CASE STUDY:
Police Encounters with Suspects and Evidence
Jessica Lewis
Criminal Procedure
CJ227
Professor Contino
May 25, 2013
The following essay interprets and analyzes the case study of Officer Smith and the occupant of the gold Pontiac. Officer’s must make split second decisions when dealing with the public and not having the luxury of knowing who they are dealing with on a daily bases. This essay covers such chain of events that could occur at any routine traffic stop, who, what, when, where and what action was taken in these specific chain of events.
Officer Smith had reasonable suspicion to make the initial stop of the vehicle, based on what she observed to be a ...view middle of the document...
Exigent circumstances were present when the woman of the vehicle was trying to escape, it was necessary to prevent physical harm to the officer or other lives and the destruction of evidence that could be present in the vehicle or the vehicle itself due to the fact that Officer Smith believe that the vehicle was used in a recent crime.
The gun was not in plain view as it was under some papers inside of the glove compartment box. However, “The Fourth Amendment provides: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause” (Pettry, 2012). The plain view law only applies when you can visibly see an object out in plain sight, not covered by any means, that would be considered concealed. However, the gun was legally obtained because of the exigent circumstances and that the officer feared that evidence could be lost in the event that the leaking gas tank ignited and caught the car on fire or to protect life and...