Search and Seizure Flashcards
To determine whether a search or seizure is governed by the 4th amendment, we must ask 4 questions (4 elements):
- Executed by government agent?
- From an area or of an item protected by the 4th amendment?
- Physical intrusion by a government agent or violation of a reasonable expectation of privacy?
- Does the individual subject to the search or seizure have “standing”?
What 4 categories of government agents are most important for the bar (in order of importance)
- Police (on or off duty)
- Private citizens if and only if acting at the direction of police
- Private security deputized with the power to arrest (campus police at a state school)
- Public school officials such as principles or vice principals
The 4th amendment protects individuals from unreasonable search and seizure of these 4 items or areas
1 their persons (bodies)
- Houses (including domestic use area outside house (porch, yard) & hotel rooms)
- Papers (letters)
- A facts (vehicles, purses, backpacks)
The following 8 items are not protected under the 4th amendment (Patty achieved a glorious victory over her opponent)
- Paint on your car
- Accounting records held by the bank
- Air – anything that can be seen from public airspace
- Garbage left in public
- Voice – the sound thereof
- Odors
- Handwriting
- Open fields – anything that can be seen in or across
You don’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy in anything you provide _______ to third parties
Knowing exposure
There are 2 ways in which searches and seizures by government agents can implicate a an individual’s 4th amendment rights
- Physical intrusion on a constitutionally protected area to obtain information (a tracking device on a car was an intrusion)
- The search or seizure of a constitutionally protected area violated an individuals reasonable expectation of privacy
The violation of a reasonable expectation of privacy has 2 components 1, 1 subjective one objective
- Subjective: the defendant had an actual subjective expectation of privacy in the area searched or items seized, and
- That privacy expectation was “one that society recognizes as reasonable”
The police search is presumptively unreasonable if it uses a device that is not?
Available for public use, and the police use it to explore the details of a home that officers couldn’t have known without the technology (heat vision).
To have standing to challenge the search or seizure, an individual must be bringing claim with respect to (A) his own? Or (B) a 3rd parties? privacy rights.
You may only bring a claim with respect to your own PERSONAL privacy rights, not those of a 3rd party
If you’re an overnight guest in someone’s house, in what areas do you have a reasonable expectation of privacy?
In the areas you can reasonably be expected to access: living room dining, dining room, bathroom, bedroom
If you are merely using a someone else’s residence for business purposes, do you have a reasonable execution of privacy in the property if you are not staying overnight?
No, you do not (apartment of acquaintance to bag cocaine).
If a man hides drugs in his girlfriend’s purse, does he have a reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to the drugs when they are seized?
No, because he does not have a reasonable execution of privacy in the AREA from which it was seized. Only to girlfriend does.
Do passengers in the car have a reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to searches of the automobile?
No, only the owner or driver.
Under New York law, passengers can challenge the finding of a what in a car, if it is attributed to them?
Passengers can challenge the possession of weapons, if possession is attributed to them
There are 4 requirements for a warrant under which criminal evidence is gathered to satisfy the 4th amendment. Name them
- Issued by a NEUTRAL and DETACHED magistrate
- Supported by PROBABLE CAUSE and PARTICULARITY
- If not so supported, officers relied on the defective warrant in good faith (New York rejects good faith doctrine)
- Warrant PROPERLY EXECUTED by the police
When is a magistrate not “neutral and detached”?
When her conduct demonstrates a bias in favor of the prosecution, e.g., if your salary is tied to number of warrants issued
Probable cause requires ____ ________ that contraband or evidence of crime will be found in the area searched
Fair probability
Is hearsay admissible for purposes of probable cause?
Yes, absolutely
When may police use anonymous informants tips at common law for purposes of probable cause?
When there is enough information for the MAGISTRATE to make a “commonsense, practical” determination that probable cause exists based on a TOTALITY of the circumstances
Under New York law, probable cause is evaluated under a stricter standard. When applying for search warrant the government must establish 2 things
- The informants BASIS OF KNOWLEDGE, and
2. The informants RELIABILITY or VERACITY
To satisfy the particularity requirement to get a warrant, it must specify 2 things:
- The place to be searched
- The items to be seized
a general warrant cannot be given authorizing a fishing expedition
By common law, a warrant that is invalid due to the absence of probable cause or particularity can be saved by an officer’s “good faith.” In New York?
In New York, a cop’s Good faith does not save a defective warrant.
An officer is good-faith reliance on a defective search warrant does not save it, if one of the 4 categorical exceptions to good-faith applies:
- If the affidavit supporting the warrant is EGREGIOUSLY lacking in probable cause (a bare-bones affidavit)
- The warrant is FACIALLY DEFICIENT in PARTICULARITY
- The affidavit contains KNOWING or RECKLESS FALSEHOODS
- The magistrate is biased
There are 2 aspects to the inquiry of whether a search warrant was properly executed by the police. Name the 2
- Whether the officers complied with the terms and limite of the warrant
- Whether the officers complied with the “knock and announce” rule
If the warrant says you can search for lost big-screen TVs, may you search a backpack?
No, this would go beyond the limits of the warrant.
Officers must knock and announce their presence and purpose before FORCIBLY entering a place to be searched, unless the officer reasonably believes doing so would be (3 things)
- futile, or
- dangerous, or
- inhibit the investigation
There are 8 exceptions to the warrant requirement when executing a search through which criminal evidence is gathered (ESCAPIST)
- Exigent circumstances
- Search incident to arrest
- Consent
- Automobile
- Plainview
- Inventory
- Special needs
- Terry “stop and frisk”
There are 3 types of exigent circumstances the provide an exception to the warrant requirement
- Evanescent evidence (scraping under fingernails)
- Hot pursuit of a fleeing felon (police can enter the suspects or a 3rd parties home to search for a fleeing felon, and seize any evidence in plain view)
- “Emergency aid” exception – police may enter a residence if there is an OBJECTIVELY REASONABLE basis to believe the person inside needs EMERGENCY AID to address or prevent an injury
You don’t need a warrant when executing a search incident to arrest. 1. What is the timing requirement? 2. What is the geographic scope requirement?
- The timing must be contemporaneous
2. The officer may search the WINGSPAN of the suspect, which includes body, clothing and any containers within reach
When executing a search incident to arrest, does it matter which offense you are arrested for?
No, doesn’t matter at all.
Under New York law, when an officer is executing a search incident to arrest, when may he search containers within the wingspan of the suspect?
When cop suspects that the arrestee is armed
What is the permissible scope of an automobile search incident to a custodial arrest?
The interior cabin, including closed containers, but not the trunk
What is the difference between searching automobile incident to custodial arrest when the arrestee is secured versus unsecured?
MBE: once an officer has secured an arresstee (e.g., handcuffing him and placing him in the squad car), the officer can only search the car under the belief that it contains EVIDENCE RELATING TO the crime for which the arrest was made.
Under New York law, police cannot search containers inside the car after the occupant is out of the car
Officers do not need a warrant to execute a search with consent. 1. What is the standard for consent? 2. What is the scope of consent? 3. What is the apparent authority issue?
- Consent must be voluntary
- areas for for which a reasonable officer would believe consent was granted
- Consent from someone who appears to have authority is valid under the 4th amendment (the girlfriend with the keys to the apartment)
When there are shared premises, who may consent to searches of the common area without a warrant? Separately, if cotenants disagree about searches of the common area, who prevails?
With cotenants, either resident can consent to searches of the common area. However, if they disagree as to the search, the OBJECTING party prevails.
What standard must police meet to execute a search of an automobile without a warrant?
Police need PROBABLE CAUSE to believe that contraband or evidence of crime will be found in the vehicle