MTA Constitutional Rights 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and excessive bail?
- Eighth Amendment (Correct answer)
- Fifth Amendment
- Sixth Amendment
- Fourteenth Amendment
Correct answer: Eighth Amendment
The Eighth Amendment specifically prohibits excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishment.
Question 2: The 'fruit of the poisonous tree' doctrine provides that:
- Evidence derived from an illegal search or seizure is also inadmissible (Correct answer)
- Only the primary illegally obtained evidence is suppressed
- Evidence found after an illegal stop is always admissible if independently verified
- Secondary evidence requires a separate suppression hearing
Correct answer: Evidence derived from an illegal search or seizure is also inadmissible
Fruit of the poisonous tree extends the exclusionary rule to all derivative evidence tainted by the initial constitutional violation.
Question 3: Under the Fourth Amendment, a 'reasonable expectation of privacy' test was established in:
- Katz v. United States (Correct answer)
- Mapp v. Ohio
- Terry v. Ohio
- United States v. Leon
Correct answer: Katz v. United States
Katz v. United States (1967) established that Fourth Amendment protection follows a person's reasonable expectation of privacy, not just physical spaces.
Question 4: An officer searches a home with a warrant for stolen electronics and finds illegal drugs in a desk drawer. The drugs are:
- Admissible if the drugs were in a place where electronics could reasonably be found (Correct answer)
- Always inadmissible because the warrant only listed electronics
- Admissible under the plain view doctrine regardless of location
- Inadmissible unless a second warrant is immediately obtained
Correct answer: Admissible if the drugs were in a place where electronics could reasonably be found
Officers may seize items in plain view during a warrant search only if found in areas where the listed items could conceivably be located.
Question 5: The 'good faith exception' to the exclusionary rule, established in United States v. Leon, allows admission of evidence when:
- Officers act in objectively reasonable reliance on a facially valid warrant later found defective (Correct answer)
- Officers believe in good faith that a warrantless search was justified
- A judge approves the search after the fact
- The evidence is critical to a serious criminal prosecution
Correct answer: Officers act in objectively reasonable reliance on a facially valid warrant later found defective
Leon's good faith exception applies when officers reasonably rely on a warrant that is subsequently invalidated due to a defect.
Question 6: What does the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment prohibit?
- Being tried twice for the same offense after acquittal or conviction in the same jurisdiction (Correct answer)
- Being charged with multiple crimes arising from one incident
- Receiving multiple sentences for related crimes
- Being tried in both state and federal court for similar conduct
Correct answer: Being tried twice for the same offense after acquittal or conviction in the same jurisdiction
Double jeopardy bars retrial for the same offense after acquittal or conviction; the dual sovereignty doctrine allows separate state and federal prosecutions.
Question 7: A lawful arrest for a traffic violation allows the officer to:
- Search the passenger compartment of the vehicle incident to arrest at the time of the arrest (Correct answer)
- Search the entire vehicle including the trunk automatically
- Search only the driver's person, not the vehicle
- Conduct a search only with the driver's written consent
Correct answer: Search the passenger compartment of the vehicle incident to arrest at the time of the arrest
Arizona v. Gant limits search incident to arrest of a vehicle to areas within the arrestee's reach or when there is reason to believe evidence of the arrest offense is present.
MTA Constitutional Rights 3
Which amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and excessive bail?