Reference no: EM133201396

The Fourth Amendment prohibits the government from engaging in unreasonable search and seizure. As a general rule, probable cause is needed to secure a search warrant. Warrantless searches are allowed:

Incident to arrest,

In situations involving evidence in "plain view," and

In emergency situations where evidence must be preserved.
If a court finds that the government has violated the Fourth Amendment, the court will exclude illegally seized evidence from trial.

Upon successful completion of the course material, you will be able to:

Utilize critical thinking methods to examine legal issues in business.

Background Information

The exclusionary rule prohibits the introduction of improperly seized evidence at trial. The following scenario illustrates how the exclusionary rule works:

Jeff owns a pawnshop with his father. Unbeknownst to Jeff, law enforcement has been investigating Jeff's role in a motorbike theft ring. Two teams of officers stake out Jeff's home and business around the clock. Team A's officers frequently snoop through the windows of Jeff's work van parked in the driveway of his home. One morning, the officers think they have hit the jackpot when they spot construction equipment in Jeff's work van. Based on their hunch, the officers immediately seize the equipment. There was no reason to believe the evidence would be destroyed. In addition, the officers were standing on Jeff's front lawn when they looked into the van. Jeff's father is at home at the time and tries to no avail to convince the officers that the construction equipment belongs to him.
Meanwhile, at the pawnshop, Team B's officers execute a search warrant based on probable cause that was established through tips from reliable police informants. What gave them probable cause? They seize the stolen motorbikes pursuant to the search warrant. They also arrest Jeff for theft of property.

At trial, the court would admit into evidence the motorbikes recovered from the pawnshop because they were seized pursuant to the search warrant. The court would exclude the construction equipment as evidence because the authorities seized it without a search warrant or a justification for seizing without a search warrant.

Instructions
Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
In your textbook Business Law and the Legal Environment, read section 6.1 "Nature of Criminal Law" and section 6.2 "Types of Crimes" from Chapter 6, "Criminal Law".
Also read "Search Warrant Requirement" and "What Constitutes as Illegal Search and Seizure?"
Consider the following scenario:

Before Simon returned home from his State B fishing trip, a State B wildlife officer, who overheard Simon's conversation with the clerk, stopped Simon in the parking lot. As he peered through Simon's car window, the wildlife officer asked Simon about the minnows. The wildlife officer explained that the minnows were contraband and asked Simon to turn them over so that he could confiscate them. Simon objected and told the wildlife officer that the minnows appeared to be healthy and that they were purchased from a reputable State A dealer. Simon demanded that the wildlife officer prove to him that the State A minnows had parasites. The wildlife officer declined. Eventually Simon turned over the minnows to the State B wildlife officer.