Carpenter v. United States

   

The Supreme Court Of The United States

In Carpenter v. United States, the Supreme Court reversed the choice of the lower court that seizure and search of 127 days of an individual’s PDA area information was not a “search” under the Fourth Amendment. In the criminal case beneath, the District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan denied Defendant’s movement to smother the area information and later denied post-preliminary movement for absolution, and movement for new preliminary. Carpenter claimed, and the Sixth Circuit maintained the locale court’s choice. The government got the Defendant’s area information under the Stored Communications Act, which requires telephone organizations to uncover certain authentic call records when the government provides “explicit and articulable actualities appearing there are sensible grounds to believe” that records at issue “are relevant and material to a progressing criminal investigation.”

In Carpenter, the Supreme Court considered the Fourth Amendment standard for the utilization of versatile area information by law authorization. The Fourth Amendment ensures the “right of the general population to be secure in their people, houses, papers, and impacts against outlandish inquiries and seizures.” However, the Supreme Court has not previously had a chance to address the utilization of the Fourth Amendment to numerous kinds of current information, including mobile phone area information. Equity Sotomayor broadly commented as she would like to think in the 2012 choice in United States v. Jones that it “might be important to rethink the reason that an individual has no sensible desire for privacy in data voluntarily revealed to outsiders,” a methodology that she portrayed as “ill-suited to the advanced age.” The Court held that versatile area information is secured under the Fourth Amendment, declining to broaden the “outsider teaching” from Smith and Miller to this cutting edge surveillance system.

Carpenter v. United States started in December of 2010 when a progression of thefts hit Michigan and neighbouring Ohio. Amusingly, the culprits were after phones. Over the course of a year, they looted several Radio Shack and T-Mobile stores at gunpoint, filling plaid clothing sacks with cell phones. The police captured four men, including the candidate, Timothy Carpenter, who was later convicted of submitting several of the thefts and condemned to 116 years in jail (much obliged, to a limited extent, to compulsory essentials).

Law authorization had the option to interface Carpenter to the wrongdoings by getting over 100 days of his cell phone area information records from Metro PCS and Sprint, all without a warrant. Those records set his telephone at over 12,000 distinct areas, revealing which Sundays he went to chapel, and when he didn’t go through the night in his very own home.

Law implementation authorities had the option to get the records under the Stored Communications Act, go in 1986, which expects examiners to illustrate “explicit and articulable realities appearing there are sensible grounds to believe” that electronic information being looked for is relevant to a continuous criminal investigation. Be that as it may, the law holds back before necessitating that examiners show reasonable justification, which is important to acquire a warrant.

Prior to his preliminary, Carpenter contended that getting the records established a Fourth Amendment search, and in this way, the police ought to have required a warrant. His movement was denied, and the Sixth Circuit Court later maintained the case. The Supreme Court consented to hear it a year ago.

, Justice Kennedy, joined by Justices Thomas and Alito, keeps up that “Phone site records, however, are the same as the numerous different sorts of business records the Government has a legitimate appropriate to acquire by the mandatory procedure.” They call the qualification among CSLI and different records like money related or phone records made by the court “unreasonable”

Jury Selection in Missouri

   

Jury Selection In Missouri Criminal Defense

Jury choice is that the procedure whereby persons from the community are known as to court, questioned by the litigants on their qualifications to function a panelist then either designated to or rejected to serve as a juror. All persons qualified for grand or petty jury service shall be voters of the state and shall be designated haphazardly from a good cross section of the citizens of the county. A national of the county or of a town not among a county that the jury could also be impaneled shall not be excluded from choice for attainable grand or petty jury service due to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or economic standing.

… Continue reading

Searches of Area of Immediate Control and Automobiles in Missouri

   

Searches of the area of immediate control happen to be among the exceptions to the requirement for law enforcement officers to have a search warrant under the Fourth Amendment.

Missouri criminal laws permit law enforcement officers to conduct searches of the area of immediate control of persons and motorists under lawful arrest. The term immediate control refers to an area with an arrested person’s reach, which includes the arrestee’s person and the area from within which they might gain possession of destructible evidence or a weapon. When used in relation to automobiles, immediate control refers to an area close enough to allow an arrestee to instantly gain control of an automobile’s movements. Searches of the area of immediate control happen to be among the exceptions to the requirement for law enforcement officers to have a search warrant under the Fourth Amendment.

… Continue reading

Constitutional Violation Defense In Criminal Law

   

Criminal defendants, just like any other person, have their rights. These rights begin the very moment a person is arrested for criminal charges to the time they appear in court for the hearing. It is during these stages that police officers make mistakes and violate your constitutional rights.

… Continue reading

Searches On Persons Under Court Mandated Supervision In Missouri

   

probation searches

In Missouri, offenders on probation and parole are obligated to submit to warrantless searches by probation or parole officers throughout the period that they are under state supervision. As a condition of placing an offender on probation or parole, the offender is required to give up their normal 4th Amendment rights which protect citizens from unreasonable searches by the police. A probation or parole officer does not need probable cause to conduct a search on the body, car or residence of an offender on probation or parole.

… Continue reading

Criminal Defense Compulsion

   

Criminal Defense of Compulsion

Everyone has freedom under the law to willingly attest, agree or disagree to a particular request or do something without being forced to do it. However, in law, one may be compelled to commit an act or do something without infringing on the person’s right.

… Continue reading

Refusing a Breathalyzer /Blood Test in Missouri

   

Refusing a Breathalyzer

Under Missouri’s Implied Consent law, drivers operating motor vehicles on public highways in Missouri are obligated to submit to breathalyzer/blood tests whenever pulled over for suspected drunk driving. Typically, the breathalyzer/blood tests are part of a drunk driving investigation meant to determine a driver’s blood alcohol concentration. Refusing to take chemical tests as provided in sections 577.019 to 577.041 of Missouri legal statutes may lead to automatic suspension of a driver’s license.

… Continue reading

Sobriety Checkpoints in Missouri

   

At a sobriety checkpoint, police officers stop drivers at some regular interval whereby the drivers are briefly detained and those suspected of intoxication are assessed for signs of intoxication and impairment. Police officers do not have unfettered discretion to stop every driver at a checkpoint. There must be an established pattern for stopping motorists. However, the police do not need reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle at a sobriety checkpoint in Missouri. These checkpoints can be set up at any time though they are common during weekends, holidays, late nights and early morning hours.

… Continue reading

Police Interrogation And The Privilege Against Self Incrimination

   

The U.S. constitution’s fifth amendment protects a person from self-incrimination. The amendment states that no one “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” This means that a person has the right to remain silent during police interrogation. According to the courts, the right to remain silent was initiated to help a person avoid the “cruel trilemma” of contempt, perjury, and self-incrimination. This is because a person who is forced to answer questions during a police interrogation may choose to;

… Continue reading

Duress as a Legal Defense in Criminal Law

   

In criminal law, defendants can be pardoned if a jury establishes that their actions to commit a crime were driven by a threat of death or bodily injury or some reasonable fear that the threat will be carried out. This is called duress.

… Continue reading

Applying Miranda

   

Applying the Miranda can be confusing for some law officers, thanks to Hollywood! Depiction and interpretation of Miranda in real life is far from what we are made to believe in the movies. The entertainment industry makes it look like every arrest requires Miranda without any due process. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.

What is Miranda Rule?

The rule got its name from the Supreme Court’s landmark case of Miranda v. Arizona (1966). The rule gives criminal suspects in a custodial interrogation the right to remain silent. In essence, suspects have the right to refuse to talk without a lawyer during an interrogation. The aim is to ensure that the statements rendered by suspects are admissible in court.

Any evidence or information divulged under threat, coercion or violence is deemed inadmissible in the courts. It serves to avoid any form of self-incrimination by the suspect. The suspect must be made aware of his/her rights to remain silent, right to a lawyer, and the right to stop answering questions at any time. This rule is derived from the Fifth Amendment.

Applying Miranda

Miranda rule is applicable in the use of testimonial evidence during criminal proceedings.

An officer who is transporting a suspect is definitely not part of the interrogation and therefore has no right to interrogate the suspect concerning the crime. Such officer, however, has the right to ask basic questions about age, address and such. The detective assigned the case has the right to ask questions related to the crime but requires Miranda to do so.

Miranda rule is time specific. In cases where Miranda rule applies, the officer in charge must read the suspect the Miranda rights. If after maybe one week, the officer required further information from the same suspect, the officer must again read the Miranda rights to that suspect so far as the suspect remains in custody.

Miranda applies only to testimonial evidence. From the Fifth Amendment, this means testimonial statements that stem from facts.

The evidence must be obtained when the suspect is in custody. To determine whether a person is in custody requires the application of the ‘Reasonable Person Rule.’ Assuming you are as a reasonable person watching as a police officer places a person on handcuffs and puts them in a police vehicle and subsequently arrested, you would easily conclude that such a person is in custody of the police. On the other hand, if you observe an officer discussing with your neighbor who is out walking his dog, you would not see your neighbor as being in custody.

If an officer walks up to a suspect in his tennis court and interrogates him about a crime. The suspect, without knowing the officer has a warrant for his arrest and without the officer informing the suspect that he is under arrest, confesses to the crime. Upon such admission, the officer places the suspect under arrest without further interrogation. Miranda right is not necessary in this scenario as there was no custody or arrest prior to the confession of the suspect. No reasonable person will believe the suspect was under custody either.

Any evidence gathered must have been during an interrogation and conducted by state-agents. The questions must be such that would elicit incriminating responses from the suspect.

Miranda must be applied when these factors are present.

Custodial Interrogation in Missouri

   

Custodial interrogation refers to the questioning of a person in custody by law enforcement officers in connection to a criminal investigation. Being in custody doesn’t necessarily mean handcuffs, formal arrest, or physical restraint. A person is considered to be in custody or detained when he or she is deprived of his or her freedom in any significant way. Custodial interrogation is normally utilized by police officers in Missouri to gather information from persons who are reasonably suspected of being directly involved in or responsible for criminal activity. Custodial interrogation in Missouri can go beyond direct questions to involve persuasion, influence, and trickery with the purpose of obtaining a confession or at least any incriminating information statements. It’s important to note that a request for identification does not form part of a custodial interrogation. Besides, by merely asking for identification, the police have not placed you in custody. Custodial interrogation begins when police officers begin to ask questions that may implicate you in a crime.

… Continue reading

Dog Sniff & Missouri Law

   

Police officers in Missouri are allowed to use dog sniffs to locate illegal narcotics. Such canines can be trained to locate a specific illegal substance or multiple types of drugs. Searching using sniff dogs in Missouri follows particular rules that police officers must observe when bringing a sniffing dog at the scene.

General rule

The fourth amendment safeguards people from unreasonable search and seizures. But according to the Supreme court, using sniff dogs during a police stop does not violate the fourth amendment.

The Supreme court, in the case of Illinois v. Caballes, ruled that police officer do not require reasonable suspicion to use dog sniffs during a legal traffic stop. In this case, Roy Caballes was pulled over for overspeeding. The defendant was subsequently arrested for marijuana trafficking after a sniff dog was brought to the scene and alerted his vehicle. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the police did not have a probable course for arrest beyond speeding and as such the sniff was unreasonable.

The United States Supreme court, however, overruled the decision. The Supreme Court stated that the police did not require reasonable suspicion to use a sniffer dog since the suspect was under a legitimate traffic stop.

Exceptions for using dog sniffs for searches in Missouri

Conducting searches using sniff dogs under Missouri laws has to follow some rules. Below are the rules police officers must follow when they bring a sniff dog to a scene;

(i) Reason for a stop

It all begins with a traffic stop. Police officers must have a reasonable suspicion that you have violated the law before they can stop you.

Any traffic stop without a valid reason or probable cause is illegal. All evidence, including narcotics discovered by a sniff dog, that has been obtained from an unlawful stop, will not be admissible in court.

((ii) Duration of a traffic stop

Under Missouri law, a person may not be delayed in order for a sniff dog to be brought to the scene after the time for a traffic stop has expired. This means that if by the time a police officer stops you, and finishes writing you a ticket a sniff dog has not arrived at the scene, then you shall not be made to wait for the canine to arrive.

Also, the dog cannot continue sniffing after all the stop-related activities have finished. Any searches conducted after the expiry of the legitimate stop period cannot be admissible.

(iii) Probable cause

If a police officer detains you further without any probable cause, you have a right to ask the police officer if you can leave. If the police officer declines and holds you until the sniff dog arrives, you can refuse to consent to any searches. Opening the car for the sniff dog or giving your car keys to the office, means you have agreed to the search.

If a court determines that there was no probable cause for delayed detention, then both the evidence and the detention will be deemed illegal. Your defense counsel should file a motion to suppress the evidence. If the evidence is declared inadmissible by the court, then you will weaken the prosecutor’s case.

The law, however, states that if a police officer develops probable cause for a crime after a traffic stop, then the officer can detain you for a longer time as may be defined by Missouri law. The evidence obtained from such delayed detention will still be admissible in court.

Drug convictions can have severe implications. If you are facing drug charges that have resulted from searches using dog sniffs in Missouri, you need to consult a criminal defense lawyer.

The Sixth Amendment and Eye Witness Identification

   

The Sixth Amendment and Eye Witness Identification

The procedures of witness identification face many constitutional challenges. The challenges to these procedures are focused on the provisions of the Sixth amendment below.
The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. reads in part; ”In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right… to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense”.

… Continue reading

Alibi Defense in Missouri

   

Alibi Defense

An alibi is a defense in criminal cases whereby a defendant demonstrates that he or she was somewhere else other than the scene of the crime at the time the alleged crime took place. In an alibi, a defendant is simply arguing that it is impossible for him or her to have committed the crime because they were at a different place at the time the crime was supposedly committed. A successful alibi rules out the defendant as the perpetrator of the offense

… Continue reading

THE CRIMINAL DEFENSE OF SELF-DEFENSE IN MISSOURI

   

Self-defense is a criminal defense that can be raised by criminal defendants who inflict serious harm on another person and they believe that they were justified in doing so. This defense can be raised in crimes such as murder, assault, battery and others where the accused responded to the threat of force or violence from the victim. While Missouri laws prohibit the use of force and violence against other persons, they equally allow individuals to use reasonable and proportionate force to protect themselves from imminent harm. Therefore, inflicting serious harm or even killing an assailant may not be considered a criminal act when the defendant reasonably believes that his or her life is at stake.

… Continue reading

Steps to get your Missouri driver’s license back after Alcohol Related Suspension

   

Alcohol Related Suspension

A person whose driver’s license is suspended by the Missouri Department of Revenue may have his or her driving privileges reinstated after the suspension period is served. Under section 302.281 (4) of Missouri laws, there are specific steps that must be completed in order to get a suspended driver’s license back. The requirements may vary based on the nature of the offense and the kind of suspension in effect. Typically, offenses that are deemed greater or severe will have stricter requirements. The following are the steps to follow

… Continue reading

RECEIVING STOLEN PROPERTY

   

Missouri statutes state that it’s an offense to hinder another person’s legal ownership of his own goods in the event that one receives the goods that he or she knows has been stolen or even thinks that the property has been stolen (Lippman & Mathew, 2010). The basis of any prosecution is that one had knowledge or believe that the goods that he or she received were stolen. If he or she has a trail of being in possession of stolen property in more than one occurrence. If one has been in a similar form of transaction in a year prior, then that means he had knowledge of the illegal transaction.

… Continue reading