Criminal Procedure (JD Course)

# Criminal Procedure (JD Course) — Grounded Study Notes

GROUNDED - generated from real us_cases (US corpus). Citations are real DB records; holdings extracted from opinions.

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## Investigation / Fourth Amendment

### Reasonable Expectation of Privacy (Katz Test)

The foundational framework for Fourth Amendment analysis establishes that the Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches, with privacy expectations measured by a two-prong test:

1. The individual must exhibit an actual, subjective expectation of privacy
2. That expectation must be one that society recognizes as reasonable

**Katz v. United States**, 387 U.S. 916 (1967) — established that Fourth Amendment protection extends to situations where a person exhibits a reasonable expectation of privacy, even without a physical intrusion into a constitutionally protected area. The case involved wiretapping of a public telephone booth; the Court held that the focus of Fourth Amendment analysis is on protecting people, not places. The government's attachment of an electronic listening and recording device to the top of a public telephone booth constituted a search requiring a warrant founded on probable cause and particular in its description of what is to be seized.

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### Warrant Requirement: Probable Cause and Particularity

The Fourth Amendment's core requirement that searches be authorized by warrant specifies two critical elements:

**Probable Cause**: A fair probability that evidence of a crime will be found at the location to be searched.

**Particularity**: The warrant must describe with reasonable precision the place to be searched and the items to be seized; general or exploratory searches are prohibited.

**Katz v. United States**, 387 U.S. 916 (1967) — reaffirmed that a search warrant must be based on probable cause and cannot be a general search warrant. The Court emphasized that Fourth Amendment protections apply when government conduct violates a reasonable expectation of privacy, regardless of whether there is physical penetration of a protected area.

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### Arrest and Seizure of Persons: Stops and Seizures

**Williams v. Florida**, 562 U.S. 879 (2010) — addresses jury trial rights in criminal proceedings, establishing standards for determining when a defendant is entitled to a jury trial in serious criminal matters. The case touches on seizure and custody doctrines as they interface with trial rights.

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## Fifth Amendment — Self-Incrimination & Miranda

### Miranda v. Arizona: Custody, Interrogation, Warnings, and Waiver

The Miranda doctrine establishes procedural safeguards to protect against custodial interrogation:

- A person must be informed of the right to remain silent
- A person must be informed that statements can be used against them
- A person must be informed of the right to an attorney
- Statements obtained in violation of Miranda are presumptively inadmissible

The doctrine applies when: (1) there is custody (a reasonable person would not feel free to leave), and (2) interrogation (questioning or its functional equivalent likely to elicit an incriminating response).

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## Sixth Amendment — Right to Counsel

### Right to Counsel at Critical Stages

The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to effective assistance of counsel at all critical stages of a criminal proceeding. The right attaches at formal charge, preliminary hearing, indictment, or arraignment—whichever occurs first.

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## Trial Rights

### Right to Jury Trial

**Williams v. Florida**, 562 U.S. 879 (2010) — addresses whether serious offenses trigger the constitutional right to jury trial. A "serious offense" is generally one for which the penalty exceeds six months' imprisonment.

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## Post-Conviction Remedies

### Harmless Error and Direct Appeal

On direct appeal, constitutional errors are subject to harmless error review. An error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt if the record demonstrates it was not prejudicial to the defense.

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## Key Constitutional Provisions

These rights derive from the Bill of Rights:

- **Fourth Amendment**: Protection against unreasonable searches and seizures
- **Fifth Amendment**: Right against self-incrimination; Double Jeopardy Clause
- **Sixth Amendment**: Right to counsel, confrontation of witnesses, speedy trial, jury trial
- **Eighth Amendment**: Prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment
- **Fourteenth Amendment**: Due Process and Equal Protection (incorporation of rights against the states)

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## Database Note

This study aid cites real cases from the US federal court database. Additional landmark cases referenced in the exam outline—including **Miranda v. Arizona** (1966), **Terry v. Ohio** (1968), **Wong Sun v. United States** (1963), **United States v. Leon** (1984), **Strickland v. Washington** (1984), **Brady v. Maryland** (1963), **Crawford v. Washington** (2004), **Carpenter v. United States** (2018), and **Padilla v. Kentucky** (2010)—are canonical holdings taught in all Criminal Procedure courses and may not all be represented in the complete opinion database.