Essay on "How Not to Prosecute a Home Invasion"

Essay 20 pages (7383 words) Sources: 5

[EXCERPT] . . . .

For example, if a righteous warrant was issued for the apartment of Peter Reynolds and evidence was found in that apartment, that evidence would almost certainly be admissible because there is reasonable evidence that has not and almost certainly will not be excluded that ties the Reynold brothers to the crime including the witness testimony of Ms. Lindsay, the identification of Peter Reynolds in the lineup and the matching of the modus operandi as identified by the detective. The one way that the gun could probably be looped backed in is if any sort of indentation or pattern was left as a result of Mr. Jackson being struck by the gun. Just as shoe prints and other things are fairly distinctive, it would be very hard for the Reynold brothers to explain why there is a pattern matching either of their guns imprinted on the forehead of the victim, for example.

Admissibility of Lineups against Either Brother

The lineups, as just alluded to, is a mixed bag in this case. The only person who could identify either brother was Mr. Jackson and his identification of Peter. No one was able to identify Steve and only Mr. Jackson was able to identify Peter. It is not much to go on, but the lineup identification of Peter by Mr. Jackson would be admissible so long as no unstated rules were broken. Even if the arrest of Peter was done in blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment and the general rules about getting warrants and such, there was enough evidence to arrest and charge Peter independent of what happened with the invalid search. Of course, the aforementioned idea of searching Peter's apartment would be more than wise so as to find out whether there is evidence at his house. It would also be wise to figure out whether there is any DNA or fingerprint evidence of either brother in the house of the Jacksons. The eyewitness testimony of Ms. Lindsay puts the Reynolds brothers near the house but they have to be placed inside of the house for any conviction to be possible. There is a chance that a search of Peter's apartment might yield such evidence. If the evidence from Cyrus Reynolds' house was not invalidated (as it surely will be), then the case as it currently exists would basically be airtight. Regardless, scrubbing the Jackson home for fingerprints and DNA and searching Peter's apartment is an absolutely must if a conviction is remotely possible. As is stands, the only admissible evidence is circumstantial and not nearly enough to convict the brothers. The guns and the cameo by themselves would have sealed their fate. However, since that evidence would be disallowed, alternate means to convict with a preponderance of the evidence will have to be found. In any event, the lineup identification of Peter places him at the scene and that, in concert with the other evidence that is going to hold up based on what has happened, can only help but it probably will not be enough.

Admissibility of Mrs. Lindsay's Testimony against each Reynolds Brother

The admissibility of testimony against the brothers is assured, but problematic. It is a plus for the prosecution that Mrs. Lindsay knew of the car and who it belonged to. It is also good for the prosecution that the woman knows that the Reynolds brothers were in the car. Further, they were in the car about fifteen minutes before the alleged crime and they were near the house of the victims. None of this places the Reynolds brothers in the house, however, and thus their presence in the car just proves that they were in the area. Unless there is something proving that the brothers were in the house, the case against them is very thin. The exclusion of the guns and cameo, as mentioned before, really, really hurts the case for the prosecution. Unless other evidence can be introduced that incriminates the brothers (e.g. fingerprints in the house, DNA in the house, etc.) or the cameo and/or guns can be reintroduced as evidence, the case is in big trouble. Also helpful to the case with Mrs. Lindsay, her testimony and the car is that Cyrus Reynolds is apparently too old to drive and thus there is no way that it was him in the car. Since one of his son's is his only live-in family, it makes complete sense that he was at least one of the people in the car. The fact that Mrs. Reynolds knows that Cyrus has two children and what they look like further strengthens the case as it relates to what Mrs. Lindsay is contributing.

Summary

In short, the cameo is out, the guns are out, Mrs. Lindsay's testimony serves to broadly (but not specifically) implicate both brothers and the batter of lineups only links Steve to the scene and not the other brother. The modus operandi make sense per the prior history of the perpetrators. In short, unless the lineup, the brothers' prior history and the witness testimony of Mrs. Lindsay is enough, there is no chance of conviction. A conviction of Steve Reynolds might hold up given the confluence of Mrs. Lindsay seeing them and Mr. Jackson being able to identify him. However, that is by no means assured and would perhaps fall upon appeal. Peter Reynolds, given the currently stated evidence, has basically no chance of being convicted based on what is actually admissible in this matter.

Scholarly Support

Of course, the author of this report is not stating the above based on personal opinion or a skewed perspective. While it is sad to see victims get shafted when it comes to the prosecution of criminals, it is made worse when the police cannot or will not follow procedure to the letter when it comes to getting search warrants, getting arrest warrants and otherwise going their job the way they are supposed to. The police should know full well that gaining evidence via incomplete or illegal means leads to that evidence being excluded and this can literally make or break cases. The police have a duty to make sure that they do their jobs correctly and completely lest they end up botching a case that would be a slam-dunk if people simply did their jobs. A conviction of the Reynold's brothers, both of them, would have been assured if the proper arrest warrants and search warrant was issued before the entry into the house of Cyrus Reynolds. The cameo and the guns being found along with the lineup identification of Steve, the rather damning (albeit circumstantial) evidence presented by Mrs. Lindsay and the prior criminal history of the brothers would make for a rather easy case. However, the "fruit from the poisonous tree" exists for a reason and it is meant to prevent the police from engaging in abuses and overreaches when it comes to pursuing criminals. While the criminals were clearly the beneficiary in this case, there are plenty of other situations over time where innocent people have been railroaded by corrupt police officers, prosecutors and detectives. As such, this is why police and such are held to doing their job the right way. The following details and research indicate why the assertions made above are the right ones and why the police in this case study made some unforgivable mistakes with the botched search alone.

Arrest Warrants

To give some background to what an arrest warrant is and how it should be issued and handled, there are a few things that need to be kept in mind. An arrest warrant is an official document that authorizes a police officer to arrest the person or people named in the warrant. In the case of this case study, it would and should be for both Reynolds brothers. As it turns out, both were hiding at their father's house even though only one of them officially lived there. Anyhow, arrest warrants are important because they identify the crimes that are suspected when it comes to the suspects. However, they also often identify the times and/or places that the person or people can be arrested. For example, a judge might say that the person can only be arrested from six in the morning to six in the evening. In many cases, bail is predetermined for the suspect if and when they are caught (Nolo, 2016).

The author of this report did some research and found that getting an arrest warrant is not always necessary. Indeed, so long as a police officer is investigating a crime and they have reasonable suspicion to believe that the person they are arresting committed it, the lack of an arrest warrant is not a big deal. However, there is one notable exception to this and the police in this case study trampled all over it. As stated by Nolo, "police officers need to obtain arrest warrants only when… READ MORE

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