Legal Aspects Final Flashcards
Grind
The theory of incorporation finally adopted by the Supreme Court was _____ incorporation.
Selective
The U.S. Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review was
Marbury v. Madison
The doctrine of _____ allows two jurisdictions to try an individual for the same offense without violating double jeopardy.
Dual sovereignty
An example of selective incorporation can be found in the case of
Duncan v. Lousiana
What clause of the Fourteenth Amendment was the vehicle for incorporation of rights against the states?
Due process
If a court has the legal authority to hear a case, this means that the court has:
Jurisdiction
The only court established by the U.S. Constitution was the:
U.S. Supreme Court
The ban on cruel and unusual punishment and excessive fines and bail is found in the _____ Amendment.
Eighth
The trial court in the federal system is the _____ court.
District
The rights to speedy, public, and jury trials, and to confront adverse witnesses are found in the ____ Amendment.
Sixth
Courts do not ignore decisions from other jurisdictions because:
Both of these
- There may be no settled law on an issue in a given area
- Decisions in other jurisdictions may enable lawyers to detect a trend and anticipate what local courts might do in the future
To find case law, one would consult:
Judicial opinions
U.S. District Court opinions are published in the:
Federal Supplement
Jurisdiction refers to:
The power of a court to try a case
The protection against double jeopardy is found in the ____ Amendment.
Fifth
The concept of venue refers to:
The place where the case will be tried
Stare decisis is the principle that:
New cases should be decided in a fashion consistent with the law established in prior cases
Under the rule of law:
No person is above the law
Judicial review is the power of a court to:
Void laws or official acts which are inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution
The number if justices that must agree in order for a case to be heard on its merits by the U.S. Supreme Court is:
Four
The U.S. Supreme Court has ____ members.
Nine
A case citation indicates:
Where an opinion may be found
A majority of cases get to the Supreme Court from the lower courts:
Writ of certiorari
Police ____ in the United States is closely tied to the concept of the rule of law.
Accountability
The protection against self-incrimination is found in the _____ Amendment.
Fifth
A citation is a/an:
Order commanding a person to appear in court at a specific date and answer certain changes
Defendants are entitled to a lawyer at plea bargaining under the ____ Amendment.
Sixth
The person who decides and imposes sentences in most states is:
The judge
In the great majority of cases, the criminal justice process is triggered against a suspect by:
Arrest without a warrant
The law of criminal procedure is similar in all jurisdictions because of:
U.S. Supreme Court decisions
The process by which personal and identifying information is gathered by police from a person who has been arrested is called:
Booking
Twenty-three of the fifty states use ____ as the sole source of names for jury duty.
The voter registration list
Most arrests in the U.S. are made ____.
Without a warrant
A preliminary hearing is usually held for what three main purposes?
Determination of probable cause, discovery, decision on “binding over.”
A ____ occurs when the defendant agrees to plead guilty in return for promises or concessions from the prosecutor.
Plea bargain
A summons is a writ directed to a peace officer or other person commanding them to:
Notify the person that they must appear in court to answer charges
A question that suggests to the witness the desired answer is known as a:
Leading question
With regard to closing arguments in most states,
The prosecution goes first, then the defense, and then finally, the prosecution again
A trial that is declared invalid before it is completed is known as a:
Mistrial
In most criminal cases, the parties - especially defense counsel - will ask the court that certain instructions be used. Which of the following options are available to the court with regard to these instructions?
All of these
- Refuse to give the instructions
- Modify the instructions
- Give the instructions
Which of the following does not require probable cause?
Stop and frisk
Probable cause has a:
Both legal and practical definition
The issuance of a warrant ensures a more orderly procedure and is a better guarantee that probable cause is, in fact, present because it has been reviewed by:
A neutral and detached magistrate
Which of the following does the Court consider when evaluating information given by informants?
Both quality and credibility of the information
Which of the following is one of the three ways that probable cause can be established?
Information plus corroboration
In testing for the existence of a reasonable suspicion, officers and judges:
Apply the totality of the circumstances test
Which amendment is most concerned with probable cause?
The Fourth
A trial court’s determination of probable cause can be reviewed by a(an) ____ court if the case is appealed.
Appellate
In Alabama v. White, the U.S. Supreme Court held that an anonymous tip supplemented by ____ could establish reasonable suspicion.
Corroboration by independent police work
Officer Peabody, a university police officer, received information from an anonymous caller to his cell phone, that a student living in a campus dormitory was selling drugs. Officer Peabody knew the suspect and had suspicions that he was selling drugs before receiving the information.
To obtain a valid search warrant, Officer Peabody will need to obtain the warrant from:
A magistrate
Officer Jimenez was told by criminal informant Carlos that while out drinking with Sam the night before; Sam said he had cocaine in his dormitory room. Based on this information, Officer Jimenez is going to a magistrate to obtain a warrant for Sam’s dormitory room.
What is the first prong in the Aguillar two-prong test that Officer Jimenez will evaluate?
Reliability of the informant
Officer Jimenez was told by criminal informant Carlos that while out drinking with Sam the night before; Sam said he had cocaine in his dormitory room. Based on this information, Officer Jimenez is going to a magistrate to obtain a warrant for Sam’s dormitory room.
What is the second prong of the Aguillar two-prong test that Officer Jiminez will evaluate?
Reliability of the informant’s information
Officer Jimenez was told by criminal informant Carlos that while out drinking with Sam the night before; Sam said he had cocaine in his dormitory room. Based on this information, Officer Jimenez is going to a magistrate to obtain a warrant for Sam’s dormitory room.
What is the Gates standard for probable cause here?
Totality of the circumstances
Officer Jimenez was told by criminal informant Carlos that while out drinking with Sam the night before; Sam said he had cocaine in his dormitory room. Based on this information, Officer Jimenez is going to a magistrate to obtain a warrant for Sam’s dormitory room.
When may Officer Jimenez be required to disclose the identity of criminal informant Carlos?
When the informant’s identity is material to guilt or innocence
Officer Adams was told by an informant that the informant had suspicions that Cathy, in the apartment next door, was selling drugs from that apartment. On the next three nights, Officer Adams surveilled the apartment and saw a wide variety of people going in and out of the apartment. Officer Adams immediately picked up the baggie, which appeared to contain crack cocaine.
What is Officer Adams seeking to obtain by observing the apartment and picking up the baggie?
Corroborating evidence
Officer Adams was told by an informant that the informant had suspicions that Cathy, in the apartment next door, was selling drugs from that apartment. On the next three nights, Officer Adams surveilled the apartment and saw a wide variety of people going in and out of the apartment. Officer Adams immediately picked up the baggie, which appeared to contain crack cocaine.
What should Officer Adams’ next step be?
Go to a magistrate and seek a search warrant
Officer Adams was told by an informant that the informant had suspicions that Cathy, in the apartment next door, was selling drugs from that apartment. On the next three nights, Officer Adams surveilled the apartment and saw a wide variety of people going in and out of the apartment. Officer Adams immediately picked up the baggie, which appeared to contain crack cocaine.
What is a personal reason why Officer Adams would seek a search warrant?
Defense in a civil case
The federal exclusionary rule may be triggered by violation of which of the following?
The Fourth Amendment
The first exclusionary rule case involving searches and seizures was:
Boyd v. U.S.
The U.S. Supreme Court made the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule binding in all federal court cases in the 1914 case of:
Weeks v. U.S.
The proseccution must show beyond a reasonable doubt that the evidence erroneously admitted did not contribute to the conviction in order to prove:
Harmless error
Which of the following is not currently an exception to the exclusionary rule?
Silver platter
The exclusionary rule provides that evidence obtained by government officials in violation of the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures is not admissible in:
A criminal proceeding as evidence of guilt
The purpose of the exclusionary rule is to:
Deter police misconduct
Law enforcement officers conducted a search of Jose’s apartment for marijuana. They found several bundles of marijuana, remains of burned marijuana cigarettes, and vavrious drug parapphernalia.
For this evidence to be admissible and not a violation of the exclusionary rule
A search warrant is needed
Law enforcement officers conducted a search of Jose’s apartment for marijuana. They found several bundles of marijuana, remains of burned marijuana cigarettes, and vavrious drug parapphernalia.
If a neighbor had conducted the search and found the evidence, then called the officers, it is admissible, because
It is a private search
Law enforcement officers conducted a search of Jose’s apartment for marijuana. They found several bundles of marijuana, remains of burned marijuana cigarettes, and vavrious drug parapphernalia.
If the officers obtained verbal consent, but the department policy required a written consent, it is not a violation of the exclusionary rule, because
It violates an agency rule, but not the constitutional rule
One of the purposes/arguments for the exclusionary rule is that it protects the constutional right to privacy?
True
The harmless error doctrine applies to Fourth Amendment violartions.
True
The Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule does not apply in federal courts.
False
The Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule does not apply to the activities of private citizens acting totally on their own.
True
The inevitable discovery, silver platter, and “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrines are all currently exceptions to the exclusionary rule.
False
The first case in which the U.S. Supreme Court utilized the exclusionary rule are good faith, inevitable discovery, purged taint, and independent source.
True
The four categories of the exceptions to the exclusionary rule are good faith, inevitable discovery, purged taint, and independent source.
True
Federal Officer Peterson searched the house of Quinton based on a tip from an informant that Quinton had counterfeiting equipment in his basement. Officer Peterson had not obtained a search warrant. During the search, he found three printing presses with ink and paper and printing plates for making counterfeit ten and twenty dollar bills.
Prior to Weeks v. United States, what would have been the result in federal court?
All the evidence would have been admissible
Federal Officer Peterson searched the house of Quinton based on a tip from an informant that Quinton had counterfeiting equipment in his basement. Officer Peterson had not obtained a search warrant. During the search, he found three printing presses with ink and paper and printing plates for making counterfeit ten and twenty dollar bills.
After Weeks v. United States, what would have been the result in federal court?
None of the evidence would have been admissible
Police observed suspicious characters going in and out of Jose’s apartment. When the apartment was empty, officers counducted a search of Jose’s apartment for marijuana. They found several bundles of marijuana, remains of burned marijuana cigarettes, adn various drug paraphernalia.
For this evidence to be admissible and not a violation of the exclusionary rule
A seach warrant is needed
Police observed suspicious characters going in and out of Jose’s apartment. When the apartment was empty, officers counducted a search of Jose’s apartment for marijuana. They found several bundles of marijuana, remains of burned marijuana cigarettes, adn various drug paraphernalia.
The good faith exception for errors made by the magistrate in search warrants was created by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in the ____ cases.
Sheppard and Leon
Officer White of the local county sherrif’s department received information that boxes of stolen televisions were being stored in April’s garage. He parked down the street, and with a telephoto lens took pictures of the garage when it was opened by April. Stacks of boxes clearly labeled as the missing televisions were visible. He want to the magistrate and obtained a search warrant. He and other officers later searched the garage and found fifty of the stolen televisions.
If the garage was at 421 Main Street, and that is what the officer testified to the magistrate to obtain the search warrant, but the search warrant showed the address to be 427 Main Street, the exclusionary rule
Does not apply under the good faith exception
Officer White of the local county sherrif’s department received information that boxes of stolen televisions were being stored in April’s garage. He parked down the street, and with a telephoto lens took pictures of the garage when it was opened by April. Stacks of boxes clearly labeled as the missing televisions were visible. He want to the magistrate and obtained a search warrant. He and other officers later searched the garage and found fifty of the stolen televisions.
If the search warrant was on a form used for searches of controlled substances, but the magistrate failed to delete the controlled substances language, the exclusionary rule
Would not apply, because of the officer acted in good faith
Florida v. Royer involves the legality of using:
A drug courier profile
The case where the U.S. Supreme Court first authorized stop and frisk was:
Terry v. Ohio (1968)
A person has to be seized under the Fourth Amendment if a reasonable person would believe:
They are not free to leave
When police detain a person during a stop longer than is reasonable, the stop becomes a/an:
Arrest
A stop is a Fourth Amendment:
Seizure of a person
A frisk is a Fourth Amendment:
Search of a person
A frisk is a pat-down of the outer clothing to find:
Weapons
To remain within Fourth Amendment bounds, a stop must:
Last no longer than necessary
In which respect are a stop and an arrrest similar? Both:
Are Fourth Amendment seizures of a person
For a stop and frisk to be valid, there must be reasonable suspicion:
To stop and frisk
In Payton v. N.Y. (1980) the U.S. Supreme Court held that police, in the absence of consent or exigent circuimstances, may not enter a suspect’s home to make a:
Routine, warrantless felony arrest
In 2000, in Atwater v. City of Lago Vista, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit a warrantless arrest for:
A minor criminal offense punishable only by fine
