend?
Frisks extend to anything on your person, like coats and purses. In frisks of drivers it extends to the vehicle.
What was the holding in Edmond?
Edmond distinguishes types of permissible checkpoints. Checkpoint programs with the primary purpose to detect evidence of ordinary criminal wrongdoing are not permissible.
What is the majority and minority position on sobriety checkpoints?
State courts are split on whether suspicionless sobriety checkpoints violate their state constitutions, with a strong majority mirroring the federal position. A minority require individualized suspicion before a vehicle stop may occur at a sobriety checkpoint.
What are the warrant requirements?
To be valid, a warrant must describe with particularity the place to be searched and the evidence to be seized. It must also be issued by a neutral and detached magistrate and must be executed in a reasonable manner.
What is the definition of probable cause?
The substance of all the definitions of probable cause is a reasonable ground for belief of guilt. And this means less than evidence which would justify condemnation or conviction. It has come to mean more than bare suspicion: Probable cause exists where facts and circumstances within the officers’ knowledge and of which they had reasonably trustworthy information are sufficient in themselves to warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that an offense has been or is being committed.
What are the sources of information for probable cause?
Sources of information to support probable cause: Police officer Confidential sources Anonymous sources Victims Witnesses
What is the immigration exception to relying on race?
For immigration enforcement, federal law allows explicit reliance on race or ethnicity.
What is the Four Corner’s rule of warrant applications?
The government’s defense of the warrant must come from within the four corners of the application. Some states allow courts to supplement the four corners of the affidavit with information that could be reasonably inferred from the document, while a few others go further and say that the court is free to use outside information at its discretion.
What is the minority and majority test for ascertaining probable cause?
(Minority) Aguilar-Spinelli = Two prong test to determine whether probable cause exists, evaluate the informant upon whose information police relied:
Basis of knowledge
Veracity or reliability
(Majority) Gates Totality of the circumstances = Looks at the totality of the circumstances to see if probable cause exists. Can take into account the Aguilar-Spinelli prongs, but is not a rigid test.
What is a citizen informant? Why are they important?
Citizen informant: A citizen who purports to be the victim or to have been the witness of a crime who is motivated by good citizenship and acts openly in aid of law enforcement. Persons criminally involved or disposed are not regarded as citizen informants because they are generally motivated by something other than good citizenship.
Generally a warrant affidavit must show that the informant had given reliable information in the past or that the informant was a citizen informant.
Who may issue search warrants?
Most states allow only judges and magistrates to issue warrants. Some state statutes require that magistrates be lawyers. A smaller group of states allow functionaries like clerk magistrates, ministerial recorders, clerks of court, or court commissioners to issue search warrants.
How does timing impact the issuance of a warrant?
All but three states prescribe a deadline for serving a warrant, at which time the warrant expires. This period ranges from two days to 60 days. The typical time span is 10 days.
How are no-knock entries analyzed?
No-knock entries are more likely to be valid if it is included in the warrant. Absent that, reasons must be articulated that would permit a no-knock entry. For this reason, the Anyan case analyzes the exigent circumstances justifying the no-knock entry before finding the entry impermissible.
How do nighttime searches vary from daytime?
The majority of states have statutes or procedural rules imposing legal limits on the execution of search warrants at night beyond the usual requirements for daytime warrants.
What are exigent circumstances?
an exception to the warrant requirement of the 4th amendment, which applies when the exigencies of the situation make the needs of law enforcement so compelling that a warrantless search is objectively reasonable. This exception requires fact-sensitive and objective analysis.
What factors determine whether exigency exists?
The degree of urgency and amount of time necessary to obtain a warrant
The reasonable belief that the evidence was about to be lost, destroyed, or removed from the scene
The severity or seriousness of the offense involved
The possibility that a suspect was armed or dangerous
The strength or weakness of the underlying probable cause determination
How can an officer conduct a warrantless home search or home arrest?
In order to justify the officers’ warrantless home search the State must establish: (1) the existence of exigent circumstances, and (2) that those exigent circumstances were not police-created.
What is police-created exigent circumstances? What is an example?
Police created exigency = created by engaging or threatening to engage in conduct that violates the Fourth Amendment (very narrow standard). An example includes demanding to be allowed the search or else you’ll return with a warrant.
How do administrative searches compare to criminal searches?
Searches based on special needs require administrative warrants. Required for noncriminal searches where consent is not given, and requires administrative probable cause. Such standards will vary with the municipal program being enforced, may be based upon the passage of time, the nature of the building, or the condition of the entire area, but they will not necessarily depend upon specific knowledge of the condition of the particular dwelling. Administrative warrants require reasonableness test. Balancing the need to search against the invasion of which the search entails.
What is first party consent?
Consent of the party being searched.
How does consent affect the need for a warrant?
The police can conduct a full search without a warrant and without probable cause if the target of the search consents. Any valid consent to search must be voluntary.
What was the holding of Bustamonte?
Bustamonte: When the subject of the search is not in custody and the State attempts to justify a search on the basis of his consent, the Fourth Amendment requires that it demonstrate that the consent was in fact voluntarily given, and not the result of duress or coercion, express or implied. Voluntariness is a question of fact to be determined from the totality of the circumstances. While the subject’s knowledge or a right to refuse is a factor to be taken into account, the prosecution is not required to demonstrate such knowledge as a prerequisite to establishing a voluntary consent.
What is the majority position on the consent analysis for searches?
Almost all state courts agree with Bustamonte that a totality of the circumstances determines whether a person consented to a search, and that it is not necessary to inform the person of the right to refuse consent.
Subjective factors: person’s age, education, and intelligence.
Objective factors: evidence of coercion, deception, threats, or undue influence by the police. Whether the police conduct could have been coercive (et. al) to a reasonable person in the defendant’s circumstances.
How does consent affect the scope of a search?
A consent search is valid only if the government agent conducting the search remains within the bounds of the consent granted. A reasonable person’s understanding of the request to search. If a typical reasonable person would not have understood that the request of the search extended to such a scope, the search is unreasonable.
What is the rule for third party consent?
A third party may consent when: Mutual use of the property by persons having joint access or control for most purposes.
When a co-tenant objects to a search, there is no longer consent for that search.
How may one withdraw consent to a search?
A person who has consented to a search can withdraw that consent or restrict its scope at any time before the completion of the search. The person must make an unequivocal withdrawal, through words or actions or both. An action withdrawing consent must be clearly inconsistent with the prior consent.
How can police conduct invalidate consent?
Flat out lying about having a warrant or being able to get a warrant invalidates consent. Police are otherwise able to make statements that encourage consent.
What is apparent authority? How is it measured?
Apparent authority: where the police reasonably believe that the third party who allowed the search had the authority to consent, the search is valid.
Apparent authority is judged against an objective standard: would the facts available to the officer at the moment warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that the consenting party had authority over the premises?
What is a search incident to arrest?
When government agents arrest a person, it has long been clear that they may search the person “incident” to the arrest, without any probable cause or reasonable suspicion to believe that the search will produce any weapon or anything else connected to the crime. The search incident to arrest also extends beyond the body of the arrestee to include areas nearby.
What is the balancing test used for searches? How does physical intrusion play into the test?
Balancing test: legitimate governmental interest against the individual’s expectation of privacy
The more physically intrusive the search, the more it burdens the individual’s legitimate privacy interests.
What is the rule for breath tests incident to arrest?
Because breath tests are significantly less intrusive than blood tests and in most cases amply serve law enforcement interests, we conclude that a breath test, but not a blood test, may be administered as a search incident to a lawful arrest for drunk driving.
What justification is required for a search incident to arrest?
Searches incident to arrest are automatic: it only requires a lawful arrest, no other justification.
How far may searches incident to arrest span?
The search may extend to the area within the immediate control of the arrestee, that is, the area in which the arrestee could reach a weapon or destroy evidence–their “wingspan”. The majority of states have the wingspan to be determined on a case-by-case basis. The minority, and federal standard, simply asks if the search happened within an area that was within the defendant’s immediate control in the moments before the arrest began.
Police making an arrest may search items immediately associated with the arrestee’s person, such as purses, wallets, and luggage.
What are protective sweeps and when can they be used?
Protective sweeps outside the area within the immediate control of the arrestee:
1. The arresting officers may look in closets and other places immediately adjoining the place of the arrest from which another person might launch an attack on the officers.
2. The officers may search other areas in the house for any persons who might pose a danger to them, but only if they have a reasonable suspicion that the sweep will reveal the presence of such a person.
In either case, the search is limited to places where a person may be found.
What was the holding of King Jr?
The Supreme Court concludes that DNA identification of arrestees is a reasonable search that can be considered part of a routine booking procedure.
