Fall 1999
FINAL EXAMINATION
(Take-home Exam)

This is a twenty-seven hour take home exam. It must be returned to the Receptionist in the Administrative Suite within 27 hours after you pick it up. The rules governing this exam are contained on the attached cover sheet and must be followed carefully.

There is one question. In answering it, remember that I DO NOT want and will not give credit for a general discussion of the law. Rather, your exam should reflect a discussion of the relevant law and policy in the context of the given facts. Restrict yourself, as much as possible, to the facts given. If additional facts are needed, state what they are and why, but do not change the facts.

You may type or write your answer. If you type, please double space. If you write, please write legibly and on only one side of each page.

*********************************************************************************************************

Officer Oliver has been working drug interdiction as a plainclothes officer at the airport for the last several months. A large part of his job is to watch flights from source cities to look for people departing those flights who may be drug couriers. In doing so, he uses profile factors that are distributed monthly based on national experience as well as factors he developed himself using his own experience. Recently, he'd been pretty successful in finding young women who were carrying drugs into the airport. He noticed that they often wore loose clothing or looked uncomfortable walking (perhaps because they were carrying drugs in body cavities) and they tended to appear evasive and nervous.

One day, as he was working at the airport, he was watching people get off a plane that had arrived from Miami, a source city for drugs. As he was doing so, he noticed a young woman who had just deplaned walk quickly into the terminal. She looked around as if she were looking for someone, but when she made eye contact with Oliver, she quickly averted her eyes and put her head down and began to walk the other way. As she continued to walk, she remained evasive, continuing to avoid making eye contact with Oliver. He noticed that she appeared to be walking funny and looked nervous. He became suspicious. He approached the woman, identified himself as a police officer, and asked to see her driver’s license and plane ticket. She immediately responded, "Why, what's wrong?" He answered, "How about we talk about it after I see your ID." As she opened her purse to get her ticket and ID, he saw what appeared to be several identification cards with her picture on them but that appeared to be in different names. When he realized she saw him looking into her purse, he glanced away so as not to appear to be looking and acted as if he had not seen anything inside. He did think to himself that her having the ID’s appeared quite suspicious and he thought that it was illegal to have identification in more than one name.

After fishing through the bag for several seconds, the woman finally took out an airline ticket and driver’s license both in the name of Carla Currier and handed them to Oliver. The ticket indicated that she had only been in Florida for two days. He asked what the basis of her trip was, and she responded that she had been visiting family. He commented that it had been a short visit, and she replied that she needed to get back quickly. These answers did not satisfy Oliver and he continued to remain suspicious. He said to Carla, "I'd like you to come to a private area so we can talk some more." She responded, "I have someone picking me up; I really need to go." He said, "It won't take long. It's only around the corner. Let's go." She accompanied him to the security office and they went into a small room. He told her to sit down while he checked on her ID. He closed the door and left for a few minutes with her license and ticket.

When he returned, he told her that there appeared to be some problem with her license (which was not true). He indicated that it was not coming up properly in the system and that further investigation was necessary. Actually, he was trying to check on the legality of having multiple different ID’s. She responded, "Look, I need to get going." He answered, "Let me be honest with you. I think you may be involved in drug trafficking and we need to wait for a dog to get here and check you out. It's on its way but it will take a little while. We're going to have to wait unless you give consent to search your person. But that's up to you." She responded, "Fine, I want to get this resolved so I can get out of here. If you get a female officer, I'd be willing to let her search me." Oliver got a female officer to conduct the search. She checked Carla’s pockets and inside her clothing and found nothing. She also checked her purse and saw the ID’s but no drugs. She reported the results to Oliver. He was disappointed but remained convinced that she was a drug trafficker and suspected that she was carrying the drugs in a body cavity. He also believed that she would not consent to a body cavity search.

When Oliver returned to the room, Carla said "See, I told you, there's no reason to keep me here. I need to get going." He responded "Not yet. Your license situation doesn’t look good (which was not true), and I’ve got problems with all the ID’s you have" (which was true and in fact, Oliver was waiting for confirmation on whether the possession of multiple ID’s was a crime). She responded, "I'm losing patience. I don't think you can do this. I’m not doing anything illegal." He answered, "Just sit tight, I'll be back. And sorry for the mess in here. We've been using this room to train new agents and I guess they left a lot of the material laying around. I'll be back as soon as I can." Oliver then left the room, closing the door behind him. When he did so, he turned up the heat in the room and then went to watch Carla through a one-way mirror. As expected, he noticed her begin to look through the papers that were sitting on the table.

The papers contained clippings and what appeared to be press releases about drug couriers dying from drug overdoses. The clippings, which were real, described cases in which drug couriers who carried drugs in balloons inside their bodies had died when the balloons ruptured and the drugs caused an overdose. The press releases, which were fake, described similar stories about couriers carrying drugs in various body cavities. The releases described overdoses and illnesses caused when the containers in which the drugs were stored broke, causing the drugs to come into contact with the body. They described the body absorbing the drugs and couriers suffering from fever, convulsions, and eventual death.

Through the one-way glass, Oliver could see Carla starting to sweat as she read the material. After a few minutes, he reentered the room. He said to Carla, "You look pale. I hope you're okay." She responded, "It's hot in here." He answered, "No, I don't think so. But you don't look well. You weren't out of the country, only in Florida, so it's not likely any kind of tropical disease. I hope you're not carrying any drugs. If you looked at those clippings, you know what kind of reactions those can cause." With that, Carla began to cry. "Okay, it’s not worth it. I don't want to die. Get someone in here to help me get these drugs out." With that, Oliver called for a matron, who was standing by. She removed the drugs, which turned out to be cocaine, from Carla’s body cavity and placed her under arrest. At about the same time, Oliver received a report from the prosecutor’s office advising him that mere possession of multiple ID’s is not a crime. It is a crime to possess a forged government ID, but the ones that Carla had were not. With private ID’s, it’s not a crime unless the ID was either obtained or used in a fraudulent manner.

Meanwhile, while Carla was in the office, Oliver heard her being paged over the airport public address system. Carla was unable to hear the page inside the interrogation room. The page instructed her to pick up a white courtesy phone for a message. Oliver had one of the female officers pick up the white phone and say "This is Carla Currier." When she did so, the person on the other end gave her the following message: "This is a message from Don. I'm running late. I can't park. I'll pick you up in the front of the baggage claim area. I'll be in my new red Volvo." The female officer relayed the message to Oliver, who sent an officer out to the baggage claim area. The officer noticed a red Volvo circle around the baggage claim area several times as if it were looking for someone and eventually leave without picking anyone up. Before it left, the officer copied down its license number and gave the information to Oliver.

After Carla was arrested and taken for booking, Oliver searched her purse more thoroughly. Inside, as expected, he found several ID’s in different names with her picture on each as well as several credit cards in those different names, which he seized. In addition, he found a baggage claim check. He sent one of the officers to retrieve the bag that matched the claim check and to bring it back to the office. He searched the bag and found additional credit cards and money inside, which he seized. A later check revealed that some of these cards were phony and had been used to make fraudulent purchases.

Oliver then began to investigate the Volvo. He checked the motor vehicle records and determined that it was registered to an individual named Don Dela, who police believed was involved in drug trafficking, although they had no real evidence to support that belief. Oliver figured that, if Carla were carrying the drugs for Don, he would be in need of a new supply since the drugs she had been carrying had been seized. He concluded that Don would probably arrange for a new shipment as soon as possible. Therefore, Oliver alerted officers at the airport to watch for a red Volvo with Don's license number.

About two weeks after the arrest of Carla, an officer working at the airport noticed the red Volvo registered to Don Dela pull up in front of the terminal and pick up a young man. When the Volvo pulled away, Oliver, who had been alerted to its arrival, ordered a uniformed officer to follow the car and intercept it if and when it committed a traffic violation. About a mile away from the airport, Paula Patrola, the uniformed officer, clocked the Volvo going six miles over the speed limit and pulled it over. Before approaching the Volvo, Patrola called for backup, which arrived almost immediately. Patrola approached the Volvo and asked the driver to step out. At about the same time, Bob Bakkup, the backup officer, approached the Volvo and told the passenger to remain inside.

Patrola asked the driver to produce his license and registration. The driver did so, and the license and registration showed the name Don Dela. Patrola called in the license information to her dispatcher and then returned to Don. She told him that she would be issuing him a citation once she heard back from the dispatcher. She then said to him, "While we wait, do you mind if we take a look in your trunk?" Don responded, "Sure ...," and appeared like he was going to say something else. Before he could do so, he appeared distracted by the sound of a report coming over Patrola's radio. Patrola told Don, "Stay here," and went to her car to respond to the radio call. As she did so, she signaled to Bakkup indicating that Don had consented to the search. Bakkup opened the door to the Volvo and pressed the trunk release. He then began to search the trunk.

After Bakkup had been searching for about a minute, Don, who had been watching Patrola, glanced over toward his car and noticed what Bakkup was doing. He immediately yelled out, "What are you doing? You can’t search my car. What basis do you have to search my car?" Bakkup immediately responded, "You gave consent." Patrola, who had gotten off the radio by this time, turned to Don and said, "You said sure we could search." Don immediately responded, "No, I said sure I mind. I said you couldn't search my car." By the time Don stated his objection, though, it was too late. Bakkup had already found a pouch containing drugs in the trunk. As a result, Bakkup placed Don under arrest. He then asked the passenger to step out of the car. Patrola found a backpack on the back seat of the car, which she opened. The backpack contained cocaine and a wallet with identification in the name of Mike Mueller.

By this time, a third police car had arrived on the scene to assist in transporting the arrestees. Officer Logan approached the car and saw Mike standing next to it. He turned to Mike and said, "Don’t I know you? Didn’t I arrest you last month? Mike responded, "Could be." Logan then replied, "Yeah. I did. I remember. In fact, your lawyer just called the other day to clarify my understanding of some facts in the indictment. And here you are, caught again." At that point, Bakkup approached Mike and asked, "Are you Mike Mueller?" Mike replied, "Yes." He then asked, "Is this bag yours?" Mike stated, "I’d rather not say. I don’t want to talk about it." Bakkup responded, "Well, in any event, you’re under arrest." He proceeded to handcuff Mike and read him his Miranda rights.

Logan turned to Mike and stated, "I guess you just can’t keep out of trouble. The last one was credit cards, wasn’t it? And now drugs. What’s wrong with you?" Mike responded, "Look, like I told you last time. It’s not me; it’s not my fault." Logan looked disgusted and responded, "You’re one of those. It’s never your fault. It’s always someone else. You’ve always got to blame someone else. I can’t take people like you." Mike immediately responded, "No, really. It isn’t me." He then went into a long tirade in which he attempted to give excuses for his conduct both regarding the credit card charges as well as the drug offense. In doing so, however, he made several incriminating statements regarding both offenses. Mike and Don were then searched. Nothing was found on Don, but several credit cards in various names were found on Mike and were seized. The two men were then transported to the station for booking. Backup officers on the scene searched the rest of the Volvo and found a large quantity of money in the glove box, which they seized.

When they arrived at the station, Mike was taken for booking. Don was taken to an interrogation room. Officer Oliver arrived and gave Don his Miranda warnings. He asked Don if he understood. Don responded, "I understand my rights, but what’s going to happen next? When do I get a lawyer? When do I see the judge? I’ve never been arrested before and I don’t know what’s going to happen." Oliver explained, "In a short time you will be booked. Then you’ll go before the judge who will read the preliminary charges and set bail, if appropriate. Then the prosecutor will decide what charges to actually file, and at that point you’ll probably be indicted." With that, Don stopped him and said, "Oh. Then I guess I will need a lawyer. I’d better get myself a good lawyer. Yes, I definitely want a good lawyer." Oliver responded, "That might be a good idea. It’s up to you. But we would like to talk to you now. We’d like to give you a chance to tell us your side before a lawyer gets involved. Do you want to do that? It’s your last chance." Don thought for a minute and said, "I’m not sure if that’s a good idea. Like what do you want to know?" Oliver then asked Don a few questions related to the drug offenses. Don gave some self-serving answers that included some incriminating information showing his role as the main distributor. After realizing that his answers were not coming out the way he intended, Don stopped and said, "Y’know, like I said, I need a good lawyer. I don’t want to talk any more until I have a lawyer." At that point, Oliver said, "OK. Fine." He stopped questioning Don, and both Don and Mike were taken for arraignment.

Carla, Don and Mike have all been charged with drug-related offenses. Carla and Mike have also been charged with offenses related to credit card fraud. All relevant evidence is being admitted against each defendant. Discuss all criminal procedure issues raised by these facts.