Criminal Procedure Midterm Review

Search and Seizure Flow Chart Hypothetical Fact Pattern Exercise Practice questions Questions and Answers Power point slides available at: http://jyates.myweb.uga.edu/

Basic Fourth Amendment Analysis

Search by government? Police good faith? Inevitable Discovery? Reasonably expect privacy? Standing? No? No? Was there a warrant? Search Valid

Independent source?

Warrant Exception?
*Incident to arrest *Auto search *Plain view

*Consent
*Stop & frisk *Hot pursuit/evanescent evidence

Was warrant proper and executed correctly?

Search Valid

Search Valid

One method of answering hypothetical fact pattern questions

I.R.A.C. Method
Issue Rule Application Conclusion

All elements outlined above are important, but, of course, the Application element is most important This could be used for either essay writing organization or to clarify your thinking in a multiple choice question context

PRACTICE MIDTERM EXAMINATION - FACT PATTERN TYPE QUESTION The state of New York passed a law prohibiting the use, possession, or sale of tea leaves and tea products. This includes iced tea, hot tea, or any other manner that tea might be ingested or sold. The possession, use, or sale of tea is a felony punishable for up to five years in prison. Unfortunately, the use of tea persists in the city of New York where tea abuse has reached epidemic proportions. Jerry and his friend Elaine are quite fond of hot tea as is Elaines new boyfriend Lloyd Braun. Jerry lives down the hall from Cosmo Kramer who prefers iced tea. Jerry and Elaines friend George dislikes tea but, likes to hang out with tea users because he wants to be hip. The new police chief in town, Newman (the former mailman), has vowed to rid the city of this vile weed. One day Kramer is sipping iced tea in his apartment and there is a knock on his door. Kramer answers the door to find Newman, his former friend and now tea czar. Newman asks, Not hiding anything in here are we Kramer? I know you used to have a certain fascination with ... iced tea! Newman stares the frightened Kramer in the face and asks, mind if I have a look around? Kramer, not being very well versed in his constitutional rights, believes that he must let the forceful Newman in and replies, yeah, sure whatever you want, big officer man. Newman then spies a tall cool glass of iced tea on Kramers coffee table. He confiscates the evidence and places Kramer under arrest for possession of tea. -- So, is the evidence excludable at trial? Why or why not?

Meanwhile, Jerry, Elaine and George are over at Lloyd Brauns house drinking hot tea. Of course, George does not partake of the tea, stating that he had a bad experience in junior high school with tea. Lloyd has an excellent assortment of tea leaves which impresses Jerry and Elaine very much, but irritates George. George believes that Lloyd Braun is a showoff and a no-talent pretty boy. Since early childhood his parents always talked about how great Lloyd Braun is and how he (George) should be more like him. Sitting there at the tea table George plots his revenge. He goes into the kitchen (supposedly to get a drink of water) and finds an exquisite tin can of tea with Lloyd Brauns name engraved on it. He sticks it under his coat and tells the group that he needs to go home to do something. The next day he goes to see Newman at the police station and produces the tea can with Lloyd Brauns name on it. Newman arrests Lloyd Braun in his apartment (he has an arrest warrant) and while he is there notices several pictures of Elaine and Lloyd on display. This piques Newmans curiosity. Could it be that she drinks tea also? He goes over to Elaines apartment and Jerry answers the door. Hello, Newman, quips the irritated Jerry. You two wouldnt be drinking tea would you? inquires Newman. Jerry shakes his head in a nervous manner. Newman further asks, so ... are you and Elaine living together, here? Jerry angrily replies, no Newman, you know that shes dating Lloyd Braun, and furthermore you know that I live in your apartment complex. Well, if you two have nothing to hide, then I guess you wont mind me looking around the place for tea, retorts Newman. No, go right ahead says Jerry since he knows that Lloyd always keeps the tea at his place. What he didnt know is that Lloyd had given Elaine a special gift tin can of tea with Elaines initials on the can. In no time, Newman finds the tea and arrests Elaine on the spot. -- So, is the evidence against Lloyd Braun excludable? What about the evidence against Elaine? If so, on what grounds? If not, then why not?

Jerry now has two friends under arrest for possession of tea. He meets George at Monks cafe for lunch to talk about the arrests. George starts discussing how they shouldnt have gotten mixed up with Lloyd Braun and that Jerrys use of tea was probably a bad idea. Jerry replies, youre crazy, I love tea. I like it hot, iced ... I even like to put it in cakes sometimes. George somberly looks at Jerry and says Im sorry my friend, but I had to do it. Whereupon Newman shows up and exposes the tape recorder under Georges jacket. Yes! exclaims Newman. I had to get George a date with Marisa Tomei to do this, but it was worth it! Jerrys taped statements are used against him at trial and are the basis of a subsequent search warrant for his apartment. The search turns up tea leaves.

-- So, is the confession admissible at trial? Are the tea leaves from the subsequent search of the apartment admissible? Why or why not?

Case based M/C Question

1) According to the Supreme Court opinion in Terry v. Ohio: A) Police have the authority to detain a person briefly for questioning even without probable cause. B) Police cannot stop citizens without probable cause to believe that crime is afoot. C) In any instance where the police can stop someone, they can also frisk the person. D) Police must have clear and convincing evidence that crime is afoot before stopping a citizen.

Hypothetical based M/C Question

1) Government agent Fox Mulder approaches a suspect, actress Tea Leoni, in a public place and politely asks if she is willing to answer some questions. This action by Mulder: A) B) C) D) must be justified by a warrant is the equivalent of an arrest is the equivalent of a stop is not a seizure

Alternative to M/C Answers

(This language will be on the test re M/C answers)
If you feel that the question is ambiguous or may lead to more than one answer, then you may answer it with a short essay. You may do this by: (a) clearly denoting the question that you are answering on the back of the examination, (b) stating the grounds for the ambiguity, and (c) fully answering the given question (a paragraph or more), including alternative answers for different ways that the ambiguous portions of the question may be interpreted.