How to Analyze 4th Amendment Searches and Seizures of Evidence on a Criminal Procedure Essay

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How to Analyze 4th Amendment Searches and Seizures of Evidence on a Criminal Procedure Essay

SEARCHES AND SEIZURES UNDER THE FOURTH AMENDMENT

The 4th Amendment protects against unreasonable government searches and seizures.

Generally, there are two categories of government searches and seizures: (1) government seizures of a person (e.g., a police officer arrests a suspect and takes him into custody); and (2) searches and seizures of evidence to be used against a person in a criminal prosecution (e.g., a police officer searches a suspect’s car for drugs).

EVIDENTIARY SEARCHES AND SEIZURES UNDER THE FOURTH AMENDMENT

Under the 4th Amendment, a government search and seizure of evidence must be reasonable. For 4th Amendment purposes, a "search" occurs when a government agent physically intrudes into an area where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Places where a person typically has a reasonable expectation of privacy include: the home, the backyard of the home (i.e., the "curtilage"), a hotel room, an office, and luggage.

Places where a person typically does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy include: public streets, open fields (even if the open field is private property), abandoned property, anything visible from public airspace, and anything that can be seen from public space (with or without sensory enhancing devices that are generally available to the public -- e.g., binoculars, flashlight, etc.)

Absent an exception to the warrant requirement, a government search that physically intrudes into an area where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy is unlawful UNLESS the government agent performing the search properly executes a valid search warrant.

THE SEARCH WARRANT REQUIREMENT

A search warrant must: (1) be issued by a neutral magistrate; (2) be based on probable cause to believe that the items sought are fruits, instrumentalities, or evidence of crime; AND (3) describe the place and property to be searched with particularity.

If a warrant fails to meet these three requirements, the warrant is invalid, and the recovered evidence will generally be excluded from the prosecutor’s case-in-chief (unless an exception to the search warrant requirement applies).

However, evidence recovered from an invalid search warrant will generally not be excluded if the search warrant is facially valid and the police in good faith believed that the search warrant was valid.

EXECUTION OF THE SEARCH WARRANT

To execute a search warrant properly, the government agent(s) conducting the search must: (1) perform the search within a reasonable amount of time from when the judge issued the warrant; (2) knock and announce; and (3) keep their search within the scope of the warrant (e.g., cannot search for a shotgun in a jewelry box).

If the police fail to execute a search warrant properly, the recovered evidence will generally be excluded from the prosecutor’s case-in-chief (unless an exception to the search warrant requirement applies).

However, if the execution of the warrant was improper solely for a failure to knock and announce, the evidence recovered generally will not be excluded.

EXCEPTIONS TO THE SEARCH WARRANT REQUIREMENT

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