Under what is known as the Plain View Doctrine is called a search-related plain view, referring to items that are identified by the responding officer who was authorized to specifically search for it. In this particular case, the officer was authorized to search for a white, 6’0 tall individual who was wearing a black baseball cap, black t-shirt, and jeans. Even though this description is vague, this individual was in the area of the crime, did match the description, and acted merely suspicious in the officer’s presence. This initially identification is where the detention had occurred in this particular case. The plain view doctrine also states that an officer has the ability to make a warrantless seizure of an object that is involved in a crime if the officer can identify the object in plain view (Terry v. Ohio,…
Evans (1995), the respondent was stopped because of a routine traffic stop. The officer’s computer indicated that there was a misdemeanor warrant out for the respondent’s arrest. The officer search his car and found marijuana in it, so the officer charged him with possession. The respondent tried to have the marijuana suppressed as evidence since his warrant had been squashed since before the arrest. This was denied because the purpose of the exclusionary rule wouldn't be served if they dismissed evidence that was obtained by error of employees. These employees were not directly associated with the arresting officer. So the arresting officer had no way of knowing that the misdemeanor warrant wasn't valid. Since the error was a clerical error exclusionary rule was not applied to suppress the…
Constitution, protecting them against unreasonable search and seizures. The court rejected the defenses opinion, in that the weapons were seized due to a lawful search incident to arrest. The motion to suppress was denied because the court found that the officer had cause to believe the men were acting suspiciously, the seizer and question was warranted and the officers own right to safety had the right the pat down the suspects’ outer clothing, believing that the suspects may be…
The Circuit Court of Portsmouth denied the motion to suppress the drug evidence and found Moore guilty. He was given a five year prison sentence. This conviction was overturned by the Virginia Court of Appeals which invoked Virginia’s statutory arrest rules. The search was unconstitutional because the Code made clear that, absent additional facts, the detectives were required to issue appellant summons for the misdemeanor offense of driving on a suspended license.…
The exclusionary rule prohibits illegally obtained evidence from being used in a criminal trial (Hall, 2015). Furthermore, the exclusionary rule applies to prevent unconstitutionally obtained evidentiary submissions, and the rule is applicable to items or confessions (Hall, 2015). After reviewing the exclusionary rule I feel it should be applied to illegal arrests too, unless the police obtain sufficient evidence independent of the illegal arrest. In the case of State v. Eserjose police made an illegal arrest of the defendant for second-degree burglary; however, during an interview the Mr. Eserjose was read his Miranda rights, and he chose to waive his rights, ultimately confessing to the burglary (Ma, 2013). Subsequently, Mr. Eserjose’s…
The definition of the exclusionary rule was a principle of law that illegally obtained evidence may not be admitted in court. The exclusionary rule was one of the few laws the court system had made to enforce the Forth Amendment’s unreasonable search and seizure clause. The many exceptions and alternatives to the rule caused major controversy over why the rule even stands.…
I am usually one of those people that believes in the law and that believes that rules are in place for a reason. I am well aware of the Exclusionary Rule and the Poisonous Fruit Doctrine however, these are two things that I don't believe in. According to the Exclusionary Rule, any evidence obtained without a warrant or Constitutional justification needs to be excluded from any case records. (FindLaw, 2017). While the Poisonous Fruit Doctrine indicates that the court may exclude not only the evidence itself that was seized in violation of the Constitution but also any other evidence that was derived from the illegal search. (FindLaw, 2017). This doctrine allows for many criminals to be set free on a technicality. We are all well aware that…
To protect the American peoples 4th Amendment right “against unreasonable searches and seizures” from law enforcement using illegally seized evidence in a criminal trial against them, the exclusionary rule was created. The U.S. Supreme Court deemed any evidence illegally obtained inadmissible in a criminal trial, and any other evidence obtained during an illegal search and seizure inadmissible as well. This is known as the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine.…
Though the trial court rejected the prosecution theory that the guns had been seized during a search incident to a lawful arrest, the court denied the motion to suppress and admitted the weapons into evidence on the ground that the officer had cause to believe that Terry and Chilton were acting suspiciously, that their interrogation was warranted, and that the officer, for his own protection, had the right to pat down their outer clothing having reasonable cause to believe that they might be armed. The court distinguished between an investigatory "stop" and an arrest, and between a "frisk" of the outer clothing for weapons and a full-blown search for evidence of crime. Terry and Chilton were found guilty, an intermediate appellate court affirmed, and the State Supreme Court dismissed the appeal on the ground that "no substantial constitutional question" was…
Basically the Exclusionary rule as set forth by the US Supreme Court states that any evidence obtained by police through search and seizure, arrest, interrogations and stop and frisk situations or any other evidence despite its relevance can be excluded as evidence. The Weeks v. United States was basically the origin of the Exclusionary Rule in 1914. In Weeks v United States Mrs, Weeks was arrested for shoplifting and attempted to get a note to her husband about this. Law enforcement went to the residence and without a warrant searched the home and found illegal lottery tickets and removed everything in relation to the tickets charging him with a federal crime because there was evidence showing these were handled through the mail. Mr. Weeks attorney filed with the courts this was illegally obtained evidence and should be excluded.…
I find that the evidence would still be valid based on the “good faith” exception to the exclusionary rule. The good faith exception states “that If officers had a reasonable, good-faith belief that they were acting per legal authority, such as by relying on a search warrant that is later found to have been legally defective, the illegally seized evidence is admissible” (Busby, 2009). The good faith exception was established by a 6-3 U.S Supreme court decision in the United States v. Leon 468 U.S. 897 (1984). The majority opinion, as written by Bryon R. White, was that the exclusionary rule was established to deter law enforcements violations of the 4th amendment warranting against illegal search and seizure. Therefore “reliable physical evidence seized by officers reasonably relying on a warrant issued by a detached and neutral magistrate” did not violate the exclusionary rule and the evidence was to be admitted (Kaye, 2011). The good faith exception was reviewed and expanded in Arizona v. Evans 514 U.S. 1 (1995), a case that I feel directly correlates to my decision reference the admissibility of the evidence in the example given. In Arizona v. Evans an officer conducts a legal traffic stop. Upon running the driver’s license the officer discovers an outstanding warrant for arrest. Pursuant to the arrest a search was conduct and marijuana discovered. When charging Evan’s when possession the officers discovered that the warrant had been quashed. In a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that this was not a violation of Evan’s 4th Amendment rights since the evidence, though obtained based on an illegal warrant, was legal based on the good faith…
The exclusionary rule is a legal procedure in the United States, which falls under the constitution. It protects citizens of the country in making sure that law enforcement officers are operating lawfully and that they abide by all search and seizure laws. It goes so far to protect the citizens of The United States that if a law enforcement officer illegally obtains evidence it can and most likely will be thrown out of the court. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the exclusionary rule, exploring its fallacies…
Not being mean or anything, but in the first sentence of your post, you sounded like you were about to make a statement about the five external measures. Then going to rank civilian monitor as the most important without stating that you were going to rank one as the best measure. Before posting, take time to read your post to yourself to catch any possible error in your post. Beside grammar issue's, whats your take on the exclusionary rule, is it useful, or is it to problematic to law…
Facts: In Lexington, Kentucky, police officers followed a suspected drug dealer to an apartment building where he went. When they arrived outside of the door to the apartment where the suspect was they reportedly could smell marajuana. The police then knocked and shouted they they were there and in return they could hear what sounded like people destroying the evidence and running around. The police then knocked down the door and saw the respondent as well as drugs laying out without having to look anywhere. later the police found more drugs and paraphernalia doing a more in-depth search. “The Circuit Court denied respondent’s motion to suppress the evidence, holding that exigent circumstances—the need to prevent destruction of evidence—justified the warrantless entry. Respondent entered a conditional guilty plea, reserving his right to appeal the suppression ruling, and the Kentucky Court of Appeals affirmed.” The Supreme Court of Kentucky also assumed that there was an exigent circumstance but it still invalidated the search. The court stated that the police should have foreseen that their conduct would most likely result in the tenants attempting to destroy the evidence therefore they should have had a warrant before going there.…
Police discretion is the ability to choose a course of action because of broad limits of power. It "refers to the autonomy an officer has in choosing an appropriate course of action" (The Police In America, 113). It "includes authority to decide which of the various means of helping the helpless, maintaining order, and keeping the peace are best suited to particular circumstances" (www.worldandi.com/specialreport/1989/january/Sa15878.htm). The police need to have discretion since it is impossible to record everything on what they are supposed to do and not do. We can also understand that if you could record all the rules and regulations it would be too extensive for an individual to comprehend.…