The Fourth Amendment: Analyzing Compliance

Question 1

Analyzing Fourth Amendment Compliance When Police Engage in a Seizure or a Search and Act
Pursuant to a Warrant

Answer 1

1. ) a search or seizure must be reasonable
2. ) a warrant creates a presumption of reasonableness. The defendant bears the burden of rebutting this presumption by proving:
   a. ) the warrant was not based on valid probable cause
   b. ) the magistrate was not neutral or detached
   c. ) the warrant failed to describe with particularity the thing to be seized or place to be searched; or
   d. ) the affidavit supporting the warrant was so lacking in PC that no rookie officer would have trusted it.
3. )Any search or seizure without a warrant is presumptively unreasonable; the government bears the burden of proving that it falls within an established exception.

Question 2

Probable Cause

Answer 2

+“Fair Probability”: facts and circumstances that would make a reasonable person conclude that the individual in question has committed a crime (for an arrest) or that specific items related to criminal activity can be found at a particular location

• always required for full scale intrusion (search to find evidence or an arrest)
• can be based on a tip from a confidential or anon informant.

Question 3

The totality of the circumstances test used for the reliability of tips considers:

Answer 3

1. ) the veracity of the informant (normally predictive information)
2. ) the basis of their knowledge (how does the informant know the activities of the suspect?); and
3. ) a police investigation that corroborates the facts in the tip and validates the accuracy of the informant’s predictions.

Question 4

Reasonable Suspicion

Answer 4

A belief based upon articulable information (more than a mere hunch) used by a reasonable person or cop that the suspect has or is about to engage in illegal or criminal activity.

*RS is a level of certainty that will justify only a brief investigatory seizure (terry stop) or cursory protective search (terry frisk)