Criminal Law Flashcards
Fourth Amendment - Search and Seizure
The fourth amendment protects citizens from unreasonable search and seizure. For the defendant to assert a fourth amendment challenge he must demonstrate a reasonable expectation of privacy and that he had some ownership or possessory interest in the places searched or items seized. A search and seizure are valid only if the government acted pursuant to a valid warrant and evidence seized without a warrant or with an invalid warrant will be inadmissible.
Think government action, subjective expectation of privacy, objective societal expectation of privacy.
Fifth Amendment - Privilege against incriminating statements
The fifth amendment guarantees a freedom against compelled self-incrimination. Police officers must inform detainees of their Miranda rights before conducting a custodial interrogation. Statements obtained as a result of a custodial interrogation without Miranda warnings are generally inadmissible. A suspect is in custody when he is placed in a situation where a reasonable person would not feel free to leave and the environment is inherently coercive, resembling a station arrest. Interrogation refers not only to express questioning, but also to any words or actions on the part of the police officers designed to elicit an incriminating response. Miranda does not apply to voluntary statements. A waiver of Miranda rights must be knowing and voluntary. Any assertion of a right to remain silent must be explicit and ambiguous. A confession obtained in violation of Miranda, but that was otherwise voluntary, may be used to impeach the defendant’s testimony at trial.
Sixth Amendment - Confrontation clause
The sixth amendment grants the defendant the right to confront witnesses. When two defendants are tried together and one has given a confession that implicates the other, the right of confrontation prohibits the use of that statement unless all portions referring to the other defendant can be eliminated, the confessing defendant takes the stand and is subject to cross examination, or the non testifying co-defendant’s confession is being used to rebut the defendant’s claim that the defendant’s confession was obtained coercively.
Sixth Amendment - Right to counsel
A suspect has a sixth amendment right to counsel at all critical stages of a criminal prosecution after judicial proceedings have begun. The right is violated when the police deliberately elicit an incriminating statement from a defendant without first obtaining a waiver.
Absent a waiver, the right is violated when an undisclosed, paid government informant is placed in the defendant’s cell, after the defendant has been indicted, and deliberately elicits statements from the defendant regarding the crime.
Common Law Crimes - Crimes against the person - homicide - murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human being with malice aforethought. Malice can be shown by any one of the following: intent to kill, intent to commit great bodily harm, reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life, or intent to commit a felony. The defendant’s acts must proximately cause the victim’s death. Murder is in the first degree if the murder is committed with premeditation and deliberation. Premeditation means the act was committed after a period of reflection, which can be brief. Deliberation means it was committed cooly and dispassionately.
Common Law Crimes - Crimes agasint the person - voluntary manslaughter
Voluntary manslaughter is a killing with adequate provocation. The provocation must be of the type that would arouse sudden and intense passion in the mind of an ordinary person and cause them to lose self-control, and there must not be sufficient time to cool off.
Fourth Amendment - Search and seizure with warrant
A warrant requires probable cause, issuance by a neutral and detached magistrate, and proper execution.
Probable cause can be shown with reasonably reliable informants or with an affidavit that shows a reasonable belief that seizable evidence will be found on the person or premise.
Proper execution means that the warrant is executed without unreasonable delay and, with a few exceptions, the police knock and announce themselves.
A good faith exception applies to invalid warrants.
Fourth Amendment - Search and seizure without a warrant
The following are exceptions to the warrant requirement for search and seizure: search incident to a lawful arrest, stop and frisk, plain view, automobile, consent, or in exigent circumstances.
Fourth Amendment - Search and seizure without a warrant - search incident to a lawful arrest
Where there is a lawful arrest, police can search: persons and areas where there is a risk of weapons or evidence being destroyed, an automobile passenger compartment when an arrestee is unsecured and still able to gain access to it or police reasonably believe evidence for the arrest may be in it, or during an inventory search of the arrestee’s belongings or vehicle.
Fourth Amendment - Search and seizure without a warrant - stop and frisk
There is a stop and frisk exception to the warrant requirement.
Stops are permissible without probable cause if there is a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity based on articulable facts.
Officers can frisk outer clothing if there is reason to believe the detainee is armed.
Fourth Amendment - Search and seizure without a warrant - plain view
There is an exception to the warrant requirement for items in plain view. For the plain view exception to apply, police must be legitimately on the premise, discover evidence or contraband in plain view, and have probable cause to believe the item is related to a crime.
Fourth Amendment - Search and seizure without a warrant - automobile
Police may search an automobile when there is probable cause. They can search the whole vehicle and any container that might reasonably contain the items giving rise to the probable cause, including passengers’ belongings
Fourth Amendment - Search and seizure without a warrant - consent
Consent to search is an exception to the warrant requirement. Consent must be voluntary. Unless a co-occupant is present and objects, any one with apparent equal right to use or occupy the property has authority to give consent to a search.
Fourth Amendment - Search and seizure without a warrant - Exigent Circumstances
Exigent circumstances create and exception to the warrant requirement. This includes situations of hot pursuit, evanescent evidence, and emergencies affecting health or saftey
Fourth Amendment - Search of specific persons or places
The reasonable expectation of privacy normally associated with 4th Amendment protections changes in some places.
Administrative searches are allowed where there is a general and uniform enforcement plan.
In public schools, there are reasonable grounds for a search when there is a moderate chance of finding evidence, a school measure is reasonably related to the search, and the search is not excessively intrusive.
Fourth Amendment - Double jeopardy
Attaches in a jury trial when the jury is empaneled and the first witness is sworn in. Exceptions to this rule are hung juries, necessity aborts the first trial, or if there is a successful appeal. Subsequent trial for same or lesser offense generally is barred.
Sixth Amendment - Right to a speedy trial
The right to a speedy trial attaches once the defendant is arrested or charged. Factors include the length of the delay, reason for the delay, whether the defendant asserted his right, and prejudice to the defendant.
Sixth Amendment - Right to a jury trial
Applies to serious offenses where there is a threat of six months or more of imprisonment. Guilty pleas made must be voluntary and intelligent. The judge must make sure the defendant knows and understands the nature of the charge and its elements, the maximum penalty and any mandatory minimums, his right not to plead guilty and his right to trial.
Exclusionary Rule
The exclusionary rule makes evidence obtained in violation of the constitution inadmissible. This includes fruits of the poisonous tree. Exceptions to the exclusionary rule are: fruits obtain in violation of Miranda, independent sources, inevitable discovery, and violation of the knock and announce rule.
Eighth Amendment - Cruel and unusual punishment
Punishments must be proportional to the offense. The death penalty does not inherently violate the Eighth Amendment. The jury should be allowed to consider all mitigating circumstances. It can be imposed for felony murder if the defendant participated in a meaningful way and acted with reckless indifference.
Fourteenth Amendment - Due process
The burden of proof is on the prosecution to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. States may impose a burden on the defendant to prove affirmative defenses.
Identification is unnecessarily suggestive and there is a substantial likelihood of misidentification.
