Legal Concepts

1. Unit Two, Lesson One Legal Concepts Search and Seizure Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

2. Objectives • Constitutional guarantees related to search and seizure • Define Search • Define Seizure • Define Search Warrant • Search warrant legal requirements Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

3. Objectives • Exclusionary rule • Good faith doctrine • Exceptions to the search warrant requirement • Abandoned property • Open Fields • Plain View • Probable Cause Search Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

4. Objectives • Exigent circumstances exception • Terry frisk • Plain fell doctrine • Search incident to arrest • Consent exception • Vehicle inventory Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

5. Objectives • Proper scope of a search • Items that may be seized • Florida Forfeiture and Contraband Act Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

6. 4th Amendment Guarantees • Protect people from governmental intrusion in areas where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy • Prohibits searches and seizures unless they are conducted with probable cause and under reasonable circumstances. Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

7. 4th Amendment Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

8. Search • Government intrusion into a place where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

9. Search Warrants • 4th requires officers to obtain a search warrant where the individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy • Always consider getting a searchwarrant Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

10. Search Warrant • Court order authorizing a law enforcement officer to conduct a search • Legal requirements • Authorized and signed by a neutral magistrate or judge • Based on an affidavit (sworn statement) sufficient to establish probable cause that evidence will be found ina particular place • Information must comefrom reliable sources Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

11. Search Warrant • Totality of the circumstances • Probable cause considers all of the information available • “Staleness” of the information • Courts consider how old the information is • Do not wait, do not leave any information out Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

12. Search Warrant • Describes the exact person or place to be searched • Detailed description • Include photos • Include directions from a known landmark • Warrant is only valid for the place named • Describe in detail who or what is to be seized • “Drugs” is not enough Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

13. 1021 Eastlanding Road Port Orange, FL Building 7 Apartment 121 Apartment photo Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

14. Exclusionary Rule • Evidence obtained by the government in violation of the Constitution cannot be used as evidence in court • Purpose is to discourage officers from violating rights during investigations Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

15. Good Faith Doctrine • Applies to officers actions in conducting a search with a search warrant • If you execute a warrant that you believe to be valid, • The court later determines that there is a legal error, • Evidence may still be admitted Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

16. Search Warrant Requirement Exceptions • Plain View • Mobile Conveyance • Destruction of Evidence • Fresh Pursuit • Emergency Scene Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

17. Search Warrant Requirement Exceptions • Stop and Frisk • Incident to Arrest • Consent • Inventory • Administrative Searches Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

18. Plain View • Three conditions • Officer is lawfully present • Item is in plain sight • Probable cause to believe that the item is contraband or evidence • Text examples: • Sawyer v State, 2003 Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

19. Plain View • Open Fields • Item is in a location that is open to the public and could be viewed by anyone • Item is readily recognized as contraband or evidence Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

20. Mobile Conveyance • Probable cause required • Vehicles or other conveyances easily moved • Lower expectation of privacy • Probable cause required but can be searched without a warrant • Carroll Doctrine, Carroll v U.S. (1925) • Search entire vehicle and all compartments, based on Probable Cause • Example – K-9 alert on a trunk Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

21. Destruction of Evidence • Probable Cause Required • Exigent circumstances permit search • Emergencies • Destruction of evidence • Emergency scene • Fresh pursuit • Probable cause to believe that contraband or evidence is in imminent danger of destruction • Officer cannot create the exigent circumstances Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

22. Fresh Pursuit • To enter a private place while chasing a suspect requires: • Probable cause that the suspect committed a serious crime • Immediate or continuous pursuit • Probable cause that the suspect is in the premises that is to be entered • Any contraband or evidence in plain view can be seized Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

23. Emergency Scene • Probable cause required • Make warrantless entry when emergency is present • Public safety is paramount • Crime scene may still require a warrant Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

24. Stop and Frisk • Terry v Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968) • Law enforcement officer may search the exterior clothing of someone lawfully detained if the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe that the person is armed • Frisk or pat-down is not a full search • Florida Stop and Frisk Law – 901.151 F.S. • Case law downgrades the requirement from probable cause to reasonable suspicion Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

25. Stop and Frisk • Terry stop • Justified if the officer has reasonable suspicion that the person is committing, has committed, or is about to commit a criminal offense • Detention cannot last any longer than is necessary to dispel the suspicion • Cannot be transported away from the immediate area • Must be able to articulate the suspicion in specific terms Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

26. Stop and Frisk • Scope • Limited to a pat-down of outer clothing, containers and property carried • Not restricted to the body • Passenger compartment of a car may be “frisked” • If something is discovered, can open the door to a more extensive search Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

27. Stop and Frisk • Contraband • If the officer finds what he or she knows to be contraband, it can be seized and the person charged • Plain touch and feel doctrine • Does not have to feel like a weapon • Does not permit the manipulation or groping of the object to help identify it • Based on training and experience Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

28. Search Incident to Arrest • Lawful arrest and custody • May be searched without a warrant • Supreme Court recognizes two historical rationales • The need to disarm a suspect in order to take him or her into custody • The need to preserve evidence • United States v Robinson, 414 U.S. 218 (1973) Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

29. Search Incident to Arrest • Two requirements • Lawful custodial arrest • Search is “substantially contemporaneous” (same time) as the arrest • Ten minutes may be okay • An hour later will not • Exception • Officer safety • Evidence preservation Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

30. Search Incident to Arrest • Requirement • Custodial arrest • May not search if the stop is for a traffic citation or notice to appear Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

31. Search Incident to Arrest • Scope • Within the immediate control of the arrestee • Chimel v California, U.S. 752, (1969) • May also include the vehicle in which the person was a passenger just before the arrest • Thornton v U.S. 541 U.S. (2004) Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

32. Search Incident to Arrest • Entire passenger compartment rule • New York v Belton, 453 U.S. 454 (1981) • Driver arrested • May search the entire passenger compartment including locked or unlocked containers therein • May not search the trunk of a sedan • May search the rear area of an SUV or van Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

33. Search Incident to Arrest • Strip search • Normally not allowed, only under certain circumstances • Must meet statutory requirements • Includes written supervisory permission • Addressed in 901.211 F.S. and agency policy Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

34. Consent • Probable cause not required • May ask anyone for permission to search • Knowledgeable and voluntary • Evidence seized may be admitted • Why do people give consent? • Officer may assume they are not hiding anything • May think that the officer will not find contraband • Burden of proof is on the prosecution Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

35. Consent • Voluntary • Unequivocal • Specific • Intelligently given • More than mere acquiescence • Gauged against the reasonable person under similar circumstances • Officers do not have to advise people that they have the right to refuse Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

36. Consent • Implied consent • Limited circumstances • Airline passengers • Patrons attending events • Visitors to courthouses and government buildings Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

37. Consent • Third party consent • Mutual access • Control over the area to be searched • One may consent, but if another is present and objects, no search • Georgia v Randolph, 547 U.S. 103 (2006) • Passenger may not consent to the search of a driver’s vehicle unless he/she is the owner Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

38. Consent • Juveniles • Consent of parent or guardian usually overrules objection of the child • Child may consent for warrantless entry to the parent’s home • Child shares the home • Parent is not physically present “Can you show me where Mommy and Daddy keep the drugs?” Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

39. Consent • May be withdrawn at any time • Search must stop • Consent may be limited in scope • Example: May be limited to the passenger compartment but not the trunk • Other means may be used as applicable: Overlapping exceptions Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

40. Inventory Search • Probable cause not required • Not designed as a search for evidence, but to protect property and protect the agency from claims of theft • When arrested, the property must be inventoried and secured Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

41. Inventory Search • Driver arrested • Three options • Parked, locked and left at the scene (agency policy) • Vehicle turned over to a friend or family member • Vehicle is impounded • Inventory required • Requires written documentation • Done at the time of the impoundment • Done in compliance with agency policy and procedure Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

42. Administrative Search • Probable cause not required • Students in school • People in government offices • Government property • Persons in certain businesses • Inspections • Follow agency policies Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

43. Scope of Searches • Limited to the items being searched for • When items are found, search ends • Nature of the search depends on what is being searched for • No elephants in the closets Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

44. Items That May Be Searched for and Seized • Weapons • Fruits of the crime • Instruments of the crime • Contraband • Evidence • Items defined by statute • Suspects Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

45. Florida Forfeiture and Contraband Act 932.701 F.S. • Authority to seize and forfeit contraband • Illegal to possess • Used in the commission of a felony • Purchased with profits from felonious activity • Forfeiture • Civil action where the agency asked to court to transfer ownership • Agency sells the property at auction or uses it for LE purposes Daytona State College School of Emergency Services

46. Questions? Daytona State College School of Emergency Services