Pg 19

Question 1

What is the plain view doctrine that is an exception to needing a warrant?

Answer 1

If police are in a place that they have the lawful right to be, it is not a search if they observe items lying in plain view and they can see those items if the character of the evidence is immediately apparent

Question 2

What is the rationale behind the plain view doctrine?

Answer 2

When the police are lawfully positioned to observe an item firsthand, the owner’s privacy interest in the item is lost

Question 3

What are the elements that are needed for the plain view doctrine to apply?

Answer 3

• police officer is rightfully present
• officer sees evidence, fruits, or instrumentalities of crime in plain view
  – he immediately recognizes that they are contraband and thus has probable cause

Question 4

If a police officer is standing on the road looking through a window of a house and sees contraband, does he need a warrant to enter?

Answer 4

Yes.

Question 5

What are examples of technology that are not considered to be in general public use that if a police officer uses are considered to be a search?

Answer 5

X-rays, wire tapping, high-powered telescopes, infrared, etc.

Question 6

If a police officer uses a common means of enhancing his senses like a flashlight or binoculars, is that considered to be a search?

Answer 6

No

Question 7

If a police officer uses his natural senses while he is lawfully present in a motel room to hear a conversation that is happening in the next room with the naked year, or if he smells incriminating odors, is that considered to be a search?

Answer 7

No

Question 8

If a Coast Guard uses a search light at night to see on a boat, or does photo surveillance, or uses trained dogs, are those considered to be intrusions on expectations of privacy?

Answer 8

No, those are allowed

Question 9

If a police officer tries to move or examine an item that he finds lying in plain view, has a search occurred?

Answer 9

Yes

Question 10

If a police officer sees a TV in a gross apartment and thinks it is stolen, so he moves it to find the serial numbers, does the plain view doctrine apply?

Answer 10

As soon as he moves the item, the plain view doctrine did not apply anymore because the numbers were not immediately apparent

Question 11

What are the things that police officers can seize if they are in plain view?

Answer 11

Contraband, fruit of a crime, or instrumentalities or evidence of a crime. If a police officer finds a ski mask that was used in a recent robbery and it is in plain view, he can seize it

Question 12

Can a police officer seize a computer under the plain view doctrine?

Answer 12

Only if its criminal character is immediately apparent. Ie: the officer cannot seize a computer as plain view in a warrant for child pornography because although the computer is in plain view, its contents are not

Question 13

When can a police officer seize an automobile under the plain view doctrine?

Answer 13

Only if the vehicle’s status as evidence is immediately apparent. I.e.: if the police think that a suspect used a vehicle in a murder, and the car is in plain view in a driveway, that doesn’t mean that it openly has evidence of crime, so they cannot seize it under this doctrine

Question 14

Drug dealers often carry cocaine in knotted balloons, so if a police officer sees one, can he seize it under the plain view doctrine even though the drugs are not in plain view?

Answer 14

Yes, because of his knowledge about the use of balloons by drug dealers he can surmise its contents even though he can’t actually see the drugs

Question 15

Once the items that are listed in a warrant are found, can police continue to look around to see if they can find anything else in plain view?

Answer 15

No

Question 16

If you smell contraband does that count as being in plain view?

Answer 16

No, unless the cop sees it, he can’t search for it

Question 17

What is involved in the exception to a warrant for a stop and frisk?

Answer 17

Police need a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity in a completed crime as well as articulable facts to reasonably warrant an intrusion into the person or property of the subject for an investigative purpose. This allows police officers to do a brief investigative seizure based on reasonable suspicion that crime is afoot if there is threat to public safety or two non-suspects that might have information

Question 18

Under the warrant exception for stop and frisk, is it OK for police officers to temporarily detain someone to pat them down?

Answer 18

Yes, but only if they have reasonable grounds to believe that criminal activity is afoot

Question 19

What is the rationale for a stop and frisk?

Answer 19

Officer safety, the safety of others in the vicinity, and crime prevention

Question 20

What is the key to stop and frisk?

Answer 20

Reasonableness. Police need reasonable grounds to believe that crime is afoot. Police must be able to show specific and articulable facts that would, under the circumstances, lead a reasonable officer to a rational inference that a crime was taking place

Question 21

If an investigating officer asks for and holds the suspect’s identification while running a warrant check, is that a seizure?

Answer 21

Not if the retention is brief

Question 22

Where did stop and frisk come from?

Answer 22

Terry v Ohio: A cop saw guys on the street casing a jewellery store, he questioned them, they just mumbled, so he grabbed one and frisked his outer clothes and found a gun, so he arrested all of them. The frisk wasn’t a search for evidence, the police officer was just making sure he wasn’t in danger, and his motive wasn’t evidentiary, it was protective.

Question 23

What is the purpose of a stop and frisk?

Answer 23

To confirm or dispel a cop’s suspicion.
– if it is confirmed: that blossoms into probable cause and an arrest can happen
– if not: the seizure ends

Question 24

What are grounds to do a stop and frisk?

Answer 24

If police see unusual conduct that makes them reasonably conclude that criminal activity is afoot. The conduct can be going on, being planned, or have just happened

Question 25

What are the requirements for a police officer to do a stop and frisk?

Answer 25

The purpose can only be to do a protective search or pat down for weapons, and the police officer must have particularized objective basis/reasonable suspicion to conclude that the suspect is armed, presently dangerous to someone, or involved in criminal activity. The police are strictly limited to investigate what is necessary to discover weapons that might harm the police or others.

Question 26

If a stop and frisk goes beyond what is necessary to determine if the suspect is armed, what happens?

Answer 26

It isn’t valid and the evidence will be suppressed

Question 27

What is required for reasonable suspicion for a stop and frisk?

Answer 27

The officer’s subjective instinct or hunch that a crime is afoot viewed as the totality of the circumstances by a reasonable officer with that officer’s knowledge and experience.

Question 28

Where can the source of the information come from for a stop and frisk?

Answer 28

Can be from a reliable informant or from the cop’s personal observation.

Question 29

What is the standard that a stop and frisk is judged by?

Answer 29

What is actually done, not what the cop thought the person was doing

Question 30

If an officer finds something besides a weapon during a stop and frisk, what is necessary?

Answer 30

That the thing have been “weapon-like“ from the outside

Question 31

If a police officer yells for someone and says “come here!“ and then the suspect submits, is that a seizure?

Answer 31

Yes

Question 32

If a police officer calls a suspect over to him and the suspect turns and walks away, but then the police grabs him, is that a seizure?

Answer 32

Yes

Question 33

What is the scope of a stop and frisk?

Answer 33

– police can surround the suspect
– they can draw a weapon if they are trying to protect themselves or others
– they cannot usually handcuff the suspect or put him in a cop car, use physical force, enter private premises, etc.
– can’t be longer than necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop
– the methods must be the least intrusive means possible to verify or dispel suspicion
– the time must be what is necessary to confirm or dispel the suspicion

Question 34

If a defendant has been stopped for traffic violations and an extra police officer comes with a drug dog and finds marijuana, at what point can such a seizure become unlawful?

Answer 34

If it is prolonged beyond the time reasonably necessary to serve its lawful purpose. Traffic stops allow police to hold a suspect for the time necessary to process the incident

Question 35

If an informant tip is the basis for a stop and frisk, what is necessary?

Answer 35

There must be some indicia of reliability