The Law Dictionary for Everyone
Following is the case brief for Missouri v. Frye, 132 S. Ct. 1399 (2012) Case Summary of Missouri v. Frye: After respondent Frye was charged with a crime, Frye’s counsel received a 90-day-sentence plea offer from the prosecutor. Frye’s counsel failed to inform Frye of the offer, and the offer expired. Frye ultimately pleaded guilty and received a three-year sentence. […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385 (1978) Case Summary of Mincey v. Arizona: An undercover police officer and petitioner Mincey were shot during a drug bust. Mincey was tried and convicted of murder, assault, and drug offenses. Mincey’s motions to suppress the fruits of a four-day search of his home, and his statements while […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Maryland v. Pringle, 540 U.S. 366 (2003) Case Summary of Maryland v. Pringle: Police officers stopped a car for speeding. Respondent Pringle, who was with two friends, was in front-passenger seat. During a consent search of the car, officers found a roll of cash in the glove compartment and cocaine behind the back-seat armrest. […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Maryland v. Buie, 494 U.S. 325 (1990) Case Summary of Maryland v. Buie: Respondent Buie emerged from his basement while officers were executing an arrest warrant for him in his home. After Buie’s arrest, an officer conducted a protective sweep of the basement and found incriminating evidence in plain view. The plain view evidence […]
Read moreThe term “general deterrence” refers to the practice of instilling fear in people in the hopes that such fear will prevent them from committing crimes in the future. This is done by making an example of offenders through their punishments. The focus is not on the offender individually; rather, the offender is punished publicly to prevent others who may have […]
Read moreAn indeterminate sentence is a sentence that does not assign a set amount of jail time. For example, an indeterminate sentence specifies a range, such as “5 to 10 years,” or “15 years to life,” instead of sentencing someone to a set number of years in prison. An indeterminate sentence is the opposite of a determinate sentence, which assigns a […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Hurtado v. California, 110 U.S. 516 (1884) Case Summary of Hurtado v. California: The law of California allows for accusation by information to begin a criminal case, in addition to indictment by grand jury. Hurtado was accused by information of murder. He was subsequently tried and found guilty of murder. Hurtado claimed that his […]
Read moreThe phrase “determinate sentencing” means that an offender is sentenced to a specific amount of time in jail upon his conviction. Determinate sentencing is only used in a handful of states. Most of the country instead relies on indeterminate sentencing, which is a sentencing that refers to a range of time, rather than a set period. To explore this concept, […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Horton v. California, 496 U.S. 128 (1990) Case Summary of Horton v. California: Petitioner moved to suppress evidence of an armed robbery that was discovered in plain view by an officer during execution of a search warrant. The officer expected to find those items, however, so the plain view discovery was not inadvertent. The […]
Read moreThe term inchoate crimes refers to acts engaged in toward the commission of a criminal act, or which amount to indirect participation in a criminal act. While such an action may not be a crime in and of itself, it is engaged in for the purpose of furthering or advancing a crime. These types of acts are illegal because it […]
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