Con Crim Post Mid Flashcards
(24 cards)
Stop and Frisk
Degree of Suspicion
Terry Stop
- if they have reasonable suspicion that
the person is involved in criminal activity and may be
armed. This allows for a brief investigatory stop and a
pat-down for weapons to protect the officer’s safety
- limited in scope as in reasonable suspicion of crime and that the person may be armed (pat down)
Reasonable suspicion requires a** TOC**
analysis
Factors include:
* Time of day
* Number of people in the area
* Character of the neighborhood
* Whether the officer was in uniform
* The way the person is dressed
* The direction and speed of flight
* Whether their behavior was
unusual in the specific context
Seizure
A seizure requires either physical force or a submission to an officers show of authority
might be - a totality of the circumstances test to see is a resaonable person would be free to decline the officers requiest or otherwise terminate the encounter
Reasonable suspicion
is a minimal level of objective justification, based on the totality of the circumstances, that would lead a reasonable officer to believe that a person has committed or is committing a crime.
If established by an informant need to consider Spinelli factors
Descriptive is insufficient - predictive information, corraborated by officers will likely be sufficient
❑ Individual’s conduct
TOC: unprovoked flight in a high-crime area can contribute to reasonable suspicion. The combination of location (a high-crime area) and evasive behavior (flight) justified the stop.
❑ Informants
an anonymous tip, by itself, is insufficient to justify a stop (establish reasonable suspicion) if it provides only a description of a person without predictive information or corroboration.
Terry Stop
A Terry stop is a brief detention of a person by a police officer, based on reasonable suspicion of a crime.
Wrinkles
- lenght of a terry stop must be reasonable considering the circumstances
- officers must act diligently and not prolong the stop
ie, taking a person to the station exceeds the scope of a terry stop.
- search of the passenger compartment of an automobile,limited to those areas where a weapon may be, is permissible if the officer has a reasonable belief (based on specific and articulable facts) that the suspect is dangerous and may gain immediate control of weapons.
- Plain View doctirne extends to patdeons in the context of Terry stops if in the course and within the scope of a lawful Terry frisk officers feel or view an object and its incriminating character is immediatley aparrent the item may be seizure without a warrant
Schools
Evident that a school setting requires some easing of the restrictions BUT IS GOVERNMENT ACTIONS:
* No warrant required
* Level of suspicion: No probable cause
RULE: Should be determined by the reasonableness under the TOTALITY OF
CIRCUMSTANCES if a teacher or school official by searching will find evidence
that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the
school.
Scope of the Search:
* when the measures adopted are reasonably related to
the objectives of the search & not excessively intrusive
in light of the age and sex of the student and the nature
of the interaction
eased standard of reasonabless
Checkpoints
wrinkles and need to knows
- The use of a highway sobriety checkpoint does not violate the 4th and 14th Amendments to the United States
Constitution - A suspicionless checkpoint seizure is constitutionally
unreasonable where the checkpoint’s primary purpose is to
advance the general interest in crime control - checkpoint stop is reasonable if it serves a specific
governmental investigatory interest
eased standard of reasonabless
Drug Testing
- government employers may conduct warrantless &
suspicionless drug testing of an employee if the employer’s
special needs outweigh the employee’s expectation of privacy. - : students participating in athletic programs may be drug tested without a warrant or individualized suspicion.
- students participating in extracurricular activities may be drug tested without a warrant or individualized suspicion.
- Where the risk to public safety is substantial and real Blanket suspicionless searches calibrated to the risk may rank as reaosnable But where the Public Safety is not genuinely in Jeopardy AS HERE (Polictical Office Case)
The 4th Amendment will not allow a suspicionless search. - : The court held that searches conducted without a warrant are unreasonable unless a valid exception
applies, like voluntary consent or the “special needs” exception. The court ruled that the “special needs” exception
could not justify MUSC’s policy, as it involved law enforcement objectives
eased standard of reasonabless
Special Needs Exceptions
Exception to the Fourth Amendment allowing searches without a warrant or probable cause generally for purposes other than law enforcement, like administrative inspections or drug screenings
DNA Testing
When officers make an arrest for a serious offense that is supported by probable cause and bring the suspect to the station to be detained in custody, taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee’s DNA is a legitimate police-booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.
– Maryland v. King
No, the 4th Amendment does not prohibit the collection
and analysis of a person arrested but not yet convicted of a felony
charge
DNA identification of arrestees is a reasonable
search that can be considered part of a booking routine
procedure.
Rule: DNA identification/collection [by buccal cheek swab] is
reasonable so long as the initial arrest itself was legitimate
eased standard of reasonabless
Border Searches
Border Patrol can and will conduct a suspicionless search of your car
including taking apart your gas tank to search for contraband if you
cross the international border.
* Limitations:
* Searches of people and their cavities
* “Destructive” vehicle searches
eased standard of reasonabless
Deadly Force
The capture of a suspect is considered a seizure under the Constitution, and the use of
deadly force for a seizure is only allowed in specific situations. The Fourth
Amendment permits deadly force to apprehend felons if the police have probable
cause to believe the suspect poses a danger to them or the public
- police officer’s attempt to terminate a dangerous high-speed car chase that
threatens the lives of innocent bystanders does not violate the Fourth Amendment, even
when it places the fleeing motorist at risk of serious injury or death
Heightened Standard of Resoanabless
Bodliy Intrusions
The exigent-circumstances exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement allows officers to withdraw a suspect’s blood for testing without a warrant if officers reasonably believe that delaying the test to obtain a warrant could lead to the destruction of evidence.
- held that officers must obtain a search warrant
before a blood sample is drawn in drunk-driving cases
where they can reasonably obtain a warrant…”without
significantly undermining the efficiency of the search for
evidence of drunk driving.
Heightened Standard of Resoanabless
Confessions
5th Amendment Concern? Test to see if voluntary?
Court will consider the** totality of the circumstances **to determine whether a confession is voluntary. If not voluntary the evidence must be suppressed.
- confession obtained through psychological pressure may be considered unconstitutionally coercive even without actaul or thrat of physical force.
- confession obtained after 36 hours of interrogation are inherently coercive and violate due process
Miranda
- Prior to any questioniing an individual must be read his miranda rights.
- may not use statemnet sstemming from custodial interrogation of the defendant unless it demonstrates the use of procedural safeguard effectice to secure the privilege agaisnt self-incrimination
- person temporarily detained pursuant to traffic stops are not in custody for purposes of miranda
Public Safety Exception
Miranda does not apply with all rogt to situation in which police officers ask questions resoanably prompted by a concer for the public safety
Miranda is a constitutional decision cannot be overrulled by congress
Custody
- Circumstances of the questioning
- Degree of Restraint?
- routine Procedure?
- Police dominated enviorment?
- Duration. - Would a Reasonable person feel free to terminate the encounter?
So long as a child’s age was known or reasonably apparent to the officer age should be considered when determining whether the child was in custody
Interrogation
when has it occurred??
an interrogation occurs when a person in custody is subjected to either Express questioning or its **functional equivalent **
- Undercover officers are not required to give Miranda warnings to an incarcerated suspect before an interrogation - Absent the the coercive enviorment in Miranda the warnings are not required.
Waiver of Rights
Test?
how to waive
may be implicit or explicit
Waiver of rights must be made voluntarily knowingly and intelligently and implied
- implied through silence
- understanding of rights
- course of conduct indicating waiver
Prosecution has the burden of showing that Miranda Warnings were given and understood and that the accused waived his rights by a preponderance of the evidence
totality of the circumstances
Invocation of Protections
Invocation of the right must be unequivocal such that a reasonable officer would understand the statement to be a invocation
Right to Counsel
- When person invokes his right questioning must stop, if he respond to questions afterwards does not constitute a waiver.
- once questioning stopped if person initates communication with police then it can open the door
Right to remain silent
- Failure to honor the invocation by the accussed or repeated efforts to wear down his resistance equals a violation of his rights.
6th Amendment
when is it invoked?
One judicial proceedings have been initiated the accused has been deprived their sixth amendment right when the government deliberately elicits icriminating statements from him in the absence of his attorney,
- deliberate elicitation occurs when goverment creates situation likly to induce the accused to make incriminating statments without the assistance of counsel
Wrinkle
- merely listening without more is not sufficient to establish deliberate elicitation
- waiving 5th amendment does not necessarily mean waiving 6th at start of proceedings
- Sixth Amendment right to counsel is offense specific and attaches upon the initiation of formal criminal proceedings against a suspect.
waiver of Right to Counsel
requires an intentional reliquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege
State has burden of showing that waiver ocurred from the accused
Exclusionary Rule
Exceptions?
The exclusionary rule is a rule that prohibits the use of evidence that was obtained in violation of the defendant’s rights.
There are several exceptions to the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine, including:
- Inevitable Discovery: If the prosecution can show that the evidence would have been discovered anyway, even without the initial illegal action, it may be admissible.
- Independent Source: If the evidence was obtained from an independent source, unrelated to the initial illegal action, it may be admissible.
-
Public Safety Exception: In some cases, evidence may be admissible if it is necessary to prevent harm to others or to protect public safety.
The public safety exception is a narrow exception that allows for the admission of evidence in cases where there is a genuine concern for public safety, such as in cases involving a missing person or a potential threat to national security.”
Lineups
In Court Indetifications??
- accused has right to counsel/6th amendment protections in a pre trial line-ups
- NOT in Photo Lineups and not before adversarial proceedings start
- in court identificaitons are per se inadmissible unless the state can prove by clear and convincing evidence, the state can invoke the Independant Source Doctrine (exception to the exclusionary rule).
Independant Source Doctrine
is a legal exception to the exclusionary rule that allows illegally obtained evidence to be admissible in court if it was also obtained legally through unrelated means
Eye Witness Identifications
Admissibility of identifications are determined through the totality of circumstances to determine if the reliability of the witness outweighs the corrupting effect of the suggestive identification procedure used.
The court considers the following five factors to determine the reliability of eyewitness identification:
- Opportunity to View: The opportunity the witness had to view the perpetrator at the time of the crime.
- Attention: The level of attention the witness paid to the perpetrator at the time of the crime.
- Description: The accuracy of the witness’s description of the perpetrator.
- Level of Certainty: The level of certainty the witness has in their identification.
- Time Between Crime and Identification: The amount of time that elapsed between the crime and the identification.
Exceptions to the Exclusionary Rule
The exclusionary rule prohibits the use of evidence obtained in violation of a defendant’s constitutional rights. However, there are several exceptions to this rule, including:
- Inevitable discovery: If law enforcement can show that they would have discovered the evidence anyway, even if they had not violated the defendant’s rights.
- Independent source: If law enforcement can show that they obtained the evidence from a source independent of the constitutional violation.
- Miranda: If a defendant makes a statement after being read their Miranda rights, and the statement is voluntary.
- the voluntary statement not a direct fruit of the Miranda Statment
- Attenuation: If the connection between the constitutional violation and the evidence obtained is sufficiently weakened.
- must demonstrate
- ## The Good Faith Exceptionis a doctrine that allows evidence to be admitted in court even if it was obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, as long as law enforcement reasonably relied on information that they believed to be accurate at the time-
