Criminal Procedure Flashcards
Exclusionary Rule
Remedy where someone who has been the victim of an illegal search or a coercion confession con have the product of that illegal search or that coerced statement excluded from any subsequent criminal prosecution
Limitations on Exclusion
- Doesn’t apply to grand jury proceedings
- Not available remedy in civil proceedings
- Exclusion not available in parole revocation proceedings
- Does not apply to the use of evidence for impeachment purposes
Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine
Will exclude illegally seized evidence, and ALL evidence obtained or derived from police illegality
Note: Does not apply to Miranda violations unless the police act in bad faith in obtaining such information
How to Remove the “Taint”
- Independent Source
- Inevitable discovery
- Intervening acts of free will on the part of the Defendant
- Attenuation
Harmless Error Test
A conviction will be upheld if the conviction would have resulted despite the improper evidence
Fourth Amendment
Protects citizens from unreasonable search and seizure
Arrests
- must be based on Probable Cause
- Arrest warrants are not generally required before arresting someone in a public place
- A non-emergency arrest of an individual in his home REQUIRES an arrest warrant
Station House Detention
Police need PC to arrest you and compel you to come to the police station either for finger printing or interrogation
Investigatory Dentition (Terry Stop)
The police have the authority to briefly detain a person even if they lack PC to arrest. In order to make such a stop, the police must have a Reasonable Suspicion supported by articulable facts of criminal activity. This is based on a totality of the circumstances.
Note - a mere hunch is not enough
Automobile Stops
The police may stop a car if they have at least Reasonable Suspicion that the law has been violated
Traffic Stops and Police Dogs
During routine traffic stops, a sniff is not a search so long as the police do not extend the stop beyond the time needed to issue a ticket or conduct normal inquires.
Search and Seizure Answer Frameworks
STEP ONE: Is there governmental conduct?
STEP TWO: Reasonable expectation of privacy?
- own or live on premises or are an overnight guest
STEP THREE: Did the police have a valid search warrant.
STEP FOUR: If the warrant is not valid, does an officer’s good faith defense save the defective search warrant?
STEP FIVE: Exceptions to Warrant Requirement
Valid Search Warrants
Must have:
- Probable Cause
- A fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in the area searched - Particularity
- The warrant must state with particularity the place to be searched and the things to be seized
Warrants and the use of informants
- If an officer’s affidavit or probable cause is based on informant information, its sufficiency is determined by the totality of the circumstances
- An informant’s credibility (reliability), and basis of knowledge are all relevant factors in making this determination
- A valid warrant can be based in part on an informant’s tip even though that information is anonymous
Four Exceptions to Good Faith Reliance
- Underlying affidavit is so lacking in PC that no reasonable police officer would have relied on it
- The Underlying affidavit is so lacking in particularity that no reasonable officer would have relied on it
- The police officer or prosecutor lied to or misled the magistrate when seeking the warrant
- If the magistrate is biased and therefore has wholly abandoned his or her neutrality