An unreasonable search and seizure is a search that is conducted without a warrant, without permission, or without probable cause that the person or place to be searched has evidence of a crime.
An unreasonable search and seizure are conducted in violation of your Fourth Amendment rights, which are found within the U.S. Constitution and provide broad protection for your privacy.
Legitimate Expectation of Privacy
The Fourth Amendment protects you from having your property seized or your person or property searched when you have a reasonable expectation of privacy. There is a two-part test typically used to determine if you have a reasonable expectation of privacy in a particular situation:
Did you have an actual, subjective belief that you were entitled to privacy?
Does society recognize that your expectation of privacy is reasonable?
You have a reasonable expectation of privacy in your own home, for example. However, you typically would not have a reasonable expectation of privacy if you threw away trash in a public garbage can. As a result, police would need a warrant and probable cause to search your home but not to search a bag of trash you tossed in a park garbage can.
Search Warrants
Law enforcement officials usually must obtain a search warrant to get permission to conduct a lawful search.
A judge must sign off on the warrant, and there must be probable cause to justify the search. If a warrant is granted, police can only search within the scope of the warrant. However, they can also seize other items in plain view, even if they were not part of the original scope of the warrant.
Warrantless Searches
Warrantless searches and seizures are conducted without a search warrant. Evidence collected in a warrantless search is presumed to be unusable unless the search or seizure falls within an exception that permits a warrantless search. Examples include:
Hot pursuit: Police can arrest and search individuals they are in quest of who are suspected of committing a felony offense even without obtaining a prior warrant.
Plain view: If items are in plain view when a law enforcement officer is lawfully on a premises or when an officer has lawfully stopped a vehicle, and the incriminating character of the item is immediately apparent, law enforcement officials can seize the item without a warrant.
Public view: As mentioned above, items that are out in public can be seized without a warrant
Exigent circumstances: Police can conduct a warrantless search if they believe a failure to do so will result in evidence being destroyed, will cause a suspect to flee, or will create a danger to the public.
Private Security
The Fourth Amendment applies to government officials but does not apply to private security forces unless they are acting on behalf of or as agents of the police.
If a security guard searched your backpack without a warrant and turned evidence to the police that was found within it, you could not have the evidence from your backpack suppressed as a result of a violation of your Fourth Amendment rights.
What Happens if Your Fourth Amendment Rights Are Violated?
If your Fourth Amendment rights have been violated, any evidence collected as a result of the unlawful search cannot be used against you. That’s because of a rule called the exclusionary rule.
Evidence that is considered “fruit of the poisonous tree” also cannot be admitted in court. This rule deals with any evidence collected as a direct result of the unlawful search, even if it was collected separately.
For example, say police searched your home unlawfully and found a diary describing where you hid stolen property. The diary could provide probable cause to search for the stolen property. But if police conducted a separate search and found the property, it would still not be admissible in court.
That’s because the property was only discovered due to the initial illegal search and was thus considered the fruit of the poisonous tree.
Getting Evidence Suppressed Due to an Unreasonable Search and Seizure
If you believe your 4th Amendment rights were violated and you were the subject of an unreasonable search and seizure, you can argue in court that the evidence should be suppressed. If the court determines your rights were violated, the judge will rule that the exclusionary rule applies, and the evidence is inadmissible.
This does not necessarily mean the prosecutor would have to drop the charges. If there is other evidence against you, the case could move forward. But any information collected unlawfully cannot be used to help the prosecutor meet their burden of proving your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Get Help After a 4th Amendment Violation.
If an unreasonable search and seizure violates your 4th Amendment rights, speak with an experienced criminal defense lawyer. Your attorney can help you to argue that the evidence should be inadmissible, which could result in criminal charges against you being dismissed.
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