Legal issues in criminal investigations

Question 1

Probable cause

Answer 1

minimum amount of information necessary to warrant a reasonable person to believe that a crime has been or is being committed by a person who is about to be arrested

Question 2

Exclusionary rule

Answer 2

all evidence illegally obtained will be excluded even if relevant and material

Question 3

Weeks VS US 1914

Answer 3

exclusionary rule applicable to federal governments

Question 4

Silverthrorne Lumbar VS US 1920

Answer 4

Fruit of the poisonous tree

A doctrine that extends the exclusionary rule to make evidence inadmissible in court if it was derived from evidence that was illegally obtained. As the metaphor suggests, if the evidential “tree” is tainted, so is its “fruit.”

Question 5

Mapp vs Ohio 1961

Answer 5

exclusionary rule applying to both federal and state

Question 6

Chimel vs California 1969

Answer 6

“Not in plain view”

Search incidental to arrest must be confined to the area around the suspects immediate control “scope of the search”

Question 7

US vs Leon 1984

Answer 7

Exclusionary rule was designed to keep police from abusing their authority. The ruling stated that evidence obtained through a search warrant was admissible even it the judge signing the warrant was found to not have probable cause for the search

Question 8

T/F: a search warrant is one of the most valuable tools in a criminal investigation

Answer 8

TRUE

Question 9

Search warrant must contain:

Answer 9

Specifics about location searched, items sought and must be signed by a judge

In texas : “ The State of Texas”

Question 10

Anticipatory warrants

Answer 10

Future crime, can not be executed until certain “ triggering events” have occurred first

Question 11

4th Amendement

Answer 11

all searched must be preceded by the officer obtaining a search warrant.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause

Question 12

Exceptions to the 4th Amendement

Answer 12

consents, exigent circumstance, incident to arrest, stop and frisk, plain view, vehicle, open field

Question 13

Consensual search

Answer 13

needs to be subsequent to a lawful detention, and be authorized voluntarily without coercion from officers, and consent must be given by a person with the legal authority to do so

Question 14

Exigent cricumstances

Answer 14

In the time it would take to gather the warrant, too much time will pass and can jeopardize the public safety or lead to the loss of important evidence

Question 15

Terry VS Ohio 1968

Answer 15

An officer may stop a person that the officer reasonably suspects has committed, is committing or is about to commit a crime, has reasonable suspicions based on articulable facts, permits the officer to search for weapons for officer safety

also known as “ Terry frisk” or “ Detentions”

Question 16

Consensual encounter

Answer 16

when a person understands they are able to leave at anytime during the investigation/ conversation with an officer - if they feel they are not free to leave it is no longer consensual.

officer only needs legal right to be in the place

Question 17

Illinois VS Wardlow 2000

Answer 17

when a suspect flees, it constitutes an additional factor for determining responsible suspicion

Question 18

Harris VS US 1968

&

Coolidge VS New york 1971

Answer 18

Also referred to as “ PLAIN VIEW DOCTRINE”

objects falling in plain view of an officer who has the legal right to be present are subject to seizure and may be used as evidence.

Coolidge VS NY:

objects must be found where the officer legally was allowed to be present, must be found inadvertently and contraband or useful as evidence of the crime

Question 19

US VS Irizarry 1987

Answer 19

officers can not move objects in plain view to get a better view of items that would otherwise be hidden

Question 20

Carrol VS US 1925

Answer 20

” Carrol doctrine” permits officers to search a vehicle that is moving or about to be moved if PC exists that evidence is inside the vehicle

Question 21

California VS Acevedo 1991

Answer 21

If officer has PC that a container in the vehicle contains evidence that officer may seize and open container

Question 22

Chambers VS Maroney 1970

Answer 22

vehicle inventory: objects located during inventory can be seized as evidence

Question 23

Oliver VS US 1984

Answer 23

open fields hold no expectation of privacy and are not protected by the 4th amendment

Question 24

Curtilage

Answer 24

area surrounding ones house

Question 25

4 factors of ciurtilage:

Answer 25

• steps taken to conceal the area
• nature and use of the area
• within an enclosure or not
• proximity of the area to the home

Question 26

Arrest

Answer 26

when a suspect is captured and delivered before the court. Restrictions of ones freedom by an agent of the government. Courts allow officers to arrest without warrant for offense in view

Question 27

Police intervention can be classified as:

Answer 27

• contact
• consensual encounter
• investigative detention
• arrest

Question 28

Terry stop

Answer 28

reasonable suspicion to link suspect behavior with criminal activity, proceed expeditiously, stay within the narrow investigatory bounds.

Question 29

When is a subject “seized”

Answer 29

When an officer restricts his movement or freedom to leave through submission to a show of legal authority pf physical restraint

Question 30

California VS Hodari 1991

Answer 30

Fleeing subject is not seized until officers physically restrain subject or the subject submits to the authority

Question 31

County of Riverside VS McLaughlin 1991

Answer 31

detention of suspect for up to 48 hour presumptively reasonable

Question 32

Graham VS Connor 1989

Answer 32

Use of force: authority to use force or threaten the use of force for 2 reasons:

• defense
• control ( not for punishment)

When judging the reasonableness of officers force, the judge and jury must view the force from the eyes of the officer, not hindsight

Question 33

3 Factors in Graham’s decision in totality of circumstances in regards to officer’s force

Answer 33

• severity of the crime committed
• suspect posed an immediate thread to officers/ public
• actively resisted or attempted to evade

Question 34

Active resistance

Answer 34

any physical actions by the suspect that make arrest physically more difficult

Question 35

Deadly force triangle

Answer 35

suspect has the ability to:

• kill or inflict a crippling injury (SBI)
• opportunity, is capable of employing that force
• Jeopardy, in a manner that a reasonable and prudent person would conclude the suspect has the intent to seriously injure or kill

Question 36

When were officers legally justified to shoot a fleeing felon

Answer 36

Before 1985

Question 37

Tennessee VS Gardner 1985

Answer 37

deadly force is reasonable:

• prevent an escape when the suspect has threatened an officer with a weapon
• threat of death/SBI to officer of others
• committed a crime involving infliction or threatened infliction of SBI/Death and when practical warning has been given by the officer