Legal memos

1. A defendant being charged for possession of a controlled substance in the first circuit. In this matter, the police acted on an anonymous and unconfirmed tip that a defendant was in possession of a controlled substance by going to his residence and asking to search his apartment. The defendant denied the request, grabbed his coat and left the residence. As the police were leaving another person walked out of the residence and informed them he was the defendant’s roommate. The police asked this person for permission to search the apartment. The roommate agreed to the search and the police found a controlled substance. The prosecutor is concerned about the validity of the search, he thinks there is Supreme Court case law on the issue. Write a short memorandum about the applicable case law and validity of the search.

1. A neighbor that was arrested for driving while intoxicated. He said the arresting police officer had him do a cartwheel, a handstand and an irish jig, then arrested him for failing standardized field sobriety tests. The neighbor has a brother-in-law that is a real estate attorney who gave him the attached case. He wants to know if it helps him. You need to tell him in short memo form;

1. The holding of the case;

1. The precedential value of the case.

1. You are paralegal for a defense attorney in Providence. Your firm has a client that was arrested for possession of a firearm. This occurred during a traffic stop for failure to use a seatbelt. The firearm was in plain view in the car as the officer approached to issue the ticket. Your client says he was stopped and his car searched because he drives an old buick and is Hispanic. He admits he was not wearing his seatbelt. Does the police officer’s true motivation (individual bias) for the stop subject the evidence to a motion to suppress (assume Rhode Island law)?

1. Your client comes to you with a question. His mother is elderly and wants to leave all of her money to him. He has a will with him and wants to know if he can be both the beneficiary and witness to the will (assume R.I. law).