Search and Seizure Assignment

Prepare a 5 – 7 page paper, in APA format, addressing the following:

Your paper will be centered on this scenario:

Mary Ellis, a widow who resides with her adult son William, awakens on a Saturday morning and goes to her walk-in closet, where she finds a man whom she recognizes as a neighbor, Clyde Stevens, lying on the floor unresponsive. Mrs. Ellis calls 911. Minutes later, police and EMS personnel arrive. Mr. Stevens is pronounced dead from an apparent stabbing, as he has a large butcher knife protruding from his back. Mrs. Ellis is transported to the hospital for observation, as she is quite distraught.

Crime scene investigators actively process the scene. In William's bedroom, technicians develop a blood fingerprint adjacent to a light switch, using an amino acid stain, after locating the print using the absorptive properties of blood and a portable argon laser. The crime scene investigator photographs the print and recovers a sample of the blood for DNA analysis. The print is from the right index finger of William Ellis, and DNA analysis matches the blood to Clyde Stevens.

Within this paper, your discussion and research should address, at the least, these questions:

First, describe the 4th Amendment as it applies to entry into a person’s home. What is needed for police to obtain a warrant, and under what circumstances can police enter a private residence without one?

Second, based on what you know of this scenario, provide an analysis of whether police had the legal right to access the Ellis household. What about Mary’s bedroom? William’s bedroom?

Third, explain the exclusionary rule and the “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine and their importance. How do these relate to this scenario?

Finally, describe what steps you would have taken had you done this investigation to ensure that all individuals’ rights were protected and all evidence could be used at trial.

As you think about this scenario and related legal concepts, you may want to research the following cases:

• Mincey v. Arizona (1978)
• Weeks v. United States (1914)
• Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
• Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States (1920)
• Nardone v. United States (1939)

Your paper should contain 5 – 7 pages of content, not including the title page, abstract page, or works cited page. Your paper should also contain 5 – outside references, preferably from original court cases and their holdings or findings, as well as peer-reviewed sources.