What is a Search? What is a Seizure? Flashcards
Define a Seizure of Property.
Seizure of Property: a seizure of property occurs when there is some meaningful interference with an individual’s possessory interests in that property.
Define a Seizure of a Person.
Seizure of Person: a seizure of person occurs when a PO, by means of physical force or show of authority, in some way restrains the liberty of a citizen.
—When in totality of circumstances, a reasonable person would not feel free to leave.
—Whether a reasonable person would feel free to decline the officer’s requests or otherwise terminate the encounter” (FL v. Bostick).
Examples of Seizure:
Arrests
Physical restraining or ordering a person to stop for questioning/frisk
Taking D to Police Station
Person stopped for traffic violation/ticket
Roadblock (DUI)
Not Examples of Seizures
Stop & Talk
Knock & Talk
Asking for ID alone
Stop in the name of the law unless the person submits to the command or PO uses force.
Katz v. United States: Does an unreasonable search require a physical trespass to violate the 4th Am?
(Facts: PO, without a search warrant, attached an electronic listening device to the outside of a telephone booth where Katz was engaged in a number of telephone conversations pertaining to illegal wagering).
Q: Who is the 4th Am designed to protect?
Holding: The Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures of physical items extends to recordings of oral statement.
Katz Test (for where 4th Am rights extend to protect from unreasonable searches and seizures):
- Actual Expectation: A person must exhibit an actual expectation of privacy (subjective)
- Societally Reasonable: The expectation must also be one that society recognizes as “reasonable.”
Note: 4th Am is designed to protect people not places.
Is Trespass still relevant to the reasonable expectation of privacy inquiry?
Yes. It was designed to protect property rights, you will see it manifest like in the car case.
Does expectation of Privacy extend to public settings?
No. Reasonable Expectation of Privacy does not extend when you knowingly expose yourself to the public.
US v. White: False Friends/ Third Party Doctrine
Does using wire tapped conversations with an informant as evidence violate the 4th Amendment?
Q: what’s the difference between this and Katz?
False Friends/ Third Party Doctrine: US v. White
Rule: 4th Am protects private conversations where no party consents to the surveillance and/or recording, but it DOES NOT protect conversations where one party consents to such activity.
NOTE: the difference between this and Katz is CONSENT!
Third Party Doctrine: does it apply when you give your information out?
Yes. Third Party Doctrine also applies to addressee information on envelopes.emails, websites visited, phone numbers dialed, license plate numbers, cell site location, and bank information.
e.g., pen register or mirror port does not constitute a search.
Oliver v. United States: Open Fields Doctrine
Does protection from unreasonable searches and seizures extend to open fields near the house?
(Facts: Narcos suspect D of growing pot on his farm; see sign for no trespassing; walk around gate and down road for several hundred yards; find field of pot 1 mile of D’s home).
Open Fields Doctrine:
Rule: Entry into and exploration of “open fields” does not constitute a search within the meaning of the 4th Am even if the owner has a subjective expectation of privacy.
Note: can you see it from the sky?
Note: does not matter if trespass violates civil or criminal law in open field scenario. however, trespass is still relevant because it goes to the reasonable expectation of privacy–the closer you get to the home, the more reasonable your expectation is**
Open Fields may include unoccupied or undeveloped area outside the curtilage of the home. So…
How is Curtilage defined? 4 Factors:
Curtilage considers:
- proximity to the home (of area claimed as curtilage)
- Whether an enclosure exists (e.g., a fence)
- Nature of use (of land)
- Steps taken by owner to protect the area of the people passing by.
Cali v. Ciarolio:
What happens if Police Fly over?
Rule: No search if the surveillance occurs
(1) from public navigable airspace, and is
(2) conducted in a physically non-intrusive manner.
California v. Greenwood:
Reasonable expectation of privacy for inspection of garbage?
Rule: There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in garbage left for collection outside the curtilage of one’s home.
- –Curb area is usually outside curtilage
- –Garbage abandoned property; people can go get it; thus, no expectation of privacy.
Kyllo v. United States:
Does use of thermal imaging amount to a search of one’s home?
Holding: Yes. Use of thermal imaging amounts to a search.
Rule: Obtaining evidence by some sense-enfacing equipment, information that could not be obtained without physical intrusion into a constitutionally protected area is a search at least where the technology is in the general public use.
Note: all details within the home are intimate and therefore protected.
US v. Jones:
Does the warrantless installation of a tracking device on a vehicle amount to a search?
Holding: Yes. Warrantless installation of a tracking device on a vehicle amounts to a search.
Note: gov’t physically occupied property for purpose of obtaining information;
Jones had reasonable expectation of property considering the duration in which the vehicle was attached to his car.
