Criminal Procedures Constitution and Society
Prosecutorial Misconduct Problems
Overview
In legal terms, prosecutorial misconduct is referred to as procedural defense wherein a defendant may argue that they should not be held liable to any criminal acts leading to breaking the law on the grounds that the prosecution intervened in an unacceptable manner (West, 2010). Examples of the problems arising from prosecutorial misconduct are warrantless arrest and or a one-sided prosecution investigation to incriminate a particular person. This leads to biased and selective prosecution entailing a non-favorable Court decision.
(1) Describe and explain the rules, cases and reasoning of justices regarding warrantless arrests, according to your text. Page 180-183
In the case of Griffin v. State (1978), the defendant-appellant argues that Officer Toler unlawfully searched his vehicle without probable cause and any occurrence of exigent circumstances that will justify the act of searching the vehicle without a warrant (372 N.E.2d 497, 1978). Furthermore, the defense argues that traffic violation does not create a probable cause that will allow the Office to resort into a search and seizure of the vehicle. The argument in Griffin’s appeal emphasizes the act of prosecutorial misconduct problem wherein the trial court denied his motion for mistrial on the grounds that the state has failed to sufficiently conduct an investigation of the facts surrounding the theft case that the defendant was charged with. This case falls under the search and seizure law as stipulated in the Fourth Amendment, which protects the two specific liberty interests of the people such as the right to freedom and privacy from arbitrary invasion (Zalman, 2011). In addition, the provisions of the Fourth Amendment does not allow generalized search unless there is a clear presence of public endangerment.
The law stipulates that law enforcers may not exercise their will to invade a person’s personal space including that of a vehicle without any probable cause or any suspicion that may constitute motivation to search (Zalman, 2011). In the case of Griffin v. State, the defendant was pulled-over by the Officer on the grounds of traffic violation. The general rule of warrantless arrest does not stipulate traffic violation as probable cause to conduct a search, much more to seize the vehicle. On the side of the justices presiding in the case, the judge may only find probable cause to the warrantless search that escalated to warrantless arrest after examination of the entire circumstances. In the aforementioned case, the justices denied the defendant’s appeal to reconsider the mistrial ruling the argument that there is no need for additional justification of the probable cause. In addition, the defendant has failed to produce witnesses that will corroborate his statement.
Furthermore, the act of search, seizure and warrantless arrest was deemed necessary due to the defendant’s suspicious behavior and evasive response to the officers regarding the defendant’s personal information. There was enough reason for the arresting Officer to believe that the defendant was avoiding the authorities by appearing nervous, which is a behavioral evidence to cause suspicion. The equivocal behavior was enough to sustain conviction particularly when the testimonies about the origin of the vehicle and the goods found in it encompasses inconsistencies. On a personal note, the judge has a reasonable argument to deny the appeal to reverse the prior Court decision on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct because although the arresting Officers lack the probable cause to conduct search and arrest; the defendant showed equivocal behavior that creates suspicion. The Fourth Amendment stipulates exception to warrantless search incident to arrest when there is articulable suspicion of wrong doing demonstrated through an equivocal behavior of an individual.
References
Griffin v. State, 1978 372 N.E.2d 497. (1978, February 15)
West, E. M. (2010). Court findings of prosecutorial misconduct claims in post‐conviction appeals and civil suits among the first 255 DNA Exoneration Cases. Retrieved from Innocence Project website: http://www.innocenceproject.org/docs/Innocence_Project_Pros_Misconduct.pdf
Zalman, M. (2011). Chapter 5: Warrantless Arrest. In Criminal procedure: Constitution and society (5th ed., pp. 180-183). Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
