Results 1 to 3 of 3
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    1

    Default Can Someone Be Charged with Selling Drugs if They Were Originally Taken in for a DUI

    My question involves criminal law for the state of: New York

    I have this question that I have to answer for my Legal Studies courses. The fictional scenario is below. What I was wondering is can Billy be charged with this if he was originally taken in for a DUI charge? In order to get a warrant to wear a wire and tape someone, the warrant must have sufficient evidence. But since Bill was only taken in for a DUI and if the police had sufficient evidence to begin with, they would already have him on drug charges. So would the police even be able to get the warrant to begin with in this case?

    Thanks!

    Billy Badman is a suspected drug dealer who the police have been after for a long time. One evening, Billy is arrested on a DWI charge and held overnight in a cell at the local precinct. The police decided to use this opportunity to get further evidence against Billy and they put an undercover officer with a hidden recorder into Billy’s cell posing as another person arrested on DWI charges.

    While talking to Billy late at night, he gets Billy to admit that he sells drugs. The conversation is recorded. We now represent Billy who has been charged with the selling of narcotics, a serious felony. Can the prosecution offer the recorded admission of drug selling into evidence in the trial against Billy?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    3,835

    Default Re: Can Someone Be Charged with Selling Drugs if They Were Originally Taken in for a

    I won't answer that directly, but to give you something to work with, although the 4th AM is still alive in prisons, the govt. is not as constrained as on the outside, as the "expectation of privacy", key phrase here, see Katz v. United States, is relaxed.

    For example, I have a case in my notes here, can't get it right now, but so called "shake downs" of cells, do NOT require a search warrant, as the prisoner has no "expectation of privacy" as to what is in thier cell.

    Start on that premise and see where you go.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    California
    Posts
    540

    Default Re: Can Someone Be Charged with Selling Drugs if They Were Originally Taken in for a

    And when you read Katz v. United States (1967), please do not misconstrue "a person has a constitutionally protected reasonable expectation of privacy" as so many people do. They interpret that as "A person has a constitutionally protected reasonable expectation of privacy."

    That interpretation is flawed for two reasons.

    One is that the actual sentence (excluding cites) was Mr. Justice Harlan stating "I join the opinion of the Court, which I read to hold only (a) that an enclosed telephone booth is an area where, like a home and unlike a field, a person has a constitutionally protected reasonable expectation of privacy;" (emphasis added). In other words, he was not saying that, in general, a person has a constitutionally protected reasonable expectation of privacy. He was actually saying that in a home, in an enclosed telephone booth (and presumably in other similar enclosed structures), a person has a constitutionally protected reasonable expectation of privacy.

    The second flaw is that was in a concurring opinion, not the majority opinion. Only the concurring opinion governs lower courts.

    1. Sponsored Links
       

Similar Threads

  1. Drug Trafficking / Distribution: Caught Selling Drugs to an Informant
    By splitstone in forum Criminal Charges
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 10-23-2010, 08:29 PM
  2. Roommates: Can I Break My Lease if My Roomate is Selling Drugs in the Apartment
    By thatcherk187 in forum Landlord-Tenant Law
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 01-10-2009, 07:13 PM
  3. Drug Trafficking / Distribution: Selling Drugs By a School
    By jizzo in forum Criminal Charges
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 08-25-2008, 05:23 AM
  4. Drug Trafficking / Distribution: Legality of Websites Selling Drugs
    By GwenA in forum Criminal Charges
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 12-13-2007, 11:36 AM
  5. Drug Trafficking / Distribution: Roommate is Selling Drugs
    By VoicesFromHell in forum Criminal Charges
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 08-14-2006, 04:02 PM
 
 
Sponsored Links

Legal Help, Information and Resources