Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law: Stops, Arrests, Searches, and Case Flow
This domain tests the statutory line between a lawful encounter and an unlawful one, and the procedural deadlines that follow an arrest. Expect questions that reward knowing the level of intrusion before you name the legal authority.
Levels of intrusion (People v. De Bour)
- Request for information - objective credible reason, no seizure.
- Common-law right of inquiry - founded suspicion of criminality; non-threatening questions.
- Stop and frisk - reasonable suspicion the person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime; frisk requires reasonable suspicion the person is armed (CPL 140.50).
- Arrest - probable cause (CPL 140.10).
Force
Penal Law § 35.30 permits deadly physical force to defend against deadly physical force, to arrest or prevent escape of a person reasonably believed to have committed a felony involving the use or threatened imminent use of physical force, and against escapes from custody. It is not a general fleeing-felon rule.
After the arrest
CPL 180.80 controls release if arraignment is delayed (72 hours for a misdemeanor, 144 hours for a felony absent an indictment); CPL 30.30 is the speedy-trial clock; CPL 245.20 requires automatic discovery; CPL 710.30 requires notice of identification and statement evidence within 15 days of arraignment; CPL 160.50 sealing follows a favorable termination.
Worked example
Officers see a man matching a robbery description walking quickly, holding his waistband. That supports a level-3 stop. The frisk is justified by the waistband and the robbery predicate. The gun supports arrest. The captain's review question is whether the record shows facts supporting each level, not just the conclusion.
Traps
Collapsing De Bour levels; treating flight alone as probable cause; confusing 180.80 with 30.30; missing the 710.30 notice deadline; assuming a lawful arrest makes a search lawful without an exception (search incident, consent, plain view, inventory).