CRIMINAL PROCEDURE – INVESTIGATIONS ERDELY SPRING 2014
1. Introduction
a. Stages of a prosecution
i. Police investigation
ii. Arrest
1. Side arrest – officer sees crime, arrests
2. Warrant arrest – investigation, then a warrant, then acting on the warrant
iii. Search and/or seizure
1. It can happen before any contact with the police happens
2. Does the method the police use to get this pass the constitutional muster?
a. If not, then the remedy is exclusion
iv. Issue of identification
1. In court/out of court
2. Also just out on the street when first apprehended
v. After arrest, there is a charge
1. Usually within 48 hours of arrest
vi. Before being charged, the police will try to talk to you
b. Fourth Amendment Checklist:
i. Does the Defendant have standing to raise the issue?
ii. Is the Defendant among the people that the Fourth Amendment is designed to protect?
iii. Is the police activity at issue considered a search and seizure in the first place?
iv. Do you have a reasonable expectation of privacy?
v. Did the police have adequate grounds to conduct the search and seizure in the first place?
vi. Did the police have a search warrant?
vii. If there was no warrant, does a warrant exception apply?
viii. Exclusionary Rule
2. Probable Cause and Informants
a. Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213
i. The cops had an anonymous tip that the H and W would travel to FL to get drugs that they would later sell
ii. The court said that they would no longer use the two prong test of knowledge and veracity but would rather use totality of circumstances
iii. The analysis should be limited to the four corners of the warrant
1. If you don't have probable cause on the warrant, it doesn't matter what happened later that corroborated the tip
b. Commonwealth v. Dunlap, 596 Pa. 147
i. There was an exchange of an object for cash with a buyer on the street
ii. The court said that the cop didn't do enough
1. Reasonable suspicion but not probable cause
Herring v. U.S., 129 S. Ct. 695 (2009)
i. The evidence is recovered incident to a warrant that was recalled, but cops didn't know it was
ii. Leon emphasizes the judicial branch screwing up somehow
1. Here, it's the law enforcement making a mistake
iii. If there is a sloppy warrant or a sloppy record keeping system or a computer error, it's not getting excluded
4. Fruit of the Poisonous Tree
a. Nix v. Williams, 467 U.S. 431 (1984)
i. A man kidnapped a little girl, killed her and ditched her body
ii. When he was arrested, the cop talked to him about helping them find the body so the parents can have a Christian burial
iii. The court says that there has been a constitutional violation
1. The fruit is the body and the poisonous tree is the interrogation
iv. The court doesn't exclude it because they say the body would've been found anyway
