Probable Cause Interactions
Officer Techie
e-mails Judge Conservative and requests a search warrant for a storage
locker which he believes contains stolen salmon. He also sends an attachment
with the e-mail which contains digital pictures of masked men unloading
the salmon into the locker. The picture is time-stamped by the camera
which records the time as 2:37 a.m. The following day Officer Techie appears
before Judge Conservative and makes a sworn statement attesting to the
accuracy of the digital photos. How should Judge Conservative respond
to the request for a warrant?
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Officer Cartman
hates hippies. He goes to Judge Mills and asks for a search warrant to
look for drugs in “that dirty hippy Chris’ house.” He
provides sworn testimony that “I know there are drugs there ‘cause
all hippies do drugs.” Should Judge Mills issue the warrant?
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Officer Cartman
returns to Judge Mills the next day with photographs of Chris disposing
of D-Z Wider cigarette rolling paper packaging in the garbage. The paper
is commonly used to make marijuana cigarettes. Since the garbage was left
open to the public, Officer Cartman also picked through the garbage and
seized the D-Z Wider package and brought it along with the photographs
as additional evidence. This time, given the new evidence, Officer Mills
issues the warrant. Before serving the warrant, Cartman celebrates with
punch and pie. Was the celebration premature?
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Judge Mills
is losing her patience with Officer Cartman. The warrant she issued for
Chris’ house resulted in an arrest, but the case was thrown out
of court by another judge because the search was unreasonable due to the
invalid warrant and the Exclusionary Rule precluded using the drugs found
in the house as evidence against Chris. This time Officer Cartman comes
to Judge Mills with the following evidence: A receipt for a gun purchased
by Joe last year which matches the type of gun used in the shooting. A
local convenience store camera tape showing Joe was just two blocks away
from the scene five minutes prior to the shooting. An affidavit from Joe’s
mother indicating that he had an argument with the victim earlier that
day. A receipt from L-Mart showing that Joe purchased bullets identical
to those used in the shooting just 2 hours before the incident. Cartman
wants a warrant to search Joe’s house for the gun. Should Judge
Mills issue the warrant this time?
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