Written Assignment What are the legal issues?

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The writing assignment asks you to analyze a scenario and decide
whether law enforcement officers follow Fourth Amendment procedural
rules in gathering evidence. First, read the scenario below.

Your
neighbor Dan has recently been arrested and charged with manufacture
and possession of methamphetamine in violation of your state’s law. The
charges are based on evidence that police officers found in Dan’s
garbage can, including glass bottles and jars, metal cans, plastic
tubing, empty Pseudoephedrine cardboard boxes, and household use
batteries with residue matching the chemical compounds of
methamphetamine. Dan placed the garbage can at the curb for weekly
garbage pickup. A police officer riding with the garbage truck driver
picked up Dan’s garbage – Dan’s garbage was kept separated from all
other garbage.

Based on the items found in Dan’s garbage can,
police officers prepared and obtained a search warrant to search Dan’s
house where they found additional evidence of illegal narcotics.

Dan’s
attorney plans on filing a motion in court, asking the court to
suppress/exclude the evidence found in Dan’s garbage can on the basis
that the police officers violated Dan’s Fourth Amendment rights when
they took his garbage.

For your
written assignment this week, you are to write a paper identifying the
legal issues and discussing Dan’s procedural rights in the case. Be sure
to support your discussion and analysis with research:

  • Explain whether the wording of “persons, house, papers and effects” in the Fourth Amendment applies to Dan’s garbage.
  • Has
    there been a search or seizure within the meaning of the Fourth
    Amendment in this case?In other words, was there a search or seizure of
    Dan’s garbage that triggers Fourth Amendment issues?
  • Does Dan have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” in his garbage can sitting at the curb? Why or why not?
  • Discuss whether you feel that the judge properly issued the search warrant for Dan’s house.
    • In other words, what is the standard of proof for police officers to obtain a warrant? Be sure to define probable cause.
  • Will Dan’s attorney be successful in his motion to have the evidence excluded? Why or why not?

Please
be sure to prepare your assignment following APA citation and format
requirements. You must include proper citations to any source you relied
on for information that you include in your paper.