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Application of The Constitutional Amendments (Constitutional Law)

The document discusses three legal cases where defendants claimed their constitutional rights were violated. For each case, it must be determined which amendment the claim was based on and whether the rights were actually violated. Case 1 involved thermal imaging of a home that revealed marijuana growth, leading to a search warrant. The 4th amendment against unreasonable search and seizure was the basis of the appeal, but no violation occurred due to the warrant. Case 2 involved testimony over closed-circuit TV in an abuse case. The 5th and 8th amendments around self-incrimination and due process would apply. Case 3 involved large pollution fines without a jury trial. The 5th amendment right to a grand jury and the 7th right

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114 views2 pages

Application of The Constitutional Amendments (Constitutional Law)

The document discusses three legal cases where defendants claimed their constitutional rights were violated. For each case, it must be determined which amendment the claim was based on and whether the rights were actually violated. Case 1 involved thermal imaging of a home that revealed marijuana growth, leading to a search warrant. The 4th amendment against unreasonable search and seizure was the basis of the appeal, but no violation occurred due to the warrant. Case 2 involved testimony over closed-circuit TV in an abuse case. The 5th and 8th amendments around self-incrimination and due process would apply. Case 3 involved large pollution fines without a jury trial. The 5th amendment right to a grand jury and the 7th right

Uploaded by

David Chavez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Application of the Constitutional Amendments (Constitutional Law)

For each of the three case studies included here, your goal is to address the
“constitutionality” of the case and exactly which amendment would apply to the case
in a court of law. Remember, each case presented here was challenged in court based
on the defendant’s belief that his/her constitutional rights were violated. Each case
analysis must answer two questions:

1. Which amendment (4th through 8th) formed the basis of the defendant’s appeal?
Defend your choice by specific support from the case information.

2. Based on the information presented, do you think the defendant’s constitutional


rights were violated? Again, defend your answer.

Case 1 (2001)

Drug enforcement agents suspected that marijuana was being grown in the home of
“Dan” (fictitious name). Indoor marijuana growing usually requires the use of high
intensity lights that release significant amounts of heat. So agents used a hand-held
thermal imager to scan the outside of the house from the street looking for unusually
high amounts of heat emanating from any locations in the house.

The agents scan showed that the roof and side wall of the garage was significantly
hotter than anywhere else in the house or any other similar garage in the development.
Based on this data, a search warrant to search Dan’s home was issued by a Federal
judge where the agents found marijuana growing. Dan was then arrested on a federal
judge charge.

3. The fourth amendment formed the basis of the defendants appeal. The fourth
amendment prevents any unreasonable search and seizures without a warrant. The
agents saw a high amount of heat coming from Dan's house and an issue to search his
home was issued before they searched the house.

4. The defendants rights were not violated because the agents were issued a search
warrant before entering dans house.

Case 2 (1990)

An allegedly abused child “Erica” testified in court over a live closed-circuit TV feed
against her father that she was repeatedly beaten over a several year period. Erica
never entered the courtroom at any time during the trial. All communication back and
forth from the courtroom occurred through the TV hookup.
I believe that in this case the defendant should apply the 5 th and 8th amendment.
Because most likely the suspect is going to go to prison, therefore as the defendant I
wouldn’t want him to speak upon himself making his sentence a lot longer.

Case 3 (1987)

The US government files a lawsuit against “Fred” for dumping fill material (dirt,
sticks, rocks, etc.) into a wetlands area in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.
The government sought damages of $22 million to clean up the mess and restore the
ecosystem. Fred requested that the jury trial which was denied by the district court
judge on the grounds that the government had exercised appropriate power and
authority to determine that Fred had violated various parts of the Clean Water Act and
could be held liable under the Act without a jury.

5. The case is dealing with the 5th and the 7th amendment. The 5th amendment
provides protections for people accused of crimes. This includes having serious
criminal charges started by a grand jury and the right to not be held accountable for a
crime without due process of law. This is backed up by the denial of a grand jury. The
7th amendment states that in cases exceeding the value of 20 dollars, the right to trial
by jury is used. The cost of the damages well exceeds the 20 dollar limit, yet Fred was
denied a trial by jury.

6. His 5th amendment right was violated because he was charged a hefty amount for a
crime, and was not able to go in front of a jury to defend himself. He was not given
due process of law, and therefore was violated. Freds constitutional rights were
violated because he was denied a trial by jury by the district court.

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