KS: Crim Pro Flashcards
When you go to trial without raising defeats in the pleadings, you generally are held to have waived most defected–but when the information doe not charge a crime, there is an exception;
Presumption that charging documents is sufficient
Post-trial motion to arrest judgment
allows a D who is convicted to challenge the sufficiency of the information for up to 10 days after the verdict or conviction is entered.
On appeal, charging the document that was not challenged on appeal is viewed using a common-sense approach instead of technical approach–
the longer you wait to challenge a charging document, the stronger the presumption that it is sufficient
4th A– Search and Seizure: Eight Steps to Determining search and seizure issues
1) is there government conduct?
2) did the search or seizure invade an individual’s reasonable expectation of privacy?
3) was the search authorized by a facially valid warrant?
4) Does an officer’s good faith save the defective search warrant?
5) Was the search warrant properly executed by the police?
6) Is the search valid under any of the eight exceptions to the warrant requirement?
7) Can the prosecutor use evidence gathered in an unconstitutional search and seizure against the D in court?
8) Is any of the evidence introduced by the prosecution fruit of the poisonous tree, and if so, is the evidence admissible?
4th A-S&S: Is there government conduct?
- publicly paid police, on or off duty
- private citizens: only if acting at direction of police
- privately paid police: only if deputized with power to arrest
4th A- S&S: did the S or S invade an individual’s reasonable expectation of privacy?
- protected areas: persons, houses, papers, affects, homes, and curtilage of homes
- unprotected items: paint scrapings on outside of car, account records held by banks, anything that can be seen from airspace, garbage at curb for collection, voice, open fields, handwriting, odors from car or luggage
- person has NO expectation of privacy in DNA after it has been lawfully obtained by the police
4th A - S & S: challenging the search
to challenge the legality of the search, the person’s individual privacy rights must be invaded, not those of a third party
owners of premises searched
always have standing
residents of the premises searched
always have standing
overnight guests of the premises searched
always have standing as to areas where guests would be expected to access
individuals using someone else’s residence for business purposes only
never have standing
owners of the property seized
have standing if they have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the area from which it was seized
passengers in cars
only have reasonable expectation of privacy in the item searched or seized (eg. purse)
4th A - S & S: Was the search authorized by a facially valid warrant?
Facially valid warrant requires probably cause and particularity
Probable Cause
Fair probability that contraband or evidence of crime will be found in the area searched
- hearsay is admissible for this purpose
- police may rely on information obtained through an informant’s tip even if the information is anonymous– the sufficiency of the informant’s tip rests on corroboration by the police of enough of the tipster’s information to allow the magistrate to make a common sense practical determination that probable cause exists
Particularity
Warrant must specify the place to be searched and the items to be seized
- the particularized description is contained in an affidavit supporting the warrant, the affidavit must be incorporated explicitly into the warrant itself
Warrant that is invalid due to absence of PC or particularity can still be saved if
the officer relied on it in good faith
4th A - S & S: Does an officer’s good faith save the defective search warrant?
An officer’s good faith overcomes constitutional deficits in PC and particularity EXCEPT if:
- affidavit supporting the warrant is so egregiously lacking in PC that no reasonable officer would have relied on it
- warrant application is so egregiously lacking in particularity that no reasonable officer would have relied on it
- officer or DA lied or misled the magistrate who issued the warrant
- magistrate who issued the warrant was biased, meaning that he had wholly abandoned neutrality.
4th A - S & S: Was the search warrant properly executed by the police?
- did the officer exceed the copy of warrant? Can be places searched and things searched for
- did the police comply with the knock and announce rule? Police are required to knock to announce their presence and purpose before forcibly entering the place to be searched, unless doing so would be futile, dangerous, or would inhibit investigation
- warrant must be executed within 96 hours of its issuance–may be executed any time day or night and officers may use all reasonable force to execute it
4th A - S & S: is the search valid under any of the eight exceptions to the warrant requirement (escapist)?
1) Exigent circumstances
2) Search incident to arrest
3) consent
4) automobile
5) Plain view
6) inventory
7) special needs
8) Terry stop and frisk
Exigent circumstances: Evanescent evidence
Evidence that would dissipate or disappear in the time it would take to get a warrant
Exigent circumstances: hot pursuit
allows police to enter a suspect’s home or that of a third party into which he fled to look for him if the police are in hot pursuit; any evidence of a crime discovered during hot pursuit in plain view is admissible.
Search Incident to arrest
arrest must be lawful; allowed to ensure officer safety and need to preserve evidence
- search must be contemporaneous in time and place with arrest
- can search wingspan of D– includes passenger compartment of car, including closed containers, but not the trunk so long as D was a recent occupant of the car
Consent
must be voluntarily and intelligently given
- the fact that police do not tell someone that he has right to refuse does not make consent invalid