Fourth Amendment Flashcards
Arrest warrant at a third party’s home
A person can be arrested at the home of a third party, but the police generally cannot enter the third party’s home without consent unless they have a search warrant for the home. Absent exigent circumstances, the police executing an arrest warrant may not search for the subject of the warrant in the home of a third party without first obtaining a separate search warrant for the home. If the police do execute an arrest warrant at the home of a third party without obtaining a search warrant for the home, the arrest is still valid, but evidence of any crime found in the home cannot be used against the owner of the home because it is the fruit of an unconstitutional search.
Automobile exception to the search warrant requirement
A police offer may stop a car if the officer has probable cause to believe that the driver has committed a traffic violation. Under the automobile exception, if the police have probable cause to believe that a vehicle contains contraband or fruits, instrumentalities, or evidence of a crime, they may search the vehicle, including the driver’s belongings, without a warrant. Under the exception, the police may search anywhere in the vehicle in which the item for which they have cause to search may be hidden, including packages in the vehicle.
Fourth Amendment standing
The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution provides that people are to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. To be reasonable, a search or seizure must be pursuant to a warrant, although there are a number of exceptions to this general rule. To raise a Fourth Amendment claim of an unreasonable search or seizure, a person must show that he has standing - i.e., that his own constitutional rights were violated - to claim a constitutional violation. To have standing, a person must have a reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to the place searched or the item seized. It is not enough merely that someone has an expectation of privacy in the place searched. The Supreme Court has imposed a standing requirement so that a person can complain about an evidentiary search or seizure only if it violates her own reasonable expectations of privacy. The Court has held that a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy any time (i) she owned or had a right to possession of the place searched, (ii) the place searched was in fact her own home, whether or not she owned or had a right to possession of it, or (iii) she was an overnight guest of the owner of the place searched.
Consent exception to the warrant requirement
One category of searches that the Court has held to be reasonable without a warrant is searches conducted pursuant to consent. To fall within this exception to the warrant requirement, consent must be given by one who appears to have an apparent right to use or occupy the premises and the search cannot go beyond the scope of the consent given. The consent is valid as long as the police reasonably believed that the person who gave the consent had the authority to do so, and the scope of the consent is limited only to areas to which a reasonable person under the circumstances would believe it extends.
Search of persons found on the premises who are not named in a search warrant
To be reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, most searches must be pursuant to a warrant. The warrant must describe with reasonable precision the place to be searched and the items to be seized. A search warrant does not authorize the police to search persons found on the premises who are not named in the warrant.
Roadblocks
The police may set up roadblocks to stop cars without individualized suspicion that the driver has violated some law, as long as they: (i) stop cars on the basis of some neutral, articulable standard; and (ii) are motivated by a particular problem related to automobiles and their mobility.
Fourth Amendment - seizure general rules for essay
The Fourth Amendment broadly prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. The Fourth Amendment is applicable to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Under the Supreme Court’s exclusionary rule, evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment usually may not be used in evidence against the person whose rights were violated. X is a seizure.
Traffic stops + arrests - general rules
The Fourth Amendment broadly prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. The Fourth Amendment is applicable to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Under the Supreme Court’s exclusionary rule, evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment usually may not be used in evidence against the person whose rights were violated. Stopping a car is a seizure. Arresting a person is a seizure. A police officer may stop a car if the officer has probable cause to believe that the driver has committed a traffic violation. A police officer may constitutionally arrest a person for a traffic violation if state law provides for arrest for the violation. It does not matter that the police officer’s motive for the stop was to investigate something other than the traffic violation (i.e., that the traffic violation was a mere pretext for the stop).
Plain view exception to the search warrant requirement
Most searches must be pursuant to a warrant. Under the plain view exception, a police officer may make a warrantless seizure of evidence if
- the officer is a place is is lawfully allowed to be and
- sees in plain view items that he has
- immediate probable cause to believe are
- contraband or evidence, instrumentalities, or fruits of a crime.
Warrant requirements - based on informant tip
A warrant must be based on a showing of probable cause. Along with a request for a warrant, a police officer must submit to a magistrate an affidavit setting forth sufficient underlying circumstances to enable the magistrate to make a determination of probable cause independent of the officer’s conclusions. The affidavit may be based on an informer’s statements. The sufficiency of the affidavit is evaluated according to the totality of the circumstances. There must be sufficient information for the magistrate to be able to make a common sense evaluation of probable cause. Among the factors determinative of probable cause are the informer’s reliability, credibility, and basis of knowledge.
