Criminal Justice- Clemson- Spring 16, Britz

Particularity (Search Warrant Issue)

- "The requirement that warrants shall particularly describe the things to be seized makes general searches under them impossible and prevents the seizure of one thing under a warrant describing another. As to what is to be taken, nothing is left to the discretion of the officer executing the warrant."

Ex post facto law (2. Benchmark Determining Legality)

- (Latin for "from after the action" or "after the facts") - a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences (or status) of actions that were committed, or relationships that existed, before the enactment of the law.

Mapp v. Ohio

- ? - house stuffing - courts attached provisions of the exclusionary rule to state courts via the 14th amendment.

Bail Bond

- A written promise signed by a defendant or a surety (one who promises to act in place of another) to pay an amount fixed by a court should the defendant named in the document fail to appear in court for the designated criminal proceeding at the date and time specified. - A bail bond is one method used to obtain the release of a defendant awaiting trial upon criminal charges from the custody of law enforcement officials.

Appellate Procedure: Appeals (Possible Outcomes of Appeals Court's Decision)

- Affirm - Reverse - Remand - Harmless v. Reversible Error

Trial and Conviction

- Bench Jury, - Trial Jury, - Standard Proof - Finding of Jury

Automobiles (Warrantless Searches)

- Carroll v. U.S. - U.S. v. Chadwick - U.S. v. Ross

Courts

- Courts of Limited Jurisdiction - Courts of General Jurisdiction - Appellate Courts

5th Amendment

- No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury...nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation

Scope/Context (Search Warrant Issue)

- Police may only search the particular area and seize the specific items called for in the search warrant. Police may search outside the scope of the warrant only if they are protecting their safety or the safety of others, or if they are acting to prevent the destruction of evidence. Police may seize objects not specified in the warrant only if they are in plain view during the course of the search.

Sentencing

- Pre-Sentence Investigation (PSI) - Mitigating v. Aggravating Factors

6th Amendment

- Speedy and public trial - Impartial jury - Informed of nature and cause of accusation - Confronting witnesses - Subpoena powers - Assistance of counsel

Due process (3. Benchmark Determining Legality)

- Substantive - Procedural

Federal Courts (S.*C.T.)

- Supreme Court, - *Circuit Courts*, - Trial Courts

State Courts (S.*D.T.)

- Supreme Court, - *District Court*, - Trial Court

Examples of Warrantless Searches

- Terry stop, - Incident to arrest, - Automobiles, - Plain view - Consent, - Open fields and Abandoned Property

Plain View (Warrantless Searches)

- Texas v. Brown - Three characteristics: 1) lawful position; 2) unobstructed; 3) evidentiary value immediately apparent

Minnesota v. Olsen (Consent)

- The arrest violated Olson's Fourth Amendment rights. - Police suspected respondent Olson of being the driver of the getaway car used in a robbery-murder. After recovering the murder weapon and arresting the suspected murderer, they surrounded the home of two women with whom they believed Olson had been staying. - Without seeking permission and with weapons drawn, they entered the home, found Olson hiding in a closet, and arrested him. - Shortly thereafter, he made an inculpatory statement, which the trial court refused to suppress. He was convicted of murder, armed robbery, and assault. - The Minnesota Supreme Court reversed, ruling that Olson had a sufficient interest in the women's home to challenge the legality of his warrantless arrest, that the arrest was illegal because there were no exigent circumstances to justify warrantless entry, and that his statement was tainted and should have been suppressed. - Olson's status as an overnight guest is alone sufficient to show that he had an expectation of privacy in the home that society is prepared to recognize as reasonable.

4th Amendment

- The right of the people to be secure in the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath, or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

Good Faith (Exceptions to Exclusionary Rule)

- U.S. v. Leon - acting on tip from informant, officers conducted search and found narcotics. - Evidence seized with a defective warrant not based on probable cause is admissible if the officers acted in good faith but judicial error was present.

Released on Own Recognizance (ROR)

- When the court determines that a defendant is likely to appear in court as required by law, bail may be deemed unnecessary and the defendant is released without posting bail.

Schneckloth v. Bustamonte (Consent)

- a U.S. Supreme Court case in which the high court ruled that in a case involving a consent search, while knowledge of a right to refuse consent is a factor to be taken into account, the state does not need to prove that the one who is giving permission to search knows that he has a right to withhold his consent under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. - consent which is voluntarily given allows warrantless searches

Nix v. Williams, 1984 (Exceptions to Exclusionary Rule)

- a US Supreme Court decision that created an "inevitable discovery" exception to the exclusionary rule. - The exclusionary rule makes most evidence gathered through violations of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure, inadmissible in criminal trials as "fruit of the poisonous tree". - In Nix, the Court ruled that evidence that would inevitably have been discovered by law enforcement through legal means remained admissible. - Inevitability of discovery

Texas v. Brown (Plain View)

- a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court determined that the defendant's arrest in El Paso County, Texas for a refusal to identify himself, after being seen and questioned in a high crime area, was not based on a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing and thus violated the Fourth Amendment. - It is an important case for Stop and Identify statutes in the United States. - Three characteristics: 1) lawful position; 2) unobstructed; 3) evidentiary value immediately apparent

Furman v. Georgia

- a United States Supreme Court decision that ruled on the requirement for a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty. - The case led to a de facto moratorium on capital punishment throughout the United States, which came to an end when Gregg v. Georgia was decided in 1976.

New Jersey v. T.L.O.

- a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States addressing the constitutionality of a search of a public high school student for contraband after she was caught smoking. A subsequent search of her purse revealed drug paraphernalia, marijuana, and documentation of drug sales. She was charged as a juvenile for the drugs and paraphernalia found in the search. She fought the search, claiming it violated her Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches. The U.S. Supreme Court, held that the search by the was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.

New York v. Quarles, 1984 (Exceptions to Exclusionary Rule)

- a decision by the United States Supreme Court regarding an exception to the so-called Miranda warning. It established the so-called public safety exception. - Public Safety Exception

Carroll v. U.S. (Automobiles)

- a decision by the United States Supreme Court which upheld that the warrantless search of an automobile is known as the automobile exception. - This case has also been used to increase the scope of warrantless searches.

U.S. v. Chadwick (Automobiles)

- a decision by the United States Supreme Court, which held that, absent exigency, the warrantless search of double-locked luggage just placed in the trunk of a parked vehicle is a violation of the Fourth Amendment and not justified under the automobile exception. - The court reasoned that while luggage is movable like an automobile, it does not have the lesser expectation of privacy associated with an automobile.

In re Gault

- a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that held that juveniles accused of crimes in a delinquency proceeding must be afforded many of the same due process rights as adults, such as the right to timely notification of the charges, the right to confront witnesses, the right against self-incrimination, and the right to counsel.

Gideon v. Wainwright

- a landmark case in United States Supreme Court history. In it, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that states are required under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to provide counsel in criminal cases to represent defendants who are unable to afford to pay their own attorneys. The case extended the right to counsel, which had been found under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to impose requirements on the federal government, by ruling that this right imposed those requirements upon the states as well.

Trial Jury (Trial of Conviction)

- hears the evidence in a trial as presented by both the plaintiff (petitioner) and the defendant (respondent). - After hearing the evidence and often jury instructions from the judge, the group retires for deliberation, to consider a verdict.

Harmless v. Reversible Error (Possible Outcomes of Appeals Court's Decision)

- if subject to this, it means that the state has failed to demonstrate harmlessness of the alleged constitutional violation beyond a reasonable doubt.

Terry stop (Warrantless Searches)

- is a brief detention of a person by police on reasonable suspicion of involvement in criminal activity but short of probable cause to arrest. - Think "stop and frisk"

Reverse (Possible Outcomes of Appeals Court's Decision)

- issuing its own decision where it reverses the trial court. - It may affirm part of the decision and reverse another part - can reverse and remand

Affirm (Possible Outcomes of Appeals Court's Decision)

- means that the trial court decision stands - It may affirm part of the decision and reverse another part

Jails

- misdemeanors, - federal prisoners, - convicted but awaiting transfer - VAST MAJORITY are awaiting trial

Courts of General Jurisdiction

- most felony cases - (i.e. trial courts)

Booking

- official record of the arrest

Procedural Law

- or adjective law comprises the rules by which a court hears and determines what happens in civil lawsuit, criminal or administrative proceedings. Bill of Rights- 1st 10 Amendments; 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 14th

Hung Jury

- or deadlocked jury, is a jury that cannot, by the required voting threshold, agree upon a verdict after extended deliberation and is unable to change its votes. - Hung jury may also be referred to as a non unanimous verdict.

Frisk

- patting down of outer clothing of a suspect based on reasonable suspicion.

Arrest

- physical taking of an individual into custody for prosecution

8th Amendment

- prohibits excessive fines - prohibits excessive bail, - prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.

4th Amendment

- prohibits unreasonable searches, - search warrants, - probable cause as determined by a neutral judge/magistrate.

6th Amendment

- protects the right to a fair and speedy public trial by jury, - rights to be notified of the accusations, - to confront the accuser, - to obtain witnesses, - to retain counsel.

Probable cause

- reasonable grounds (for making a search, pressing a charge, etc.).

Probable cause (Search Warrant Issue)

- reasonable link between a specific person and a particular crime - that legal threshold necessary to effect an arrest or the search of a person.

Pre-Sentence Investigation (PSI) (Sentencing)

- referring to the investigation into the history of person convicted of a crime before sentencing to determine if there are extenuating circumstances which should ameliorate the sentence or a history of criminal behavior to increase the harshness of the sentence.

Prisons

- reserved for felonies

5th Amendment

- sets rules for inditement, - right to grand jury, - eminent domain, - protects the rights to due process, - freedom from self-discrimination, - no double jeopardy.

California v. Ciraolo (Open Fields and Abandoned Property)

- surveillance from plane does not constitute violation of the fourth amendment.

Warrant

- sworn statement by police that attests to the existence of probable cause which is signed by a neutral magistrate

7 Benchmarks Determining Legality

1) Principle of Legality 2) Ex post facto laws 3) Due process 4) Void for vagueness 5) Right to privacy 6) Void for overbreadth 7) Cruel and unusual punishment

Plea Bargaining- Four Plea Choices:

1) not guilty, 2) not guilty by reason of affirmative defense, 3) guilty, 4) nolo contendere (i.e., no contest)

Specificity (Search Warrant Issue)

? - where the warrant allows the officers to search for anything.

8th Amendment

- Cruel and unusual punishment

14th Amendment

- Due Process

8th Amendment

- Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Courts

- Federal - State

Types of Law Enforcement

- Federal - State - Local

5th Amendment

- Grand jury - Double jeopardy - Self-incrimination - Due process

6th Amendment

- In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

Criminal Procedure

- Initial Appearance - Preliminary hearing OR Grand Jury Indictment or Arraignment - Bail - Plea bargaining - Trial and conviction - Sentencing - Appeals - Incarceration

Components of the Criminal Justice System

- Law enforcement - Courts - Corrections

Open Fields and Abandoned Property (Warrantless Searches)

- No expectation of privacy in either open fields or abandoned property - California v. Ciraolo - surveillance from plane does not constitute violation of the fourth amendment.

Terry v. Ohio

- a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court which held that the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures is not violated when a police officer stops a suspect on the street and frisks him or her without probable cause to arrest, if the police officer has a reasonable suspicion that the person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime and has a reasonable belief that the person "may be armed and presently dangerous." - For their own protection, police may perform a quick surface search of the person's outer clothing for weapons if they have reasonable suspicion that the person stopped is armed. This reasonable suspicion must be based on "specific and articulable facts" and not merely upon an officer's hunch. This permitted police action has subsequently been referred to in short as a "stop and frisk," or simply a "Terry frisk". The Terry standard was later extended to temporary detentions of persons in vehicles, known as traffic stops; see Terry stop for a summary of subsequent jurisprudence. - The rationale behind the Supreme Court decision revolves around the understanding that, as the opinion notes, "the exclusionary rule has its limitations." The meaning of the rule is to protect persons from unreasonable searches and seizures aimed at gathering evidence, not searches and seizures for other purposes (like prevention of crime or personal protection of police officers).

Exclusionary Rule

- a legal principle in the United States, under constitutional law, which holds that evidence collected or analyzed in violation of the defendant's constitutional rights is sometimes inadmissible for a criminal prosecution in a court of law.

Nolo Contendere (i.e., no contest) (Plea Bargaining)

- a legal term that comes from the Latin for "I do not wish to contend." - It is also referred to as a plea of no contest.

Appeals

- a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. - a review of lower court decisions by a higher court to look for errors of law or procedure.

Substantive (Due Process)

- a principle which allows federal courts to protect certain rights deemed fundamental from government interference under the authority of the due process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution, which prohibit the federal and state governments, respectively, from depriving any person of "life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." - limits on the power of government to create law - issues involve the states' power to regulate certain activities. - (i.e. topless sunbathing has to be available to both genders to ensure equity).

Bench Jury (Trial of Conviction)

- a trial without a jury (in which both questions of fact and questions of law are decided by a judge) is known as a bench trial.

U.S. v. Leon (Good Faith)

- acting on tip from informant, officers conducted search and found narcotics. - Evidence seized with a defective warrant not based on probable cause is admissible if the officers acted in good faith but judicial error was present.

Affirmative Defense (Plea Bargaining)

- an affirmative defense to a civil lawsuit or criminal charge is a fact or set of facts other than those alleged by the plaintiff or prosecutor which, if proven by the defendant, defeats or mitigates the legal consequences of the defendant's otherwise unlawful conduct.

Aggravating Factors (Sentencing)

- any fact or circumstance that increases the severity or culpability of a criminal act. - Includes the following: - recidivism, - lack of remorse, - amount of harm to the victim, - or committing the crime in front of a child/among many others.

Mitigating Factors (Sentencing)

- any information or evidence presented to the court regarding the defendant or the circumstances of the crime that might result in reduced charges or a lesser sentence.

Warrantless Searches

- are searches and seizures conducted without search warrants.

Consent (Warrantless Searches)

- can search in absence of probable cause - there is "implied" consent - consent can always be withdrawn - Minn. v. Olsen - Schneckloth v. Bustamonte: consent which is voluntarily given allows warrantless searches - May be withdrawn at any time - Two important considerations: Voluntary nature & Legal authority

Seizure

- confiscation of property

14th Amendment

- defines citizenship, - privileges or immunities clause, - right to be free from discrimination, - due process clause, - to have due process of law, - equal protection clause, to have equal protection of the law, - deals with post-civil war issues.

Terry v. Ohio

- developed new parameters for field interrogations. - Terry limited frisks to those situations in which a reasonable officer would have perceived danger.

U.S. v. Weeks (1914)

- evidence seized illegally by federal officers could not be used in federal courts. - Think: the case was too "weak"- "week"

Search

- exploratory inspection of person or property based on probable cause.

1st Amendment

- freedom of speech, - free exercise of religion, - freedom of the press, - right to peaceably assemble, - petitioning for governmental redress of grievances.

Exceptions to Exclusionary Rule

- good faith - inevitability of discovery (Nix v. Williams, 1984) - pubic safety exception (New York v. Quarles, 1984)

Reasonable Suspicion

- good reason to believe that criminal activity is about to be, currently is, or has just been committed.

Powell v. Alabama

- the United States Supreme Court reversed the convictions of nine young black men for allegedly raping two white women on a freight train near Scottsboro, Alabama. The majority of the Court reasoned that the right to retain and be represented by a lawyer was fundamental to a fair trial and that at least in some circumstances, the trial judge must inform a defendant of this right. In addition, if the defendant cannot afford a lawyer, the court must appoint one sufficiently far in advance of trial to permit the lawyer to prepare adequately for the trial. - Powell was the first time the Court had reversed a state criminal conviction for a violation of a criminal procedural provision of the United States Bill of Rights. - In effect, it held that the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause included at least part of the right to counsel referred to in the Sixth Amendment, making that much of the Bill of Rights binding on the states as well as the federal government. Before Powell, the Court had reversed state criminal convictions only for racial discrimination in jury selection — a practice that violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Principle of Legality (1. Benchmark Determining Legality)

- the legal ideal that requires all law to be clear, ascertainable and non-retrospective. - It requires decision makers to resolve disputes by applying legal rules that have been declared beforehand, and not to alter the legal situation retrospectively by discretionary departures from established law. - publication of code

Standard proof (Trial of Conviction)

- the level of certainty and the degree of evidence necessary to establish proof in a criminal or civil proceeding [the standard of proof to convict is proof beyond a reasonable doubt] - beyond a reasonable doubt.

Incident to arrest (Warrantless Searches)

- this is when you are about to be taken into custody. - can search persons immediate area. - Chimel v. California (Don't need to know this court case) - Limited in nature to "immediate control": -May look for weapons -Perishable or at-risk evidence

Courts of Limited Jurisdiction

- those with narrow legal authority - (i.e. taxes, probate, family courts)

Remand (Possible Outcomes of Appeals Court's Decision)

- to send back to the trial court (all or part of the trial court's decision). - When it remands a portion of the trial court's decision, it sends it back to the trial court for another hearing. - can reverse and remand

True Bill

- used for grand juries - a bill of indictment found by a grand jury to be supported by sufficient evidence to justify the hearing of a case.

U.S. v. Ross (Automobiles)

- was a search and seizure case argued before the Supreme Court of the United States. - The high court was asked to decide if a legal warrantless search of an automobile allows closed containers found in the vehicle (specifically, in the trunk) to be searched as well. - The appeals court had previously ruled that opening and searching the closed portable containers without a warrant was a violation of the Fourth Amendment, even though the warrantless vehicle search was permissible due to existing precedent.

Finding of Jury (Trial of Conviction)

- which is an impartial verdict - Acquittal, - Conviction, - Mistrial

Summons

- written notice to appear in court

Field Interrogation

- you don't need probable cause. - Terry v. Ohio

Search Warrants

Issues: - Particularity, - Specificity, - Scope/Context, - Probable Cause