Crim Pro Flashcards
Anonymous Sources or Tips
A valid search warrant must be issued by a neutral and detached magistrate based on probable cause, supported by oath or affidavit. Facts supporting probable cause may come from several sources, including information from a reliable, known informant, or information from an unknown informant that can be independently verified
Break in Interrogation
Miranda warnings must be given before interrogation begins. If interrogation is stopped for a long duration, the warnings must be given again.
Blockburger or whatever
The Sixth Amendment is offense-specific, meaning that the interrogation that is the subject of the Sixth Amendment inquiry must relate to the crime for which criminal proceedings have commenced. The Sixth Amendment right to counsel does not attach to other crimes for which the accused may be under investigation but which are unrelated to the pending prosecution. Under Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S.299 (1932), two different crimes committed in one criminal transaction are deemed to be the same offense for Sixth Amendment purposes unless each offense requires proof of an element that the other does not.
Grand Juries and Brady Rule
he prosecutor has no legal obligation to present evidence exculpating the defendant to the grand jury, even if it is requested by the grand jurors. Thus, a grand jury indictment cannot be dismissed for the prosecutor’s failure to present exculpatory evidence, unless the prosecutor violated a preexisting constitutional or legislative rule, which did not occur here
Race and jury selection
The Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause prohibits both the criminal defendant and the prosecutor from exercising peremptory challenges solely based on race or gender. In order to determine whether a party exercised a peremptory challenge based on race, the U.S. Supreme Court has set forth a three-prong test. First, the moving party must establish a prima facie case of discrimination. Once that prima facie case is established, the party who exercised the challenge must provide a race-neutral explanation for the strike. If they succeed, the burden shifts back to the moving party to establish that the race-neutral explanation is only a pretext.
Whether race is “inextricably bound up in the case” is relevant to whether a party can question a potential juror about racial views; it does not provide a defense against or justification for removing jurors of a particular race.
Grand Jury and Race Discrim
a defendant who is indicted by a grand jury from which members of a racial group have been deliberately excluded has standing to raise Equal Protection claims of the excluded racial group, even though the defendant is not a member of the excluded racial group.
Judge imposed death sentence
In order for a judge to impose the death sentence in a jury trial, the Sixth Amendment Right to a Jury Trial as made applicable to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that jury must find at least one aggravating circumstance beyond a reasonable doubt.
Mistrial cause of a hung jury
generally, if a mistrial is declared because of a hung jury, then the defendant may be retried
Miranda and asked for a lawyer
After a suspect has been read his Miranda rights and has invoked his right to an attorney, all interrogation of the suspect by police must stop. Nevertheless, a subsequent statement voluntarily made by the suspect is admissible.
Felony Murder, Death Penalty, and Accomplice
In felony-murder cases, the death penalty may not be imposed if the defendant, acting as an accomplice, did not kill, attempt to kill, or intend to kill, unless the defendant significantly participated in the commission of the felony and acted with reckless indifference to human life.
Auto Search without warrant
In order to justify a warrantless search of an automobile incident to arrest, the Fourth Amendment requires that law enforcement demonstrate either (i) that the arrestee is within reaching distance of the passenger compartment at the time of the search and, as a result, may pose an actual and continuing threat to the officer’s safety or a need to preserve evidence from being tampered with by the arrestee or (ii) that it is reasonable that evidence of the offense of arrest might be found in the vehicle
Mandatory Presumption Essay? read more on this
The Due Process Clause requires that the prosecution prove all of the elements of the case beyond a reasonable doubt. A mandatory presumption regarding an element of an offense violates the due-process requirement. This could include either a conclusive presumption that cannot be rebutted (which would relieve the prosecution of having to prove an element of their case) or a rebuttable mandatory presumption (which shifts the burden of proof regarding the element of the offense). In this case, the crime of burglary requires that the defendant entered another’s dwelling “with the intent to commit a felony therein.” Because this is an element of the burglary offense, the burden is on the prosecution to prove the defendant’s intent beyond a reasonable doubt. The court’s jury instruction contains a mandatory presumption that the defendant intended to commit a felony while inside the house.
Double Jeopardy Essay
The Fifth Amendment protection against double jeopardy applies to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and protects against multiple punishments for the same offense. If a defendant’s conduct may be prosecuted as two or more crimes, then the Blockburger test is applied to determine whether the crimes constitute the same offense for double jeopardy purposes. Under this test, each crime must require the proof of an element that the other does not in order for each to be considered as a separate offense. The double jeopardy clause generally bars successive prosecutions for greater and lesser included offenses. A lesser included offense is one that does not require proof of an element beyond those required by the greater offense.
Sentencing as an element vs as a enhancement essay
Any fact, other than a prior conviction, that can be used to increase a sentence beyond the statutorily prescribed maximum must be charged in an indictment, submitted to a jury, and established beyond a reasonable doubt. A fact is considered an element of a crime, as opposed to a sentencing enhancement, when it can increase the maximum sentence imposed. The failure to abide by the above procedure is a violation of the defendant’s due-process rights under the Fifth Amendment and Sixth Amendment rights to notice and a jury trial, both of which are incorporated against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
If I randomly get a acquittal question
A court should only grant a judgment of acquittal if it finds that there is insufficient evidence for a jury reasonably to find the defendant guilty. In a criminal trial, the prosecution bears the burden of producing sufficient evidence of the alleged crime. An attempt crime requires a specific intent to commit a criminal act coupled with a substantial step taken toward the commission of the intended crime. First, the prosecution must prove that John intended to commit an armed robbery. Second, the prosecution must prove that John took a substantial step toward the commission of an armed robbery. Robbery is a larceny from the person or presence of the victim by force or intimidation. Larceny is the trespassory taking and carrying away of the personal property of another with the intent to steal.
Illegal Arrest
An illegal arrest does not prevent the subsequent prosecution of the person who is illegally arrested. While evidence seized as a consequence of an illegal arrest may be suppressed under the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine, and the charge may be thrown out if such evidence is necessary for conviction, that is not the case under these facts.
