Criminal Procedure Practice Questions

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Police are investigating the murder of V, who was found shot to death in a public parking garage on June 1st. Police visit V's home several days later, and find V's mail stacked up on the porch. They ask you if they need a warrant to photograph the return addresses on all of V's mail. They ask if they need a warrant to open and read letters addressed to the deceased.

Warrant

Police believe that S is operating a drug operation out of his home. S has three children. An officer has suggested planting a microphone in the latest model video game controller, giving it to the kids, with the hope that they will carry it inside, permitting police to listen on what is going on in the home. They call you and ask if they need a warrant for this operation.

Warrant

Police have a warrant to arrest S on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. They enter S's apartment and find him on a couch, passed out, apparently drunk. They take him into custody and call you after he is locked in a police car but while some officers are still inside the apartment. They ask you if they can search the apartment for the gun without a search warrant.

Warrant

Police have probable cause to believe S is a courier for a drug operation. Their information indicates that S delivers narcotics, carrying them in his backpack. Police call you and say that S carries the backpack everywhere, although most of the time it doesn't have any drugs in it. They say they're not interested in S but want to find the suppliers for whom S works. Then they tell you that they have persuaded a professional pick pocket to work for the police, and the pick pocket thinks it would be feasible to plant a tracking device in S's backpack. They ask you if they need a warrant to do this.

Warrant

Police on routine patrol in a high crime neighborhood hear what could have been a gun shot from inside a house at 1234 Crime Street. Suppose that while the police are still on the phone with you, an apparent resident opens the door and shouts for the police to come in. They hang up, enter, and find a gun shot victim. After securing the premises, finding no strangers or weapons, and having called for emts and back up police units, they call you back. The victim and the victim's roommate give police a description of the shooter, who fled on foot. Back up police establish a surveillance perimeter outside the area they estimate the shooter might have reached in the minutes since the shot rang out. The officers want to know if they may search for the shooter, without a warrant, in each of the buildings inside the perimeter.

Warrant

Police suspect that a doctor is prescribing opiates to drug addicts without medical justification and in exchange for cash. They ask if they can put a surveillance camera on the roof of the clinic to record the arrival and departure of the "patients," whom visual surveillance shows leave with prescriptions after a "consultation" that lasts less than three minutes. Do they need a warrant to plant the camera?

Warrant

Two confidential informants, both of whom have given reliable information in the past, have told police that S is dealing drugs out of his apartment. They say, however, that S keeps his main supply and most of the cash proceeds not at his own apartment, but at his girlfriends. Police observations corroborate the tip, but it appears that the girl friend is not involved in the business, as she has been away at college while S's dealings have gone on. Police ask you they may search her apartment without a warrant.

Warrant

Two defendants charged with possessing child pornography identify S as the person who provided the illegal images to them via the internet. In transaction closely monitored by the police, both informants download illegal images from a website police have probable cause to believe is operated by S. Police obtain a warrant to arrest S. S is located while driving, pulled over, and arrested on the warrant. After S is secured in a police car, officers call you and say they see a notebook computer on the passenger side seat. They ask if they can try to read the files on the computer without a warrant.

Warrant

Atwater v. City of Lago Vista

Warrantless arrest for misdemeanor consistent with 4A even without "breach of the peace"

The Supreme Court often changes Fourth Amendment law. Sometimes these changes impose new limits on the police, as when the Court ruled last summer that police need a search warrant to obtain the suspect's location data from his cell phone provider. Now consider the situation where the police obtained the location data without a warrant, before the Supreme Court decision ruled that they needed one, but the suppression motion is heard after the new Supreme Court decision. suppose the courts focus primarily on judicial integrity and compelled-self incrimination when they apply the exclusionary rule. Should the court grant the motion?

YES

The officers approach S and ask to see his identification. S replies "I can't stop to talk, here comes my train." As S rises from the bench, a westbound trolley pulled into the station at just that moment. The police reply: "We can't let you do that right now, there will be another in eight minutes." Has S been seized?

YES

An anonymous informant calls 911 and says "There's a guy selling crack out of a blue Honda on Washington near First. The license plate is JFG341." Police near the scene investigate and see the described vehicle legally parked and occupied only by the driver, S. When the driver pulls out into traffic, the police follow until S fails to signal before making a turn. The police then pull S over to issue the citation. After receiving S's license, the police run a records check and find that S is wanted on an outstanding warrant for distributing child pornography over the internet. The warrant was issued five months ago. The police tell S he is under arrest, handcuff him, and lock him in the squad car. May the police now, without a warrant, search the trunk of the car?

Yes, they may search the trunk, under the vehicle exception to the warrant requirement, for evidence of drug trafficking offenses;

Florida v. J.L

anonymous tip corroborated only by publicly visible innocent details does not by itself establish RS

Minnesota v. Olson

approving lower court's standard: "a warrantless intrusion may be justified by hot pursuit of a fleeing felon, or imminent destruction of evidence, or the need to prevent a suspect's escape, or the risk of danger to the police or to other persons inside or outside the dwelling."

Illinois v. Caballes

canine sniff for drugs invades no REP, so if sniff occurs while S is lawfully detained during process of writing traffic citation, no justification required for sniff, and dog's alert gives PC to search vehicle without warrant under vehicle exception to warrant requirement

Riley v. California

cell phone may not be searched incident to arrest absent PC and either a warrant or exigent circumstances

Sibron v. New York

companion case to Terry; holding that fact that suspect was known narcotics addict, without more, did not justify detaining suspect and reaching into this pockets to search for drugs

Peters v. New York

companion case to Terry; holding that where officer had PC to believe S has committed a crime and arrests S, a full search of the person, without warrant, is justified incident to the arrest

Adams v. Williams

conclusory tip from a confidential but known informant that S had a gun, together with presence in high crime area at 2:15AM, established RS

Kentucky v. King

destruction of evidence in response to lawful police behavior still counts as exigent circumstances; exigency presented by destruction of evidence provoked by illegal police action is fruit of the poisonous tree

Miller v. USA

discussed in extensor in Graham on p. 324 (no REP in bank records held by bank

Illinois v. Caballes

dog sniff by dog trained to alert to illegal drugs and to nothing else does not intrude on any REP and so is not a search

Hester v. USA

even if a trespass under tort law, police entry on private property characterized as open fields is not a search

California v. Acevedo

exception to warrant requirement applies to closed container found in vehicle

Hoffa v. United States

government turning a suspect's old friend into an informant who spent much time inside suspect's home with suspect's consent obtained by pretense is not a search

Robinson v. United States

incident to lawful arrest, police may conduct a thorough search of the person, including pockets, containers, and personal items

Florida v. Jardines

leading dog on to porch of private home is a trespass under general property law and so a "search" under the Fourth Amendment

Ybarra v. Illinois

mere presence of customer at public establishment when police arrive to execute a search warrant for the premises does not establish RS to detain or frisk

California v. Carney

mobile home parked on city streets and capable of immediate movement is vehicle, not home, for purposes of the warrant requirement

Collins v. Virginia

where officer without warrant walked onto driveway and pulled tarp off of stolen motorcycle, automobile exception does not justify warrantless invasion of curtilage

Illinois v. Lafayette

"[An] inventory search constitutes a well-defined exception to the warrant requirement" under the Fourth Amendment "

Bond v. USA

Agent gropes bus passenger's duffle bag, feels a "brick like object," is a "search"

California v. Greenwood

Combing through garbage left on the curb for collection is not a "search

United States v. Knotts

Concealing a tracing device in chemicals purchased by S, and monitoring the transport of the chemical by vehicle outside private premises, not a "search." S voluntarily shared the vehicles location with the public.

Police late at night in a high crime area, with reasonable suspicion, but not probable cause, to believe S is involved in heroin distribution, stop S while S is walking on a public sidewalk. S is carrying a canvas-and-nylon backpack. An officer frisking S also pats and squeezes the exterior of the backpack. Feeling a hard object inside, the officer unzips the backpack and pulls the object out. It turns out to be an external hard drive, slightly larger than a deck of cards. May the officer now:

Continue groping the exterior of the backpack in case there might be another object that is a weapon inside; AND Finish frisking S's outer clothing. BUT NOT Since the backpack is now unzipped, grope inside it in search of possible weapons;

Police receive an anonymous tip that S is dealing cocaine out of his house. An undercover officer obtains entry and buys a package from S. Out on the street, a drug-sniffing dog alerts to the package. Together with the dog, police, with the intent of asking consent to search, walk up the stairs of S's porch. At the door, the officer hear the repeated sounds of shouts and toilets flushing. May the police force entry, without a warrant?

Even if they have probable cause, they unlawfully provoked the exigency;

True or False: Under Terry, when the offense under investigation is a nonviolent offense such as sale of marijuana, the police will never have frisk authority even when they have stop authority.

FALSE

United States v. Karo

If the beeper, voluntarily put in the chemicals by an informant, is used to inform police that the chemicals are inside particular private premises, the use of the beeper is a search requiring a warrant and PC

Police call you and say they have purchased a new drone system. The airborne drone can stay aloft for six hours before returning to base. The drones are small (about the size of a robbin), silent, and very difficult to detect even when their presence is suspected. Each drone can be programmed to identify and follow particular license plates. Police ask you if they need warrants to use this new technological marvel.

No Warrant

Police have developed probable cause to believe S is operating a meth lab somewhere on his 40 acre farm. They want to know if they can inspect the farm without a warrant

No Warrant

Police officers responsible for security at a public high school ask if they can lead a drug sniffing dog by cars parked in the student parking lot.

No Warrant

Police on routine patrol in a high crime neighborhood hear what could have been a gun shot from inside a house at 1234 Crime Street. They want to know if they can enter without a warrant.

No Warrant

Police suspect S of murdering V. The murder took place on June 1st in San Francisco. S lives in San Diego. The detectives ask you if they can use subpoenas, rather than search warrants, to obtain S's credit card records from the credit card companies for May 31st and June 1st, to see if he spent any money in San Francisco near in time to the murder.

No Warrant

S is a suspect in a bombing of a house of worship. Police are treating the case as a hate crime. They want to use their own subscriptions to review years of S's posts on facebook and tweets on twitter. They ask if they need a warrant to do so

No Warrant

The officers want to know if they can lead the dog by the student lockers inside the building.

No Warrant

While S is being booked at the police station, officers ask S if they can search his house, located at 1234 Rock Street. S says: "Yeah, I got nothin' that wasn't in the car." S gives the police a key to the house. If police take the computer from the scene of the arrest to S's house, may they read the computer files in S's living room, without a warrant?

No. Even if S gave consent, the computer was outside the scope of the consent.

Uniformed police, late at night in a high crime area, receive an anonymous tip that S is dealing cocaine. They approach S as S, who is carrying a gym bag over his shoulder, walks in their direction on a public sidewalk. When S sees the police, S immediately turns and runs half a block in the opposite direction. As the police give chase, they see S use the electronic key to open the trunk of a parked car, toss the gym bag in the trunk, then close the trunk and use the key to relock all the doors on the car. S then walks back toward the officers. May the police, without consent, open the trunk and search the bag?

None of the above. They may not open the trunk and search the bag.

Pennsylvania v. Mimms

O stopped S for traffic and ordered S out of car; when S exited car O saw a suspicious bulge and frisked S, discovering a pistol; held the additional intrusion of compelling those stopped for traffic to exit car is de minimis and can be done in every case; bulge gave O RS for protective frisk to protect O during stop

Michigan v. Long

Os saw S's vehicle drive erratically and swerve into a ditch and stopped to investigate; O saw a hunting knife in plain view in the vehicle and S acted high; patdown of S found no weapons; O search passenger compartment of vehicle and found drugs; held the search of the passenger compartment of an automobile, limited to those areas in which a weapon may be placed or hidden, is permissible if the police officer possesses a reasonable belief based on specific and articulable facts which, taken together with the rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant the officer to believe that the suspect is dangerous and the suspect may gain immediate control of weapons

Wyoming v. Houghton

Police with PC may search a passenger's purse found on the seat

Carpenter v. United States

Smith and Miller do not permit government to compel production, without first obtaining a search warrant, of more than one week's location data from third-party cell phone service provider

United States v. Mendenhal

Stewart, J. concurring gives standard later adopted by the Supreme Court in long line of cases: "a person has been 'seized' within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment only if, in view of all the circumstances surrounding the incident, a reasonable person would have believed that he was not free to leave."

True or False: Under Terry, when the offense under investigation is a recent crime committed with the aid of a firearm, police will always have frisk authority so long as they have stop authority.

TRUE

Do the police need a warrant to conceal a miniature camera in a tree in a public park across the street from S's home, if the camera records and transmits a high-resolution image of every person who enters or leaves for more than a year?