Criminal Procedure Outline | ID 76223 | Thomas Jefferson School of Law

Crim Pro Outline
4TH AMENDMENT: the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.
                Search & Seizures: 2 questions
1.       Was there a search?
2.       Was it reasonable?
        I.            WHAT IS A SEARCH

Reasonable expectation of privacy:
Katz (MOST IMP CASE) –
Katz claims his 4th Amend. Rts were violated when the govt recorded his conversation on a public telephone- Katz generated 4 important principles:
***most important*** Protects areas and things for which person has rsbl expectation of privacy (*R.E.O.P)
Protects people AND their reasonable expectation of privacy, not places (i.e. no 4th Amend protection in abandoned house in middle of desert, no on living in house with expectation of privacy).
Do not need a physical violation in order to have a 4th Amend violation (i.e. do not need to involve a physical trespass)
4th Amend protects tangible and intangible objects. Intangible things can be suppressed (ex: sound waves)- (wiretap laws came later).
If police have probable cause to search, and have sufficient time they should first obtain warrant. As here to intercept communications, a “wiretap” (which Congress authorized the next year.

                              B.            4th amendment non protected areas: Open fields and skies
1.       Oliver- Open Fields (beyond the area of the curtiliage)
a.       Common law burglary if you breached the house or the area w/in the curtilage- how far does the curtilage extend- 4th Amend protects the house or curtiliage- Sup Ct says open fields are NOT protected.
b.       4th Amend- Curtilage references FOUR FACTORS: (what’s covered)
                                                                                                        i.            Proximity of the area claimed to be curtilage to the home
                                                                                                        ii.            Whether the area is included w/in an enclosure surrounding the home. (fences don’t count as curtiliage; it is helpful but not enough)
                                                                                                    iii.            The nature of the uses to which the area is put
                                                                                                    iv.            Steps taken by the resident to protect the area from observation by people passing by (least important)
c.        Look at what the purpose for what the structure is used.
d.

imaging itself (thermal imaging is a search in itself b/c it penetrates through walls of a house and ‘searches.’)
c.        Dissent- said thermal imaging is nothing more than a sophisticated dog sniff- you can buy a house in winter and look at snow on roof- if 1/2 of roof has no snow on it (b/c of heat) – logically conclude there is an abnormal amt of heat, then you can draw conclusion that maybe heat is being generated by halogen lamps used for growing pot. AKA the cops don’t learn anything they couldn’t learn with the naked eye.

E.       Exterior of baggage: 4th Amend protection in the contents of your luggage, but when you check into the airport:

1.       Search of Trash: CA v. Greenwood
No expectation of privacy in garbage- Sup Ct determined by societal standards it is not objectively rsbl to believe that you have privacy in your garbage (person may actually believe he has expectation of privacy in his garbage, but its immaterial if that belief is not rsbl by society standards).
How do you determine what is rsbl? Society deems what is reasonable.
***ROL*** 4th Amendment does not apply to garbage.