Criminal Procedure
Criminal Procedure
Criminal Procedure tests police powers and fair-trial guarantees: search and seizure, arrest, interrogation, identification, pretrial detention, trial rights, and remedies for violations. The exam asks whether evidence is admissible and whether the proceedings were fair.
Core rules
- Searches and seizures: A search ordinarily requires a warrant supported by probable cause, unless an exception applies (consent, search incident to arrest, exigency, plain view, automobile, inventory).
- Reasonable suspicion: A lower standard permits brief investigative stops; probable cause is required for arrest and full searches.
- Interrogation: Custodial interrogation triggers the right to counsel and the privilege against self-incrimination; warnings must be given, and waiver must be voluntary, knowing, and intelligent.
- Exclusionary rule: Evidence obtained through an unconstitutional search or coerced statement is generally excluded, subject to exceptions such as inevitable discovery, independent source, and attenuation.
- Trial rights: Public trial, impartial jury, confrontation, compulsory process, proof beyond reasonable doubt, and effective assistance of counsel.
- Double jeopardy: Bars retrial after acquittal or conviction and prevents multiple punishments for the same offence.
Worked example
Police stop a car for a broken taillight. The officer smells alcohol, orders the driver out, and searches the locked glovebox, finding a gun. The stop is valid because a traffic violation gives reasonable suspicion. Ordering the driver out is permitted for officer safety. The glovebox search is not automatically lawful: search incident to arrest applies to the passenger compartment and containers near the arrestee, but not to a locked glovebox after the driver is secured, absent consent or probable cause. The gun is likely suppressed unless an exception applies.
Traps
Do not treat reasonable suspicion as probable cause. Do not assume a traffic stop authorizes a full search. Do not find a valid waiver merely because warnings were recited. Distinguish custodial from non-custodial questioning. Check whether the exclusionary rule’s exceptions actually fit the facts.