Criminal Procedures Chapter 9

Abandonment of Motor Vehicles

1. Flight from the vehicle by the person in an apparent effort to avoid apprehension by law enforcement. 2. Where, and for how long, a vehicle is left unattended 3. The condition in which the vehicle is left unattended 4. Denial, by a person who is present, of possession or ownership of the vehicle

Situations in Which the Doctrine Applies

1. Making an arrest with or without a warrant 2. In hot pursiut of a fleeing suspect 3. Making a search incident to a valid arrest 4. Out on patrol 5. Making a car inventory search 6. Conducting an investigation in a residence' 7. Making an entry into a home after obtaining valid consent

Rules for border stops and searches

1. Temporary detention of person believed to be illegal 2. Strip, body cavity, and use of X-Rays searches 3. Detention of Alimentary canal smugglers 4. Disassembling the gas tank of a motor vehicle 5. Searching vehicles away from the border 6. Stopping vehicles at checkpoints 7. Factory survey of aliens

3 Basic Requirements of the Doctrine

1. The officer must have gained awareness of the item solely by sighting it. 2. The officer must be in that physical position legally 3. It must be immediately apparent that it is a seizable item.

The Test to Determine Curtilage: United States v. Dunn (1987)

1. the proximity of the area to the home. 2. whether the area is in an enclosure surrounding the home 3. the nature and uses of the area 4. the steps taken to conceal the area from public view. pg. 279

Border Searches

A border does not just mean a territorial border, areas where one country is adjacent to the other, as is the case with the United States and Mexico or Canada. it also means places where first entry is made into a country, such as the international airports in Chicago, Illinois, or Denver, Colorado. full Fourth Amendment protections do not apply at immigration borders, particularly at the point of entry, be it by land or air. pg. 287

Oliver v. United States (1984)

A place that has a posted "No Trespassing" sign, has a locked gate (with a footpath around it), and is located more than a mile from the owner's house has no reasonable expectation of privacy and is considered an open field, unprotected by the Fourth Amendment

The Location of the Officer

The officer must not have done anything illegal to get to the spot from which he or she sees the items in question. An officer comes to be in a place properly in a number of ways: 1. when serving a search warrant. 2. while in "hot pursiut" of a suspect. 3. having made entry through valid consent. 4. when making a valid arrest with or without a warrant.

One of Many Justifications for Admission of Evidence

The plain view doctrine is only one of many possible legal justifications for admitting evidence obtained by the police in court. It is used as a legal justification for seizure only if all three requriements are met.

Police Actions and Abandonment

The police activities that led to the abandonment must be legal, or else the evidence obatined is not admissible in court.

Hester v. United States (1924)

The special protection accorded by the Fourth Amendment to the people in their persons, houses, papers, and effects is not extended to the open fields.

United States v. Dunn (1987)

Whether an area is considered a part of the curtilage and therefore covered by the Fourth Amendment rests on four factors: (1) the proximity of the area to the home, (2) whether the area is in an enclosure surrounding the home, (3) the nature and uses of the area, and (4) the steps taken to conceal the area from public view.

Open View

applies to instances when the officer is out in open space but sees an item within an enclosed area.

Plain Odor Doctrine

if an officer smells something that is immediately recognizable as seizable, that object can be seized as long as they knowledge amounts to probable cause.

Plain Touch Doctrine

if an officer touches or feels something that is immediately identifiable as seizable, the object can be seized as long as such knowledge amounts to probable cause.

Plain View Doctrine

items that are within the sight of an officer who is legally in the place from which the view is made may properly be seized without a warrant as long as such items are immediately recognizable as subject to seizure. (Harris v. United States 2005) pg. 269

Open Fields and Plain View Compared

pg. 284

Abandonment and Plain View Compared

pg. 287

Abandonment

the giving up of a thing or item without limitation as to any particular person or purpose. It implies giving up possession, ownership, or any reasonbable expectation of privacy. Abandoned property is not protected by the Fourth amendment guarantee against unreasonable searches and seizures, so it may be seized without a warrant or probable cause.

The intent to Abandon the Property

the intent to abandon property is generally determined objectively-- by what a person does. Throwing items away in a public place show an intent to abandon; denial of ownership when questioned also constitutes abandonment.

Inadvertence

the officer must have no prior knowledge that the evidence was present in the place; discovery must be purely accidental. pg. 272

Plain View and Mechanical Devices

the use of mechanical devices by the police does not affect the applicability of the plain view doctrine. For example, the use of a flashlight by an officer to look into the inside of a car at night does not constitute a search under the Fourth Amendment. Evidence that would not have been discovered and seized without the use of a flashlight is nonetheless admissible

Curtilage may encompass a variety of places

Residential yards, Fenced yards, Apartment houses, Barns and other outbuildings, and Garages. pg. 278

Open Fields Doctrine

Items in open fields are not protected by the Fourth Amendment and can be taken by an officer without a warrant or probable cause. The Fourth Amendment protects only "houses, papers, and effects" against unreasonable searches and seizures. Open fields do not come under "houses, papers, and effects", so the constitutional protection does not apply.

Strip, Body Cavity, and X-Rays Searches

A strip search (removing a person's clothing) is allowed in border searches but only if there is reasonable suspicion for it and the same rule applies to body cavity and x-ray searches. These searches have one thing in common: they are more intrusive and therefore need reasonable suspicion as a justification.

Guidelines for When Items are Considered Abandoned

Abandonment is frequently difficult to determine, but the two basic guidelines are: 1. where the property is left 2. the intent to abandon the property.

Recognition of the Item

Recognition of the items in plain view must be immediate and not the result of further prying or examination. In other words, the items must be out in the open, and it must be "immediately apparent" that they are seizable. (Arizona v. Hicks 1987) pg. 270

Awareness of the item through Sight

Awareness of the item must be gained solely through the officer's sight, not through the other senses- hearing, smelling, tasting, or touching. This means that the item must be plainly visible to the officer.

Areas Not Included in Open Fields

Certain areas come under the protection of the Fourth Amendment and therefore cannot be classified as open fields. These areas include houses. Courts have interpreted the term houses under the Fourth Amendment broadly, applying it to homes (owned, rented, or leased), apartments, hotel or motel rooms, hospital rooms, and even sections not generally open to the public in places of business.

Aerial Survelliance of Curtilage

In California v. Ciralo (1986), the court decided that the constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure is not violated by the naked-eye aerial observation by the police of a suspect's backyard, which admittedly is a part of the curtilage.

Property left in an open field or public place

Property discarded or thrown away in an open field or public place is considered abandoned. pg. 285

Property left on private premises

Property may sometimes be considered abandoned on private premises if circumstances indicate that the occupant has left the premises.

United States v. Ramsey (1977)

Searches made at the border pursuant to the long-standing right of the sovereign to protect itself by stopping and examining persons and property crossing into this country, are reasonable simply by virtue of the fact that they occur at the border.

Plain View and Open View Compared

Some lower courts apply plain view to cases in which the officer has made a "prior valid intrusion into a constitutionally protected area"(meaning when the officer is inside an enclosed space, such as a house or an apartment) and apply open view to instances when the officer is out in open space (such as the street) but sees an item within an enclosed area.

Is Trash or garbae abandoned?

The Court decided in California v. Greenwood (1988), that garbage left outside the curtilage of a home for regular collection is considered abandoned and therefore may be seized by the police without a warrant.

Horton v. California (1990)

The Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the warrantless seizure of evidence in plain view, even though the discovery of the evidence was not inadvertent

Curtilage

The area to which extends the intimate activity associated with the sancity of a man's home, and the privacies of life. (Open field begins where curtilage ends. Fourth Amendment protection applies only to the home and the curtilage, not to open fields.

Temporary Detention of Aliens Believed to be illegal

The court has held that, for the purpose of questioning, an immigration officer may detain against his or her will an individual reasonably believed to be an alien