FLETC Legal Exam (with Answers 100%)

1. Thompson is suspected of running a counterfeiting operation out of his garage. The garage is attached to the dwelling. Without a warrant, three officers step onto his curtilage, shine a flashlight into the garage, and take a quick look. They observe a number of what appear to be $100 bills hanging from a clothesline. Was the observation into the garage lawful? a. No, because the officers physically intruded on a constitutionally protect location without either a warrant or an exception to the 4th Amendment. b. No, because the use of a flashlight violated Thompson's reasonable expectation of privacy. c. Yes, because the garage does not have curtilage because it is not a dwelling. d. Yes, because the garage itself was not within the curtilage of Thompson's dwelling. correct answers a. No, because the officers physically intruded on a constitutionally protect location without either a warrant or an exception to the 4th Amendment. CORRECT: The root of the question says that the officers were on Thompson's curtilage. The officers did not have a warrant to be there and there is no 4th Amendment exception. Accordingly, the observation was unlawful and the information they obtained cannot be lawfully used to obtain a warrant. b. No, because the use of a flashlight violated Thompson's reasonable expectation of privacy. INCORRECT: Using a flashlight, by itself, does not violate a person's REP. c. Yes, because the garage does not have curtilage because it is not a dwelling. INCORRECT: Curtilage is not limited to dwellings and includes areas surrounding a dwelling. (Review your student text.) d. Yes, because the garage itself was not within the curtilage of Thompson's dwelling. INCORRECT: The garage was attached to the house so it was very likely on the curtilage. More importantly, the officers were unlawfully on the curtilage when they made their observations. 2. Agents develop reasonable suspicion that Wooster is operating a stolen credit card ring. Upon seeing Wooster driving in his car one afternoon, the agents follow him. When he arrives at a shopping mall, the agents approach him, identify themselves, and tell him to put his hands on his automobile. One of the agents frisks him and, in the upper left hand pocket, feels what is immediately apparent to him as a stack of credit cards bound by a rubber band. The agent removes the credit cards and, ultimately, determines that they are stolen. Wooster's motion to suppress the credit cards will be - a. Denied, because the agents had reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. b. Denied, because the agents had probable cause to remove the cards from his pocket under the "plain touch" doctrine.