unreasonable search and seizure

An unreasonable search and seizure is a search and seizure executed 1) without a legal search warrant signed by a judge or magistrate describing the place, person, or things to be searched or seized or 2) without probable cause to believe that certain person, specified place or automobile has criminal evidence or 3) extending the authorized scope of search and seizure.

An unreasonable search and seizure is unconstitutional, as it is in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which aims to protect individuals’ reasonable expectation of privacy against government officers. The Fourth Amendment reads: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Remedies

The remedy to unreasonable search and seizure is the exclusionary rule, which prevents the evidence obtained via the unreasonable search or seizure from being introduced in court, as it is referred to as the fruit of the poisonous tree; see Mapp v. Ohio, 347 U.S. 643 (1961). This remedy only applies to criminal trials. For 1) other court proceedings, including “federal habeas corpus review of state convictions, grand jury proceedings, preliminary hearings, bail hearings, sentencing hearings, and proceedings to revoke parole,” 2) impeachment of evidence against the defendant, and 3) civil proceedings, this remedy does not apply. For instance, the defendant cannot ask the evidence obtained via lineups and photographic identifications (showing photos of possible suspects in a one-on-one situation to the victim or witness to identify) to be excluded.

Qualified Immunity

Even though the defendant can get evidence excluded, they cannot get a remedy against the government officials who performed unreasonable search or seizure, for the officer has qualified immunity, which is a doctrine that protects government employees when they perform certain actions pertinent to their occupations. A police officer with qualified immunity is protected from being personally sued by the defendant.

Because of qualified immunity, the exclusionary rule is often a defendant's only remedy when police officers conduct an unreasonable search or violate the defendant's rights. Qualified immunity usually will extend to officers who violate a defendant's constitutional or statutory rights.

Under qualified immunity, an officer can only be sued when no reasonable officer would believe that the officers' conduct was legal. This exception comes from both Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989) - stating an objective standard for reasonableness which "must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene" - and Justice Ginsburg's concurrence in Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194 (2001) - stating that "an officer whose conduct is objectively unreasonable under Graham should find no shelter under a sequential qualified immunity test.” This rule is to protect government employees executing their working assignments from being personally sued by the defendant.

There are exceptions of search and seizure without a warrant and the exception of good faith, which permit a search or seizure even if it doesn’t conform to the requirement of the Fourth amendment.

Exceptions to Warrantless Searches

Evidence obtained without a valid warrant should be excluded due to unreasonable search and seizure. The Supreme Court in Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967) held that “searches conducted outside the judicial process, without prior approval are prohibited under the Fourth Amendment, with a few detailed exceptions.”

The following are exceptions that permit warrantless search:

Plain view doctrine :