Case 15.1 The Sheriff’s Department has information to believe that illegal automatic weapons are being hidden in a garage on Mary Halberstam’s property. The information was obtained from a confidential informant who specified that the illegal weapons were assault rifles and that Mary has secured ammunition for the weapons in hopes of arming her friends against a looming government conspiracy. The Sheriff’s Department has a list of weapons that had been reported as stolen from a local gun store and the confidential informant confirmed those were the same weapons he had seen on Mary’s property. The informant made a sworn statement in the form of affidavit that was presented to a judge, who issued a search warrant for “any and all illegal items” in the home and garage of Mary, listing her proper address. The Sheriff’s Department executed a search warrant at Mary’s home by forcing open her front door without knocking or announcing their presence and discovered the illegal weapons that matched the inventory from the Army Depot in her home and the garage.Mary challenges the search warrant as unconstitutional. She may succeed because:
Blog
The automobile exception to the warrant requirement requires…
The automobile exception to the warrant requirement requires, at a minimum, _____.
For many years prior to 1993, federal courts utilized the __…
For many years prior to 1993, federal courts utilized the _____ test for the admissibility of scientific evidence.
Even if police do not have a warrant, they can still search…
Even if police do not have a warrant, they can still search a computer or any location if they have consent from a person in authority.
The Supreme Court replaced the Daubert test with the Frye te…
The Supreme Court replaced the Daubert test with the Frye test.
The Frye test was criticized for being both too broad and to…
The Frye test was criticized for being both too broad and too narrow.
The Frye test is sometimes known as the general acceptance t…
The Frye test is sometimes known as the general acceptance test.
Case 14.2 Officer Antioch is investigating a disturbance in…
Case 14.2 Officer Antioch is investigating a disturbance in a large apartment building. The complainant says that the people in Apartment 103 won’t stop playing their music so loud that the complainant can’t sleep. Officer Antioch knocks on the door of Apartment 103 and Melissa answers the door. Officer Antioch is also overwhelmed by the loudness of the stereo system and asks Melissa to turn the stereo down. While he is standing in the hallway, Melissa jumps towards the coffee table that contains drug paraphernalia, grabs a bag of white powder, and rushes towards the bathroom. Officer Antioch believes Melissa is about to flush illegal drugs down the toilet and enters the apartment, but Melissa closes the bathroom door behind her. Officer Antioch then hears the distinctive sound of the toilet flushing. Melissa exits the bathroom as if nothing had happened. Officer Antioch knows that possession of the drug paraphernalia is itself a felony, but just then Bob appears from an adjoining bedroom, grabs the drug paraphernalia from the coffee table and sprints out of the apartment. Officer Antioch sees Bob banging on the door of another apartment belonging to Charlie and Charlie admits Bob. Officer Antioch barges into Charlie’s apartment and arrests Bob, who is still holding the drug paraphernalia from Melissa’s apartment. He also arrests Melissa for the possession of drug paraphernalia. Officer Antioch searches Bob and finds that he also has cocaine in his front pocket.Officer Antioch’s entry into Melissa’s apartment:
Under the Fourth Amendment, a person has been seized when a(…
Under the Fourth Amendment, a person has been seized when a(n) _____ person under the circumstances would conclude that they are not free to leave.
Federal law allows secret taping of conversations as long as…
Federal law allows secret taping of conversations as long as one of the parties to the conversation consents.