UT Bar Criminal Procedure 2

Question 1

Police stop a driver for a broken taillight and, while writing the citation, a K-9 unit arrives and conducts a dog sniff that prolongs the stop by ten minutes.
Absent reasonable suspicion of drug activity, the sniff is:

Accepted Answer

Unconstitutional, because extending a traffic stop to conduct a dog sniff requires independent reasonable suspicion

Answer

Constitutional, because a dog sniff is not a search under the Fourth Amendment

Answer

Constitutional, because ten minutes is a de minimis intrusion

Answer

Unconstitutional, because dog sniffs always require a warrant

Question 2

A suspect in custody says, 'Maybe I should talk to a lawyer.' Police continue questioning and obtain a confession. Under Davis v. United States, the confession is:

Accepted Answer

Admissible, because the suspect's ambiguous statement was not an unequivocal invocation of the right to counsel

Answer

Inadmissible, because any mention of a lawyer requires questioning to cease

Answer

Inadmissible, because police must clarify ambiguous requests before continuing

Answer

Admissible only if the suspect later signed a written waiver

Question 3

Officers execute a valid warrant to search a house for a stolen 60-inch television. During the search, an officer opens a small jewelry box and finds cocaine. The cocaine is:

Accepted Answer

Inadmissible, because a 60-inch television could not fit inside a jewelry box, so the search exceeded the warrant's scope

Answer

Admissible under the plain view doctrine

Answer

Admissible, because a valid warrant authorizes search of the entire premises

Answer

Inadmissible, because drugs were not named in the warrant

Question 4

A defendant is arrested and detained without a warrant. Under County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, a judicial probable cause determination is presumptively prompt if provided within:

Accepted Answer

48 hours of arrest

Answer

24 hours of arrest

Answer

72 hours of arrest

Answer

One week of arrest

Question 5

During plea negotiations, defense counsel fails to inform the defendant of a favorable plea offer, which then expires; the defendant is later convicted at trial and receives a harsher sentence. Under Missouri v. Frye, the defendant:

Accepted Answer

May claim ineffective assistance of counsel, because counsel must communicate formal plea offers to the defendant

Answer

Has no claim, because there is no constitutional right to a plea bargain

Answer

Has no claim, because the trial itself was fair

Answer

May claim ineffective assistance only if the prosecutor re-extends the offer

Question 6

Police obtain a confession in violation of Miranda but without actual coercion. At trial, the defendant testifies inconsistently with the confession. The prosecution may:

Accepted Answer

Use the confession to impeach the defendant's testimony, though not in its case-in-chief

Answer

Not use the confession for any purpose

Answer

Use the confession in its case-in-chief because the defendant testified

Answer

Use the confession only if the defendant opens the door on direct examination

Question 7

A grand jury indicts a defendant based partly on evidence obtained through an illegal search. The defendant moves to dismiss the indictment. The motion will:

Accepted Answer

Fail, because the exclusionary rule does not apply to grand jury proceedings

Answer

Succeed, because indictments cannot rest on illegally obtained evidence

Answer

Succeed, if the illegal evidence was the sole basis for the indictment

Answer

Fail, only if the prosecutor acted in good faith