Davis V. United States

Davis V. United States
Author: Emily C. Barbour
Publisher:
Total Pages: 9
Release: 2011
Genre: Evidence (Law)
ISBN:

In Davis v. United States, the Supreme Court will consider whether evidence that was seized in violation of the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights is admissible at trial because the police seized the evidence in good-faith reliance on then-controlling case law. The petitioner in that case, Willie Davis, was arrested after a traffic stop. Following his arrest, the police searched the passenger compartment of the car in which he had been riding. At the time of the search, the police were acting in conformity with controlling Eleventh Circuit precedent. However, after Davis was convicted and had filed an appeal, the Supreme Court ruled that this type of search incident to arrest was unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. Following that ruling, the Eleventh Circuit held that despite the new standard making the underlying search unconstitutional, the evidence is admissible under the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule. In similar cases, the Sixth and Tenth Circuits reached the same conclusion, but the Ninth Circuit has held that if a search is deemed unconstitutional under new Supreme Court precedent, the evidence seized during that search must be excluded. Congress has occasionally considered legislation codifying the exclusionary rule or its good-faith exception. The scope of Congress's authority to enact or modify exclusionary rule jurisprudence depends on the extent to which the exclusionary rule is constitutionally required. Although the Supreme Court has repeatedly characterized the exclusionary rule as having no constitutional basis, it has firmly grounded the retroactivity doctrine in Article III of the Constitution. Accordingly, Davis presents the Supreme Court with a new opportunity to address the extent to which the exclusionary rule may--or may not--be constitutionally required.

Mr. Justice Brandeis

Mr. Justice Brandeis
Author: Felix Frankfurter
Publisher: Da Capo Press, Incorporated
Total Pages: 258
Release: 1972-02-21
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Arbitrary Justice

Arbitrary Justice
Author: Angela J. Davis
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2007-04-12
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0199884277

What happens when public prosecutors, the most powerful officials in the criminal justice system, seek convictions instead of justice? Why are cases involving well-to-do victims often prosecuted more vigorously than those involving poor victims? Why do wealthy defendants frequently enjoy more lenient plea bargains than the disadvantaged? In this eye-opening work, Angela J. Davis shines a much-needed light on the power of American prosecutors, revealing how the day-to-day practice of even the most well-intentioned prosecutors can result in unequal treatment of defendants and victims. Ranging from mandatory minimum sentencing laws that enhance prosecutorial control over the outcome of cases, to the increasing politicization of the office, Davis uses powerful stories of individuals caught in the system to demonstrate how the perfectly legal exercise of prosecutorial discretion can result in gross inequities in criminal justice. For the paperback edition, Davis provides a new Afterword which covers such recent incidents of prosecutorial abuse as the Jena Six case, the Duke lacrosse case, the Department of Justice firings, and more.