Criminal Procedure Flashcards
What is the Automobile Exception?
Requires probable cause to believe that contraband is in the car.
Officers may search the entire vehicle and any container in it that might reasonably contain the criminal evidence for which they have probable cause.
What is the Exclusionary Rule?
Evidence that is obtained through unconstitutional procedures will be excluded from trial against the accused.
When Will Two Crimes Be Considered the Same Offense?
Two crimes are considered the same offense if each requires proof of the same elements required to convict.
Two crimes do not constitute the same offense if each crime requires proof of an element that the other does not.
If a victim dies after a battery, the defendant may also be charged with murder because of the subsequent death, as death is an element of murder but not of battery.
When May Self-Incrimination Be Compelled?
The privilege will be eliminated if the defendant has a grant of immunity, there is no possibility of incrimination (e.g. Statute of Limitations has passed), or if the defendant takes the stand in a criminal trial.
To preserve the privilege, an objection must be made when the question is first asked and is available to anyone giving testimony. Does not apply to previously written statements that are incriminating.
When May a Defendant Be Re-Tried For the Same Offense?
Exceptions to Double Jeopardy Rule
1) the Jury was unable to reach a verdict in the first case;
2) there was a Mistrial for manifest necessity (e.g. a medical emergency);
3) there was Retrial after an appeal (but cannot be tried for a more serious offense);
4) there was a Breach of a plea agreement (including the promise to testify at subsequent proceedings).
What Are the Limitations on Double Jeopardy?
Bars retrial for the same offense.
Jeopardy attaches in a jury trial when the jury is sworn and when the first witness is sworn in a bench trial.
What Are the Limits on Imposition of the Death Penalty?
There can be no automatic category for imposition of the death penalty,
the defendant must the ability to present mitigating circumstances, and only the jury may find aggravating factors justifying the imposition of the death penalty. (Constitutional Requirements).
CA: (?)
What is Required During a Guilty Plea Colloquy?
The judge must address the nature of the charge, the maximum and mandatory minimum penalty for the charge, and the defendant’s right to go to trial.
What is Required to Appeal a Guilty Plea?
The plea must have been involuntary, the court lacked jurisdiction, defendant had ineffective counsel, or the prosecutor breached the plea agreement.
What Are the Requirements of the Confrontation Clause?
Applies to out-of-court statements that are testimonial in nature (made to law enforcement for the use of an investigation or prosecution as opposed to helping police address an emergency).
Statements are admissible only if the declarant is unavailable and the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross examine, or if defendant took some action that prevented the witness from testifying (forfeiture by wrongdoing). Dying declarations may be admissible even if defendant did not cause the witness’s death, but look to the circumstances.
A disruptive defendant may be removed from the court room without offending this right.
What Are the Limitations on Information Obtained by Jailhouse Informants?
Statements obtained by jail house informants are inadmissible at trial under the defendant’s 6th amendment right to counsel when a paid informant is placed in a cell and deliberately elicits statements regarding the charged crime.
What is a Defendant’s Right to Self-Representation
A Criminal Defendant has right to represent himself if the waiver of the right to counsel is knowing and intelligent and the defendant is competent to proceed.
The defendant can be mentally competent to stand trial and incompetent to represent himself, in the judge’s discretion.
When Do Defendants Have a Right to Jury Trial?
In charges where maximum sentence if more than 6 months, and there must be a minimum of 6 jurors. If only 6, their verdict must be unanimous.
There is no constitutional right to a 12-person, unanimous verdict. 9-3 has been found acceptable.
The jury pool must be a cross-section of the jurisdiction in which the crime was committed.
What Constitutes Ineffective Assistance of Counsel?
1) A Deficient performance by a lawyer;
2) but for such deficiency;
3) the result would have been different; and
4) the error must be specified.
Remedy is overturning of the conviction.
What is the Right to an Unbiased Judge?
A Judge may not have a financial interest in the case or have actual malice against the defendant.
What is the Prosecutor’s Duty to Disclose?
Failure to disclose exculpatory information, whether willful or inadvertent, violates the due process clause.
Failure will result in reversal where the information is favorable and the defendant was prejudiced by the lack of disclosure.
There must be a reasonable probability that the underlying result would have been different.
What are the Special Procedures of a Grand Jury?
1) Exclusionary rules don’t apply;
2) proceedings are secret; and
3) defendant has no right to appear or send witnesses.
When are Bail Issues Appealable?
Issues are immediately appealable.
What Rights Does an Accused Have at Pre-Trial Identification?
Denial of Right to Counsel applies to post-charge lineups and show ups. Does not apply to collecting samples or fingerprints.
Denial of Due Process applies if the identification technique is 1) unnecessarily suggestive and 2) is substantially likely to produce errors.
Remedy is exclusion of in-court identification unless state has an adequate and independent source.
What is the Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel?
The defendant has a right to legal representation at all critical stages to a prosecution that attaches upon the charge of a crime.
The right is offense specific and is applicable to all felony trials and all misdemeanor trials that involve imprisonment or a suspended sentence.
