Criminal Procedure

Question 1

Arrest

Answer 1

An arrest occurs when law enforcement officials place an individual into custody for interrogation or criminal prosecution against that individual’s will. Arrest requires law enforcement to have probable cause.
Law enforcement officials generally don’t need a warrant to arrest a person in a public place.

Question 2

Search and Seizure

Answer 2

The 4th Amendment protects citizens against unreasonable search and seizures. The 4th Amendment is applicable to the states via the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Question 3

Government Conduct

Answer 3

For the defendant to assert a 4th Amendment right challenge, he must show government conduct. To establish government conduct, the defendant must show that the police were involved in the search and seizures.

Question 4

Reasonable Expectation of Privacy

Answer 4

For the defendant to assert a 4th Amendment challenge, he must show a reasonable expectation of privacy. To establish it, the defendant must show that he had at least an ownership or possessory interest in the place searched or items seized.

Question 5

Warrant requirement

Answer 5

For a search and seizure to be valid, the government must have acted pursuant to a valid warrant. If the warrant is not valid, or if the police did not have a warrant, all the evidence will be deemed inadmissible unless an exception to the warrant requirement applies

Question 6

Exceptions to the warrant requirement

Answer 6

1. Search incident to lawful arrest
2. Hot pursuit
3. Evanescent Evidence
4. Consent
5. Search incident to incarceration
6. Stop and Frisk
7. Plain View
8. Automobile Exception
9. Exigent Circumstances

Question 7

Search incident to lawful arrest

Answer 7

Upon a lawful arrest based upon probable cause, the police may contemporaneously search a person and ares within his wingspan. The police may also make a protective sweep of the area if they believe accomplice may be present.

Question 8

Hot pursuit

Answer 8

Police in hot pursuit of a fleeing felon, may make a warrantless search and seizure and may even pursue the suspect into a private dwelling.

Question 9

Stop and Frisk

Answer 9

A police officer may stop a person without probable cause for arrest if the officer has an articulable and reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. If the officer reasonably believe the person may be armed and presently dangerous, the officer may conduct a protective frisk of the detainee’s outer clothing to search for weapons.
An officer may reach into the detainee’s clothing if the officer reasonably believe based on plain feel there is a weapon or contraband. But the officer cannot manipulate clothing to get a better feel of the item.

Question 10

Plain View

Answer 10

The police may make a warrantless seizure when they:

1. are legitimately on the premises,
2. discover evidence, fruits, or instrumentalities of a crime, or contraband,
3. see such evidence in plain view, and
4. have probable cause to believe that the items is evidence, contraband, or a fruit or instrumentality of a crime.

Question 11

Automobile exception

Answer 11

If a police have probable cause to believe that a vehicle is contraband or contains fruits, instrumentalities, or evidence of a crime, they may search the whole vehicle and any container that might reasonably contain the items for which they had probable cause to search.

Question 12

Fruits of the Poisonous Tree

Answer 12

Generally, not only must illegally obtained evidence be excluded, but also all evidence obtained or derived from the exploitation of that evidence.

Question 13

Valid Warrant

Answer 13

A valid warrant requires that it be issued:

1. based on probable cause that seizable material or evidence can be found at the premises to be searched,
2. by a neutral and detached magistrate, and
3. with specificity regarding the place to be searched and items to be seized.

Question 14

Incriminating Statements

Answer 14

The 5th Amendment guarantees a freedom against compelled self-incrimination. To protect this right, the Supreme Court requires police to inform detainees of their rights via Miranda warnings prior to any custodial interrogation.
Statements obtained without giving the warnings generally are inadmissible.

Question 15

Custody

Answer 15

Determining whether custody exists is a 2 steps process:

1. requires the court to determine whether a reasonable person, under the circumstances, would feel free to leave, Then,
2. consider whether the environment presents the same inherently coercive pressures as the type of station house questioning at issue in Miranda.

Question 16

Interrogation

Answer 16

Refers not only to express questioning, but also to any words or actions on the part of police officers that the officers should know are reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response. Miranda does not apply to spontaneous statements not made in response to interrogation,

Question 17

Right to Counsel

Answer 17

A suspect has a 6th Amendment right to be represented by counsel at all critical stages of a criminal prosecution after formal proceedings have begun. Pre-charges / investigative lineups and photo identification are NOT critical stages of prosecution.

Question 18

Right to a jury trial

Answer 18

Prior to accepting a guilty plea, the judge must determine that the plea is voluntary and intelligent. This must be done addressing the defendant personally in open court on the record. The judge must ensure that the defendant knows and understands:
1. the nature of the charges and the crucial elements of the crime charged,
2. the maximum possible penalty and any mandatory minimum, and
3. that the defendant has a right not to plead guilty, but waives the right to trial if he does plead guilty.
The remedy for a failure to meet the standards for taking a plea is withdrawal of the plea and pleading anew.

Question 19

Right to confront witnesses

Answer 19

The 6th Amendment grants the defendant the right to confront witnesses.
When 2 defendants are tried together and one has given a confession that implicates the other, the right of confrontation prohibits the use of that statement, unless:
1. all portions referring to the other defendant can be eliminated,
2. the confessing defendant takes the stand and subject himself to cross-examination, OR
3. the non testifying co-defendant’s confession is being used to rebut the defendant’s claim that the defendant’s confession was obtained coercively

Question 20

General Exclusionary Rule

Answer 20

Under the exclusionary rule, evidence obtained in violation of a defendant’s constitutional rights is generally inadmissible at trail. Under the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine, evidence derived from unconstitutionally obtained evidence also will be suppressed. Suppression is not required if the taint of the unconstitutional action can be attenuated.

Question 21

Due Process

Answer 21

A lineup or showup violates due process when the identification is:
1. unnecessarily suggestive, and
2. there is a substantial likelihood of misidentification.
The identification must be shown to have been extremely suggestive.