CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE: AN UPDATE

Transcription

1 CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE: AN UPDATE OVERVIEW Fourth Amendment Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause 1

2 Death Penalty Death Penalty: Kansas Cases Lethal Injection Kansas Cases Pleas and waivers Self-defense Corporate right to speedy trial 2

3 FOURTH AMENDMENT Rodriguez v. United States Page 1 Car stop officer observed Rodriguez swerve onto shoulder and back again. Rodriguez told officer he swerved to miss a pothole. 3

4 Traffic Stops Purpose of traffic stop is to enforce traffic laws. Not general crime detection. Officer safety. Dog sniff cannot be justified on this basis. Dog Sniff Traffic stop was completed. Officer did NOT consider Rodriguez free to leave. Rodriguez says No to dog walking around car. Drug dog is walked around car. 4

5 What s the answer to the issue? Absent reasonable suspicion, extension of a completed traffic stop to conduct a drug dog sniff is an unreasonable seizure and violated the Fourth Amendment. Reasonable Suspicion Court sends the case back to the Eighth Circuit for a determination of whether the dog sniff was supported by individualized suspicion. Magistrate and district courts had said not supported. Eighth Circuit did not consider issue. 5-4 decision. Reasonableness. Illinois v. Caballes (2015) 5

6 Heien v. North Carolina P. 2 Car stop broken brake light. In NC, turns out, only need one working brake light. Or there s ambiguity in the statute. Consent to search Cocaine found Mistake of law was objectively reasonable and could support reasonable suspicion. SEARCH INCIDENT Page 2 6

7 Riley v. California P. 2 Rationales for search incident to arrest exception to warrant clause: Officer Safety Destruction of Evidence Officer Safety Data can t hurt you. 7

8 Destruction of evidence Remote wiping of data on cell phone Encryption Court: 1. no evidence that either is occurring frequently. 2. Can be prevented. Faraday bag. Battery out. Sixth Amendment: Confrontation Clause 8

9 Crawford v. Washington (2004) Police interrogations Police questioning at the scene 911 calls Exigent circumstances (gun) Lab reports Clark v. Ohio (argued in March) P. 3 Child discloses identity of abuser to head start teacher. Teacher is a mandatory reporter. At trial, child declared incompetent. 9

10 Analytical issues Person asking questions Primary purpose Whose intent, anyway? Solemnity Death Penalty: Current Considerations Eighth Amendment requirements: Page Murder + one (or more) aggravating circumstance Genuinely narrow those defendants exposed to DP Not apply to every murder 2. Individualized sentencing Jury considers relevant mitigating evidence. 10

11 Kansas Statutes 1. Narrow def n of capital murder. Pages Sentencing proceeding Pages 7-9 Further aggravating factor must be found. Defendant presents mitigating evidence Jury weighs Kansas cases pending in US SCT Two issues: Severance of penalty phase proceedings for defendants tried jointly. Jury instruction issue relating to mitigating circumstances. 11

12 Kansas Cases Pleas and waivers Self-defense Corporate right to speedy trial State v. R.D. Carr P. 13 Expert testimony on eyewitness identification no longer automatically excluded. 12

13 State v. Hardy (2015) P. 14 Petition for Review is pending. Procedures for considering a claim of self-defense immunity. State v. Spencer Gifts, LLC (2015) P. 14 Petition for review pending. (M4 Rehearing/Mod. was denied) Summons issued to SG on October 10, Trial set for February 14,

14 Spencer Gifts, cont. Before trial, SG filed Motion to Dismiss on statutory speedy trial grounds. State argued no appearance bond, no speedy trial requirement. SG Holding Court of Appeals: other cases support speedy trial rights of criminal defendant with no appearance bond. SG faced financial penalties for failure to appear. Constitutional speedy trial rights applied to corporations. Statutory Speedy trial rights apply to corporations. 14

15 Final Thoughts 15