Criminal Procedure

1. Criminal Procedure Chapter 6

2. Objectives • Define arrest, and explain the authority of a firefighter to make an arrest. • Explain the difference between criminal and administrative search warrants. • Identify at least six exceptions to the search warrant requirement.

3. Objectives • Explain the constitutional limitations upon a firefighter conducting a cause and origin determination as part of an investigation after a fire. • Explain what is required to constitute an attempted crime.

4. Objectives • Define accessory before the fact, accessory after the fact, and aider and abettor. • Define a criminal conspiracy and explain the liability of each coconspirator.

5. What Is an Arrest? • Arrest • Lawful control of one person over another • Depriving person of his or her liberty • Arrest involves: • Authority to make an arrest • Asserting that authority to restrain the person

6. Authority to Make an Arrest • Citizen’s arrest • Reasonable force to effectuate arrest • Peace officers • Detention must be reasonable • Some states limited to two hours without charges

7. Liability for Mistakes • Peace officers • Privilege when making an arrest that later turns out to be wrong • Immune from suits for false arrest and battery • Citizens enjoy no such privileges

8. Arrest Warrants • Probable cause requires an arrest warrant • Police must apply to a judge or magistrate for an arrest warrant

9. Arrest Warrants • Judge or magistrate • Must be satisfied that crime has been committed and the defendant committed it • Arrest warrant authorizes peace officer to take defendant into custody

10. Criminal Procedure • Criminal charges can be initiated in three ways: • Complaint • Information • Indictment

11. Search and Seizure • Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures by federal government • Fourth Amendment applies to states and municipalities through the Fourteenth Amendment due process clause

12. Search and Seizure • The Exclusionary Rule • Evidence seized by an unlawful search may not be used in court • Limited to the person whose privacy interests were violated by the search

13. Search Warrant Requirement • Issued by a neutral magistrate • Must describe place or person to be searched and property to be seized • Probable cause • Belief that a crime has been committed

14. Warrantless Searches • Valid warrantless searches • Plain view • Consent • Stop and frisk (Terrystop) • Incident to arrest

15. Warrantless Searches • Valid warrantless searches • Vehicles • Open fields and abandoned property • Exigent circumstances

16. Fire-Scene Exception • Initial entry by firefighters into a building to extinguish a fire • Constitutionally justified as an exigent circumstance exception to the warrant requirement • Once lawfully present

17. Fire-Scene Exception • Firefighters and investigators • May remain on scene without a warrant for a reasonable period of time after the fire has been extinguished • To conduct their investigation

18. Chain of Custody • Required for evidence to be admissible at trial • Must be able to document an unbroken chain of custody from the moment evidence is seized until the evidence is introduced at trial

19. Custodial Interrogation and Miranda Warnings • Mirandarights • Applies to custodial interrogation • Exclusionary rule applies to information obtained in violation of Miranda

20. Accomplice Liability • Principal • Directly involved in crime • Accessory • Helped in planning crime • Newer approach • Aider and abettor

21. Conspiracy • Agreement to commit a crime • Conspiring to commit a crime • All co-conspirators can be liable for crimes committed by any of the other co-conspirators • In furtherance of the conspiracy

22. Attempts • Attempts to commit crimes punishable as crimes • Requires same mental state as the crime • Requires an act in furtherance of attempt • Some states demand a more substantial act

23. Criminal Defenses • Self-defense • Defense of others • Defense of property • Insanity • Entrapment • Statute of limitations

24. Self-Defense • Right of reasonable force to defend oneself • Can meet level of force with same level of force • Can meet deadly force with deadly force • Pre-emptive strike not allowed beforehand • Punitive strikes not allowed afterward • Retreat rule

25. Defense of Others • Can use reasonable force to defend another • Same rules as for self-defense • No pre-emptive strikes • No punitive strikes

26. Defense of Property • Reasonable force to protect property • Cannot resort to deadly force merely to protect property

27. Insanity Defense • Most states consider it a defense • In some states it is a mitigating factor • Guilty but insane • Double-edged sword • Minimizes or eliminates criminal responsibility • Can be institutionalized for life

28. Entrapment • Affirmative defense to a crime • Law enforcement personnel induced a normally law-abiding person to commit an offense • Some states focus on defendant’s propensity to commit such crimes

29. Statute of Limitations • How long after a crime has been committed that someone can be charged • Key action is charged, not tried or convicted • Murder does not have statute of limitation

30. Summary • Arrests • Criminal charging • Searches and seizures • Attempted crimes

31. Summary • Conspiracies • Parties to a crime • Criminal defenses