4th Amendment: Exam 2 Review

Flashcards covering key vocabulary, concepts, and Supreme Court cases related to the Fourth Amendment, probable cause, search warrants, and their execution, for exam preparation.

Probable Cause

Whether the facts and circumstances before an officer are such to warrant a man of prudence and caution in believing that an offense has been committed; it's more than a bare suspicion but less than evidence that would justify conviction.

Aguilar-Spinelli Test

An old, rigid test for probable cause that required two separate components (veracity/reliability and basis of knowledge) to be met individually, often diminishing the value of anonymous tips.

Totality of the Circumstances Test

The current standard for probable cause, replacing Aguilar-Spinelli, which assesses veracity/reliability of the source and basis of knowledge, allowing for a strong showing in one area to potentially compensate for a weaker showing in another, especially with partial corroboration.

Veracity/Reliability (of information)

A component of the Totality of the Circumstances test, asking if the source of information is trustworthy.

Basis of Knowledge

A component of the Totality of the Circumstances test, asking where the informer obtained their information.

Police Arrest (without warrant)

Police can make arrests based on probable cause without an arrest warrant, with officers determining probable cause at the time of arrest.

Automobile Exception

Allows officers to search a vehicle without a warrant if they have probable cause to believe evidence of a crime or contraband is present in the car, applying the totality of the circumstances test.

Illinois v. Gates

A Supreme Court case that adopted the 'totality of the circumstances' approach for probable cause, allowing anonymous letters to contribute to PC if partially corroborated, especially if predictive facts are confirmed.

Maryland v. Pringle

A Supreme Court case that held that probable cause can exist to arrest all occupants of a vehicle when contraband is found in a shared area, based on the 'common enterprise' inference.

Florida v. Harris

A Supreme Court case establishing that a drug detection dog's alert provides probable cause if the dog has passed a training program and is certified, regardless of occasional false alerts.

Objective Standard (Whren)

A legal principle, established in Whren v. United States, stating that when police have probable cause to believe a traffic violation has occurred, their subjective motivation for the stop is irrelevant to its Fourth Amendment reasonableness.

Pretextual Stop

A stop made by police where an officer's stated reason (e.g., minor traffic violation) is not the actual, underlying reason for the stop (e.g., suspicion of drug trafficking or race), which Whren v. United States ruled is permissible if there is objective probable cause for the traffic violation.

Heien v. North Carolina

A Supreme Court case holding that the Fourth Amendment permits officers to make a traffic stop based on an objectively reasonable mistake of law.

Neutral and Detached Magistrate

A requirement for issuing search warrants, meaning the individual issuing the warrant must not be part of law enforcement activity or have a financial incentive in the outcome (e.g., Connolly v. Georgia, Coolidge v. New Hampshire).

Shadwick v. City of Tampa

A Supreme Court case that outlined two tests for individuals issuing warrants: they must be capable of determining if probable cause exists and must be neutral and detached from law enforcement activities.

Particularity Requirement

The Fourth Amendment requirement that a search warrant must specifically describe the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized, preventing general searches.

Andresen v. Maryland

A Supreme Court case affirming that the language in a search warrant must be read in context, and broad phrases following an itemized list do not necessarily violate the particularity requirement if they clearly refer back to the specific crime under investigation.

Groh v. Ramirez

A Supreme Court case that held a search warrant invalid because it failed to describe with particularity the items to be seized, even if the application for the warrant contained such a list.

Anticipatory Warrant

A search warrant based on an affidavit showing probable cause that at some future time (upon the occurrence of a 'triggering condition'), certain evidence of a crime will be located at a particular place.

Michigan v. Summers

A Supreme Court case holding that officers executing a search warrant for contraband have the authority to detain occupants of the premises while a proper search is conducted.

Muehler v. Mena

A Supreme Court case extending Michigan v. Summers, allowing officers to use reasonable force, such as handcuffs, to detain occupants during a search warrant execution, especially in dangerous situations (e.g., gang activity, weapons search).

Bailey v. United States

A Supreme Court case limiting the scope of Michigan v. Summers, holding that the authority to detain an occupant incident to the execution of a search warrant is limited to the immediate vicinity of the premises to be searched.

Knock and Announce Rule

The Fourth Amendment requirement that police officers must knock and announce their presence and wait a reasonable amount of time before forcibly entering a dwelling, unless certain exceptions apply (established in Wilson v. Arkansas).

Exceptions to Knock and Announce

Police do not have to knock and announce if they have reasonable suspicion that doing so would be dangerous to themselves or others, futile, or would inhibit the effective investigation of a crime by allowing the destruction of evidence (Richards v. Wisconsin).

Richards v. Wisconsin

A Supreme Court case rejecting a 'blanket exception' to the knock and announce rule for felony drug investigations, requiring reasonable suspicion on a case-by-case basis before officers can justify a no-knock entry.

US v. Banks

A Supreme Court case determining that 15-20 seconds can constitute a reasonable amount of time to wait after knocking and announcing before forcible entry, depending on the circumstances, particularly where evidence could be quickly destroyed.

Michigan v. Hudson

A Supreme Court case holding that a violation of the knock and announce rule does not require the suppression of evidence found during the search, as the exclusionary rule is not applicable.

Maryland v. Garrison

A Supreme Court case holding that a search warrant that was facially overbroad but based on a reasonable factual mistake (e.g., believing there was only one apartment on a floor instead of two) was valid, and its execution was reasonable until the mistake was discovered.

Los Angeles County, CA v. Rettele

A Supreme Court case affirming that officers executing a valid search warrant can detain occupants in a reasonable manner, even if the officers make a reasonable mistake about the identity of the occupants (e.g., race), without violating the Fourth Amendment.

Reasonable Mistake of Fact (Warrant Execution)

Police actions taken during the execution of a warrant are considered valid and do not violate the Fourth Amendment if the officers' factual beliefs, even if incorrect, were objectively reasonable at the time (e.g., believing there was only one apartment).