CrimPro Flashcards
4th Amendment
The 4th Am, applicable to states via DP clause of 14th Am, protects inds against unreas S&S where there is gov action and the property or place searched or seized is one in which ∆has REOP.
Exclusionary Rule
Under the exclusionary rule, evidence obtained in vio of a ∆’s 4th, 5th, 6th Amendment rights gen will b excluded from evidence in the prosecutions’ case in chief.
Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine
Evidence derived from unconstitutional obtained evi will also be excluded unless:
(1) the evidence obtained could have been obtained from an ind source;
(2) the evidence obtained would inevitably have been discovered; or
(3) addtl factors intervened between the OG illegality and the final discovery so that the link is too tenuous.
Warrant Requirement
For a S&S to be valid, the gov 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 req applies.
Exceptions to the Warrant Requirement
(1) SILA;
(2) Automobile;
(3) Plain View;
(4) Consent;
(5) Stop and Frisk;
(6) Hot pursuit, evanescent evidence, emergency.
Search Incident to Lawful Arrest
During a search incident to a lawful arrest based on PC, the police may contemporaneously search a person and areas w/in his wingspan even w/o a warrant. PC to arrest is present when, at the time of the arrest, the officer knows of reas trustworthy facts and circumstances suff to warrant a reas prudent person to believe that the sus has committed or is committing a crime. Arrest warrant not req’d if arrested in public.
Reasonable Expectation of Privacy
A person has a REOP where there’s a physical intrusion by the gov into a const protected area to obtain info. Sensory enhancing tech will vio a REOP but tech available to the public may be permitted.
Probable Cause
PC is est where there are suff facts to lead a RP to believe that a crime was committed and that the ∆ committed the crime.
Auto
If police have PC to believe that a veh contains contraband or evi of a crime, they may search the whole auto and any container therein that might contain the objects for which they’re searching
Plain View
Police may make a warrantless search if they see an object or contraband in plain view, so long as they’re legit on premises or have a right tb in the position to obtain the view.
Consent
Police may make a warrantless search if the person whose premises, items, or person will be searched voluntarily consents.
Knowledge of the right to withhold consent, while not a prerequisite to est a vol consent, is a factor tb considered. The scope of the search is limited by the scope of the consent, but gen consent extends to all areas to which a RP under the circumstances would believe it extends.
Exigent Circumstances
Police may conduct a S/S w/o warrant if they have PC and it’s nec to prevent imminent destruction of evi, prevent imminent injury to person or search for felony sus of whom police are in HP and reas believe has entered particular premises.
Police must not have created the exigent circumstances by unlawful means.
Stop & Frisk
If police have RS a detainee is armed and dangerous, they may frisk for weapons. The brief detention may include a pat-down search of outer clothing for weapons if the sus appears dangerous and under plain feel doctrine, they may seize contraband discovered if its ID is immediately apparent.
Open Fields
Areas outside the home that are held out to the public do not have a REOP. To determine the areas are public, cts will consider factors including the proximity to the house of the area searched, if the area is enclosed by a fence/wall, the nature of the use of the structure in question, and the steps taken by the ind to protect privacy.
REOP - Drug Sniffing Dogs
Dogs are allowed to sniff luggage at airports and cars during a legitimate traffic stop but police cannot use dogs to sniff homes w/o a warrant or warrant exception and the dog cannot be the PC to get the warrant.
Sensory Enhancing Technology
Sensory enhancing tech will vio a REOP, however, tech available to the public is permitted.
5th Amendment
The 5th Amendment, which is applicable to the states through the DP clause of the 14th Amendment, guarantees a freedom against compelled self-incrimination. To protect this right, the SC reqs police to inform detainees of their rights via Miranda warnings before conducting a custodial interrogation. Stmts obtained as a result of a custodial interrogation conducted w/o giving the warnings gen are inadmissible.
Purpose of Miranda warnings
The warnings are intended to offset the coercive nature of police-dominated interrogation, and if the ∆doesnt know that he is being interrogated by the police, there is no coercive atmosphere to offset.
Custody Requirement
A suspect is in custody when he is placed in a situation where a RP would not feel free to leave. The fact that a sus is incarcerated doesnt automatically mean that any interrogation of the sus is custodial.
Interrogation
Interrogation refers not only to express Qing, but also to any words or actions on the part of the police that the police should know are reas likely to elicit an incriminating response. Miranda doesnt apply where interrogation is by an informant who the ∆doesnt know is working for the police.
Miranda doesnt apply to spontaneous stmts not made in response to interrogation, although officers must give the warnings before any followup Qing.
Re-questioning Rules 5th Amendment
If the sus invokes his right to remain silent, the police may reinitiate Qing if they scrupulously honor the sus’s invocation of his right to remain silent. If the sus req an att via unambiguous and specific req, Qing must stop and cannot be reinitiated, even w/ a fresh set of Miranda warnings, until at least 14 days after a break in custody.
6th Amendment
The 6th Am provides that in all crim prosecutions, the ∆has a right to the assistance of counsel. It applies at all critical stages after formal proceedings have begun. The right is vio when the police deliberately elicit an incriminating stmt from a ∆ w/o first obtaining a waiver of the ∆’s right to have counsel present.
Gov Informant after 6th Rights Trigger
Absent a waiver, the right is vio when an undisclosed, paid gov informant is placed in the ∆’s cell, after the ∆ has been indicted, and deliberately elicits stmts from the ∆ re the crime for which the ∆was indicted. Although its not a vio to merely place an informant in the ∆’s cell, its a vio for the informant to take some action, beyond mere listening, designed to deliberately elicit incriminating remarks.
6th Right to Counsel - Lineup
A sus against whom formal crim proceedings have been commenced has a right to effective cousin at any post-charge lineup or show-up. The ∆has a right to have att present during entire lineup. A pre-charge or investigative lineup is not a stage during which the right to counsel attaches.
