CRIMINAL PROCEDURE I

Professor Moskovitz

MIDTERM EXAM

Wednesday, October 24, 2001, 5 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.

 

To: My law clerk

From: Bernie D’Attorney, Esq.

 

            My client, Dan Dork (D), has been charged with possession of marijuana and possession of cocaine.  I have moved to suppress both the marijuana and the cocaine.  Here is the transcript of the hearing on the motion to suppress.  Please advise me how the court is likely to rule.

 

Transcript of Hearing on Dork’s Motion to Suppress Evidence

 

Q: Officer Nark (N), how did you happen to approach the defendant?

 

A: One of my informants told me that Dork was selling marijuana every night outside a local law school near 1st and Mission Streets, to give students some relief from the stress of exams. He described Dork as a young blond guy. He said Dork would park his red Toyota in front of the school and stand next to it. At 9 p.m., I went to the location and saw a man meeting that description drive up in a red Toyota, park in front, get out with a paper bag, and start speaking to students as they walked by.

 

Q: What did you do next?

 

A: He saw me in uniform and started to walk away. When he was about 20 feet from the car, I called out, “Hang on a minute. I want to talk to you.” He stopped and turned around.  I patted down his clothes and felt a soft object that could have been a pouch of marijuana in his shirt pocket. He said, “That’s tobacco, not marijuana.”

 

Q: And then?

 

A: I told him he was under arrest. I looked in the paper bag, and sure enough there were a dozen baggies of marijuana in it. I looked in his shirt pocket and found a pouch of tobacco. There was a luggage carrier on top of the car. I unlatched it and opened it, and found a plastic baggie of cocaine inside.

 

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