Transcript 4th Amendment PPT - stjohns

Chapter 15
Search and Seizure
Introduction
The 4th Amendment prohibits unreasonable
searches and seizures.
 Search – government agents look for
evidence in a manner that intrudes into a
person’s legally protected zone of privacy.
 Seizure – when agents take possession of
property or persons.
Introduction Continued:

Warrant – judicial writ or order authorizing the
doing of a specified act, such as arrest or
search.



As a general rule, the 4th Amendment requires law
enforcement officers to obtain a warrant before conducting
searches and seizures.
Probable Cause – believe that a search will
produce evidence of crime.
Reasonable Suspicion – belief based on all
relevant circumstances that criminal activity is
afoot.

Unreasonable searches and seizures are not admissible in
court.
When, Where, and to Whom the 4th
Amendment Applies
Curtilage – enclosed space of ground
surrounding a dwelling.
 Open fields doctrine – 4th Amendment
does not apply to open fields around a
home, even if these open fields are private
property.
Police may search and seize abandoned
property without the necessity of legally
justifying their actions.

When, Where, and to Whom the 4th
Amendment Applies Continued:



Inventory Search – exception to a warrant
requirement that allows police who legally
impound a vehicle to conduct a routine inventory
of contents in vehicle.
Consent to a Search – person voluntarily
permitting police to conduct a search of person
or property.
Third-party Consent – consent given by a
person on behalf of another. Co-occupants has
the right to permit a search in a dwelling they
share with someone else.
Landlord does not have the implied authority to
consent to a search of a tenant’s premises.
The Scope of Privacy Protected by
the Fourth Amendment
Reasonable Expectation of Privacy –
person’s expectations of privacy that
society is prepared to recognize as
reasonable and legitimate.
 Sobriety Checkpoints – all drivers
passing a certain point are stopped briefly
and observed for signs of intoxication.
Strip searches are okay, but you need to
show reasonable need.

The Warrant Requirement
Fourth Amendment does not apply to border
searches or searches conducted outside
the U.S., nor does it apply to open fields or
abandoned property. Fourth Amendment
does not apply to any situation where a
person lacks a reasonable expectation of
privacy. The Fourth Amendment
expresses a decided preference for
searches and seizures to be conducted
pursuant to a warrant.
The Warrant Requirement
Continued:
With the exception of warrants permitting
administrative searches, search warrants
must be based on probable cause.
Probable cause exists when prudent and
cautious police officers have trustworthy
information leading them to believe that
evidence of crime might be obtained
through a particular search.
The Warrant Requirement
Continued:

Issuance of Search Warrant:


Under normal circumstances, a police officer with probable
cause to believe that evidence of a crime is located in a
specific place must submit under oath an application for a
search warrant.
Affidavit – signed document attesting under
oath to certain facts of which the affiant has
knowledge, and sworn to by the affiant.

An affidavit can’t establish probable cause for issuance of a
search warrant if it is based merely on the affiant’s suspicion
or belief without stating the facts and circumstances that
belief is based on.
The Warrant Requirement
Continued:

Confidential Informants – people who
have been involved with police and are
seeking favorable consideration in
respect to their own offenses.

Two-pronged test to determine probable cause:
1.
2.
Had to demonstrate that informant was credible and
reliable
Had to reveal the informant’s basis of knowledge
The Warrant Requirement
Continued:


Anticipatory Search Warrant – probable cause
does not have to exist until the warrant is
executed and the search conducted.
Knock and Announce – law enforcement
officers should ordinarily announce their
presence and authority before entering a
residence to conduct a search or make an arrest
pursuant to a warrant. Only a few seconds
suffice between the knock and entrance of police
officers.

Exigent circumstances may render the knock and announce
unnecessary.
The Warrant Requirement
Continued:

Franks Hearing – pretrial proceeding that
allows a defendant to challenge the
veracity of an affiant’s statements in the
affidavit that supports issuance of a search
warrant.
Exceptions to the Warrant
Requirement



Plain-view doctrine – officer may seize
evidence of crime that is readily visible to the
officer’s naked eye as long as officer is legally in
the place where evidence becomes visible.
Emergency Searches – search in response to
an emergency. Police can seize evidence in
plain view despite not having a search warrant.
Evanescent Evidence – evidence that might be
lost or destroyed. Police justify a warrantless
search on the grounds that destruction of
evidence is imminent.
Exceptions to the Warrant
Requirement Continued:



Automobile Exception – allows the warrantless
search of a vehicle by police who have probable
cause to search but because of exigent
circumstances are unable to secure a warrant.
Search Incident to a Lawful Arrest – search of
a person placed under arrest and the area within
the arrestee’s grasp and control.
Hot Pursuit – right of police to cross
jurisdictional lines to apprehend suspect.
Doctrine allowing warrantless searches and
arrests where police pursue a fleeing suspect
into a protected area.
Exceptions to the Probable Cause
Requirement
Stop-and-Frisk – officers stop, question,
and sometimes search suspicious people.
Pat down search for weapons.
 Drug Courier Profiles – set of
characteristics that typify drug couriers,
such as paying for airline tickets in cash,
appearing nervous, carrying certain types
of luggage, etc.

Technology and the Fourth
Amendment

Wiretapping



Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of
1968 prohibits interception of electronic communications
without a court order unless one party to conversation
consents.
Pen Registers – device that allows police to
learn every number dialed from a specifically
targeted phone. Does not require a warrant.
Cell and cordless phones – broadcast
transmitters and accordingly, users have no
reasonable expectation of privacy.
Technology and the Fourth
Amendment Continued:

Digital Pagers
 Police
are intercepting signals directed to pagers
of suspected drug dealers to get the phone
numbers of their clients.

Thermal Imagers
 Not
a search within the meaning of the Fourth
Amendment.
The Exclusionary Rule



Exclusionary Rule – forbidding the use of
evidence in a criminal trial where the evidence
was obtained in violation of the defendant’s
constitutional rights.
Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine –
evidence derived from other evidence that is
obtained through an illegal search or seizure is
itself inadmissible.
Good-Faith Exception – bars use of evidence
obtained by a search warrant found to be invalid.
Exception allows use of the evidence if police
relied on good faith on the search warrant, even
though warrant is subsequently held to be
invalid.