week 8 2

profileslee91
_Week82.docx

Question 2:

700 words 2 references

Read the scenario and respond to the question at the end

A lone gunman robbed a jewelry store. The store’s video camera captured the robbery. The tape

was broadcast on the internet by the local law enforcement agency. Shortly thereafter, an

anonymous caller contacted the police saying she saw the footage of the robbery and reported

that the robber appears to look like Aaron Suspect. He’s a 21 year-old employee at the local gas

station.

The next day, two police officers took the taped footage to the gas station and showed it to the

manager, who reported it could be Aaron, but he was not entirely certain because the footage was grainy. The footage was also shown to Aaron’s landlord who said it could be Aaron, but she also could not say for sure.

Later that day, the police officers went back to the gas station when Aaron was working. They

asked the manager if they could talk with Aaron, who was called to the manager’s office. The

police introduced themselves to Aaron and simply said they had some questions for him. They

walked with Aaron into the manager’s office and closed the door. One police officer questioned

Aaron from behind the manager’s desk, and the other officer sat near the door. Both officers

were fully uniformed with their pistols visible. Aaron was positioned between them seated in a

folding char. The manager’s office measures nine feet by twelve feet and has no windows.

The police officers told Aaron they wanted to ask him some questions about the jewelry store

robbery that occurred the day before. Aaron said he did not have any such knowledge about the

robbery. He continued to deny that he had any knowledge of the robbery for approximately 30

minutes. Aaron did not ask to leave, and neither police officer specifically told Aaron he was free

to leave.

After the first 30 minutes of denials, the police officers told Aaron that they had a videotape of

the robbery and that they had shown it to three people, all of whom positively identified Aaron as

the armed robber. Aaron said nothing for a few minutes. One of the police officers then added

that if Aaron were to cooperate, he would put a good word in with the prosecutor, and that she

may go easy on Aaron. The police officer added that the local prison was not a good one,

housed a lot of hardened criminals, and that it was a frightening place to be locked-up. Aaron

then exclaimed that he did commit the robbery but that the gun was simply a child’s water pistol

that only appeared real.

Immediately after Aaron made that statement, the police officers informed Aaron that he was

under arrest for the armed robbery of the jewelry store. The police officers read Aaron his

Miranda rights. Aaron stated he understood his Miranda rights, and he told the police officers he would then remain silent. The police officers placed Aaron in handcuffs and took him to the

police station where he was processed for the charge of armed robbery.

If the police brought this case to you to prosecute, would you move forward with the case

based on the available evidence? Discuss the case’s weak points and strong points. Be sure to

comment on whether there are any violations of Aaron’s Fourth Amendment rights to be free

from unreasonable search and seizure, Miranda rights, voluntariness of the confession,

potential exclusion of evidence, and any other significant Constitutional issue that you believe

applies.