In United States, a motion to suppress evidences is considered as a pre-trial motion where the accused requests the courts to exclude the evidences obtained by the police officers by conducting an illegal search or a search without a valid warrant. This is termed as the exclusionary rule (Ashworth & Horder, 2013). The defendant may make a suppression motion either as a part of preliminary hearing or apply for a separate pre-trial hearing. In case, the court grants the motion to suppress the evidence, the prosecutor shall not be able to adduce the evidence in question before the court during trial (Cole, Smith & DeJong, 2015). The courts grants a suppress motion in case it is established that the search conducted by the police officers was illegal. In this case, the search was conducted with a valid search warrant therefore, in order to obtain a grant to the motion, the defendant must establish that:
Since the search was conducted with a valid warrant the burden of proof is on the defendant to establish that the search was illegal. As the defendant is facing felony charges, as a defence lawyer, there are only two options available, either arguments for the motion is made at the defendant’s preliminary hearing or wait for a special suppression hearing for the relevant issue (de Blasio & Hall, 2015).
In the United Sates, a confession made by the accused person is admissible by the court if the judge is satisfied that such confession has been made by the person voluntarily. In Brown V Mississippi, 297 U.S. 278 [1936], the Supreme Court of the country introduced the three principles that must be met with in order to consider a confession to be admissible. They are:
The trial judge while determining the issue related to voluntariness the judge must consider the facts that:
In the given, case, Abby was not in her senses as she was in a state of intoxication when she made confessions. Moreover, the confession was made in the car while she being brought to the police station and the statement paper was not even signed by her. As she was in state of intoxication, she claims that she does not remember whether she was informed about her rights as she came to her senses the following morning. Therefore, taking into considerations and the factors that must be satisfied in order to make any confession admissible, the statements made by Abby does not amount to confession as it was not made voluntarily and as the law requires that a confession must be made by a rational person who is aware of the offense for which the arrest is being made (Stephe & Smith, 2014). Therefore, in defence, such confessions may be claimed to be suppressed.
In US, the burden of proof in any criminal law is usually always on the state. The state must establish the fact that the defendant has satisfied the definition of crime and that his or her participation in the crime is beyond any reasonable doubt. In order to meet the burden of proof, the state must establish that there was a reasonable indication and a probable cause which any prudent person shall consider being reasonable. Reasonable indication refers to the all those factors and circumstances which any reasonable person would take into consideration (Caulkins et al., 2015).
However, such facts must include a past, present and an impending violation. The court must establish that the allegations are not a mere hunch but are based on facts (Davis & Leo, 2014). In United States v Sokolow, 490 U.S. 1 [1989], the Supreme court held that in order to meet with the burden of proof, the court must also establish that there is a probable cause or a fair probability that there are appropriate evidences available in order to prove that the defendant is guilty of the offense.
In the given case, the evidences adduced by prosecution include documentations which mention that marijuana and drug paraphernalia were found in the front room of the house. Further, the prosecutor adduced firearms with fingerprints of Abby and her Boyfriend Booby. Furthermore, an unsigned statement was submitted as a confession before the court to establish the defendant guilty of a felony. However, as mentioned earlier in order to meet with the burden of proof there must be a reasonable indication and a probable cause and a a reasonable belief which is considered reasonable by any prudent person (Thaman, 2013). The prosecution shall fail to meet with the burden of proof and the Abby may be defended on the following grounds. Firstly, the reasonable indication must include past or present violation whereas Abby has no past crime records against her. Secondly, there must be fair probability that evidences may be available against her whereas, Abby denies the fact that she is not aware of drug paraphernalia and marijuana in the basement. Thirdly, the confession statement shall not be admissible as for any confession to be admissible it is highly imperative that such confession has been made by the accused person voluntarily and not under duress or coercion by the police officers (Cummings, 2015).
Whereas, Abby was in a state of intoxication when she made statements, moreover,, she does not remember whether she was informed about her rights regarding not to make any statement as the same can be used against her or that she is entitled to receive counsel assistance before answering any questions or that she has a right to remain silent. Further, the document of statement was not even signed by Abby therefore, after taking into consideration all the facts and circumstances, it is apparent that the statements made by Abby does not amount to a confession and hence, cannot be considered as admissible in the court of law. Furthermore, no prudent person shall consider the facts to be reasonable enough to meet the burden of proof.
Plea bargaining is an agreement between the defendant and the prosecutor, in criminal cases, wherein the defendant agrees to plead guilty to a less serious criminal charge, in exchange of dismissal from the other charges (Turner, 2017). As the criminal justice system has become overburdened the numerous criminal cases are usually settled through the plea bargaining process. The defendant pleads guilty for the charges instead of going for a jury trial. Through the plea bargaining process, both the defendant and the prosecution are in a beneficial state. The prosecution is spared from going through the expenditure of a trial and the time consuming process whereas the defendant may receive a reduced sentence or may have some of the several charges dropped (Roberts, 2013). Although both the prosecution and the defendant must be willing to enter into a plea agreement but, in case of their unwillingness, negotiations for plea bargaining may take place depending on the following factors:
The plea bargaining may take place immediately after the defendant is arrest and the prosecution files a criminal case against him. The court may inform the parties to the case about the rights that the parties would not be entitled to after entering into plea bargaining. ;plea bargaining is usually a better option for the accused persons than trials as trials may take days, weeks o even months whereas guilty pleas are time and cost effective.
Further, in plea bargaining since the defendant has agreed to plead guilty in return for dismissal of other charges, therefore the defendant may receive light or lenient sentences. It would enable the parties to resolve the matter speedily. Further, plea bargaining also enable s the defendant to have fewer criminal records against her name as most off the charges are dropped.
In the given scenario, it would be in the best interest of Abby in the long run if she makes a plea bargaining with the prosecutor because then she may plead guilty for marijuana in return for the dismissal of her misdemeanour charge for keeping firearm in her possession. Further, she is pregnant and if she engages in trial then there are chances of being sentenced for a longer period or more severe punishment and through plea bargaining process the matter would be resolved quickly and she might receive lenient sentence. Therefore, it would be better for Abby if she engages in a plea bargaining process under the given circumstances.
The judges may also approve guilty pleas, however, it is not compulsory that a judge would always approve the guilty pleas; therefore it is for the defendant’s own benefit that they state their guilty plea in writing mentioning that their guilty plea is pending before the judge for approval (Brown, 2016).
In this case it is assumed that Abby has been found guilty and the following arguments may be made before the judge and the jury regarding sentencing. If an accused person is found to be guilty against his or her felony charges at trial, the sentence hearing takes place after days and weeks later. During the sentencing period, the court allows individuals to make statements regarding the accused good character. However, prior to the sentence hearing the judge must obtain information from Probation officer regarding the conduct of the accused person.
Further, the defendant may mention about all the factors that mitigates the crimes. The defendants are shown the statement report of the probation officer and they are entitled to make correction in case of any factual mistakes contained in such report. The judge and the jury must take into consideration all these factors before sentencing the accused person.
Reference list
Ashworth, A., & Horder, J. (2013). Principles of criminal law. Oxford University Press.
Brown V Mississippi, 297 U.S. 278 [1936],
Brown, D. K. (2016). Judicial power to regulate plea bargaining.
Caulkins, J. P., Kilmer, B., Kleiman, M. A., MacCoun, R. J., Midgette, G., Oglesby, P., … & Reuter, P. H. (2015). Options and issues regarding marijuana legalization. Perspectives. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation.
Cole, G. F., Smith, C. E., & DeJong, C. (2015). Criminal justice in America. Cengage Learning.
Cummings, S. (2015). Search & Seizure: Historical Analysis of the Fourth Amendment.
Davis, D., & Leo, R. A. (2014). The problem of interrogation-induced false confession: Sources of failure in prevention and detection. In Handbook of forensic sociology and psychology (pp. 47-75). Springer New York.
de Blasio, H. B., & Hall, C. (2015). Re: Mass Incarceration: Seizing the Moment for Reform.
Roberts, J. (2013). Effective Plea Bargaining Counsel.
Stephen, J. F., & Smith, K. J. M. (2014). Selected Writings of James Fitzjames Stephen: A General View of the Criminal Law. Oxford University Press, USA.
Thaman, S. C. (2013). Report on USA. In Transnational Inquiries and the Protection of Fundamental Rights in Criminal Proceedings (pp. 509-529). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Turner, J. I. (2017). Plea Bargaining.
United States v Sokolow, 490 U.S. 1 [1989],
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