Evidence: 101

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, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

~ 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution

The criminal case process is a long one with many steps.  It begins with the actual complaint, which results in the filing of criminal charges against someone.  In order to make a criminal case, probable cause must be established.  Once established, charges can be brought against an individual or group of individuals leading to their arrest and detention while they await trail based on the merits of the case.

Assuming probable cause is established then a sworn law enforcement officer can lawfully detain, arrest and subsequently book a person into a local jail.  Absent probable cause, a person can be booked into a jail on a warrant or some other court order such as a remand.  Once booked usually the next step is a bail hearing.

A bail hearing is just that a bail hearing, nothing more, nothing less.  This is not the time to proclaim guilt, innocence or mental illness.  This is the opportunity for a judge to determine if a bail is to be granted based solely on the arrest document and charges as outlined in the criminal complaint against a person and if so, how much.

Following the bail hearing, the person being charged must arraigned.  This is usually when the district attorney get involved in a case for the first time.  Arraignment may or may not happen at the same time as the bail hearing.  The purpose of the arraignment is to formally charge an individual with a criminal violation.  This will generally be the first time a defendant hears from the state’s attorney in a specific case.  Based on the evidence presented to the prosecutor, at an arraignment hearing he/she will notify the court of the actual violations the state wishes to pursue against a defendant.  Accordingly, the charges may be upgraded from the original arrest document, kept the same, reduced or even dismissed.

Once arraigned, the next time a defendant appears in court for that specific case will be a preliminary or evidentiary hearing.  This is when the prosecuting attorney notifies the trial judge and the defendant of the nature of evidence collected, how it was collected and what the actual evidence is.  It is this hearing that in serious cases is the most important to a defendant because any evidence used to make a case against an individual who is a criminal defendant in any court room, be it federal, state or municipal, must be collected pursuant to the 4th amendment to the United States Constitution and subsequent court decisions regarding it.  Any evidence collected outside this can and will be excluded.  If the state’s case is contingent on evidence that is tainted by that process, then the state’s case is weakened to the point of being non-existent.

Based on the Exclusionary Rule, the United States Supreme Court has held that evidence can be excluded under four circumstances:

(1)             Evidence obtained through a search or seizure in violation of the fourth amendment must be excluded;

(2)             Confessions that were obtained in violation of the fifth and sixth amendments;

(3)             Testimony which identifies a defendant in violation of the fourth, fifth and sixth amendment; and

(4)             Any evidence that was obtained in a way that violates the due process clause.

In the next article we will learn more about exceptions to the Exclusionary Rule.