CONSTITUTIONAL CRIMINAL PROCEDURE QUESTIONS
AND CORRECT DETAILED ANSWERS (VERIFIED ANSWERS)
ALREADY GRADED A+
Exclusionary Rule Ans✓✓✓Judge made doctrine that prohibits the
introduction, at criminal trial, of evidence obtained in violation of
defendant's fourth, fifth, or sixth amendment rights.
Purpose: deters the government from violating a person's constitutional
rights by excluding the use of improperly obtained evidence.
Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Ans✓✓✓Not only must illegally obtained
evidence be excluded, but also all evidence obtained or derived from the
exploitation of that evidence.
The court deems such evidence the tainted fruit of the poisonous tree.
Limitation: Fruits Derived from Miranda Violations Ans✓✓✓The fruits
derived from statements obtained in violation of Miranda may be
admissible despite the exclusionary rule.
Exclusionary Rule: Balancing Test Ans✓✓✓When applying the
exclusionary rule, courts must balance the rule's purpose against its
costs.
Exclusion of tainted evidence is not automatic. Rather, whether
exclusion is warranted in a particular case depends on "the culpability of
,the police and the potential of the exclusion to deter wrongful police
conduct."
Independent Source Ans✓✓✓Evidence is admissible if the prosecution
can show that it was obtained from a source independent of its original
illegality, thus removing any taint.
Intervening Act of Free Will ("Attenuation") Ans✓✓✓An intervening
act of free will by the defendant will break the causal chain between the
evidence and the original illegality and thus remove the taint.
Inevitable Discovery Ans✓✓✓If the prosecution can show that the
police would have discovered the evidence whether or not they had
acted unconstitutionally, the evidence will be admissible.
Good Faith Exception to the Exclusionary Rule Ans✓✓✓The
exclusionary rule does not apply when the police arrest or search
someone erroneously but in good faith, thinking that they are acting
pursuant to a valid arrest warrant, search warrant, or law.
Rationale: the purpose of the exclusionary rule is to deter improper
police conduct. When the police are acting in good faith, the purpose of
deterrence does not need to be served.
Exceptions to the Good Faith Exception to the Exclusionary Rule
Ans✓✓✓A police officer cannot rely on a defective search warrant in
good faith if:
,1. The affidavit underlying the warrant is so lacking in probable cause
that no reasonable police officer would have relied on it;
2. The warrant is defective on its face;
3. The police officer or government official obtaining the warrant lied to
or misled the magistrate; or
4. The magistrate has "wholly abandoned his judicial role."
Use of Excluded Evidence for Impeachment Purposes Ans✓✓✓Some
illegally obtained evidence that is inadmissible for the state's case in
chief may be used to impeach the defendant's credibility if he takes the
stand at trial.
1. Voluntary confessions in violation of Miranda are admissible for
impeachment purposes unless the confession was truly involuntary.
2. Fruit of illegal searches may be used to impeach the defendant's
statements made in response to proper cross examination reasonably
suggested by the defendant's direct examination.
Knock and Announce Ans✓✓✓Exclusion is not a remedy for violations
of the knock and announce rule pertaining to the execution of a warrant.
Motion to Suppress Ans✓✓✓The defendant is entitled to have the
admissibility of evidence or a confession decided as a matter of law by a
judge out of the hearing of the jury.
, The government bears to burden of establishing admissibility by a
preponderance of the evidence.
The defendant has the right to testify at the suppression hearing without
his testimony being admitted against him at trial on the issue of guilt.
Fourth Amendment Ans✓✓✓People should be free in their persons
from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Search Ans✓✓✓Governmental intrusion into an area where a person has
a reasonable and justifiable expectation of privacy.
Seizure Ans✓✓✓Exercise of control by the government over a person or
thing.
Seizure of Person Ans✓✓✓Seizure of a person occurs only when, under
the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable person would feel that he
was not free to decline the officer's requests or otherwise terminate the
encounter.
There must be physical application of force by the officer or a
submission to the officer's show of force.
Arrests Ans✓✓✓Police take a person into custody against her will for
the purposes of criminal prosecution or interrogation.
AND CORRECT DETAILED ANSWERS (VERIFIED ANSWERS)
ALREADY GRADED A+
Exclusionary Rule Ans✓✓✓Judge made doctrine that prohibits the
introduction, at criminal trial, of evidence obtained in violation of
defendant's fourth, fifth, or sixth amendment rights.
Purpose: deters the government from violating a person's constitutional
rights by excluding the use of improperly obtained evidence.
Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Ans✓✓✓Not only must illegally obtained
evidence be excluded, but also all evidence obtained or derived from the
exploitation of that evidence.
The court deems such evidence the tainted fruit of the poisonous tree.
Limitation: Fruits Derived from Miranda Violations Ans✓✓✓The fruits
derived from statements obtained in violation of Miranda may be
admissible despite the exclusionary rule.
Exclusionary Rule: Balancing Test Ans✓✓✓When applying the
exclusionary rule, courts must balance the rule's purpose against its
costs.
Exclusion of tainted evidence is not automatic. Rather, whether
exclusion is warranted in a particular case depends on "the culpability of
,the police and the potential of the exclusion to deter wrongful police
conduct."
Independent Source Ans✓✓✓Evidence is admissible if the prosecution
can show that it was obtained from a source independent of its original
illegality, thus removing any taint.
Intervening Act of Free Will ("Attenuation") Ans✓✓✓An intervening
act of free will by the defendant will break the causal chain between the
evidence and the original illegality and thus remove the taint.
Inevitable Discovery Ans✓✓✓If the prosecution can show that the
police would have discovered the evidence whether or not they had
acted unconstitutionally, the evidence will be admissible.
Good Faith Exception to the Exclusionary Rule Ans✓✓✓The
exclusionary rule does not apply when the police arrest or search
someone erroneously but in good faith, thinking that they are acting
pursuant to a valid arrest warrant, search warrant, or law.
Rationale: the purpose of the exclusionary rule is to deter improper
police conduct. When the police are acting in good faith, the purpose of
deterrence does not need to be served.
Exceptions to the Good Faith Exception to the Exclusionary Rule
Ans✓✓✓A police officer cannot rely on a defective search warrant in
good faith if:
,1. The affidavit underlying the warrant is so lacking in probable cause
that no reasonable police officer would have relied on it;
2. The warrant is defective on its face;
3. The police officer or government official obtaining the warrant lied to
or misled the magistrate; or
4. The magistrate has "wholly abandoned his judicial role."
Use of Excluded Evidence for Impeachment Purposes Ans✓✓✓Some
illegally obtained evidence that is inadmissible for the state's case in
chief may be used to impeach the defendant's credibility if he takes the
stand at trial.
1. Voluntary confessions in violation of Miranda are admissible for
impeachment purposes unless the confession was truly involuntary.
2. Fruit of illegal searches may be used to impeach the defendant's
statements made in response to proper cross examination reasonably
suggested by the defendant's direct examination.
Knock and Announce Ans✓✓✓Exclusion is not a remedy for violations
of the knock and announce rule pertaining to the execution of a warrant.
Motion to Suppress Ans✓✓✓The defendant is entitled to have the
admissibility of evidence or a confession decided as a matter of law by a
judge out of the hearing of the jury.
, The government bears to burden of establishing admissibility by a
preponderance of the evidence.
The defendant has the right to testify at the suppression hearing without
his testimony being admitted against him at trial on the issue of guilt.
Fourth Amendment Ans✓✓✓People should be free in their persons
from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Search Ans✓✓✓Governmental intrusion into an area where a person has
a reasonable and justifiable expectation of privacy.
Seizure Ans✓✓✓Exercise of control by the government over a person or
thing.
Seizure of Person Ans✓✓✓Seizure of a person occurs only when, under
the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable person would feel that he
was not free to decline the officer's requests or otherwise terminate the
encounter.
There must be physical application of force by the officer or a
submission to the officer's show of force.
Arrests Ans✓✓✓Police take a person into custody against her will for
the purposes of criminal prosecution or interrogation.
