Violence and Drugs in Centervale – Defending Abby – Sample Answer

Over the period, the United States of America has been at war. Not a physical battle, but a fight with drug abuse and various forms of domestic violence. Authorities have put their efforts on bringing the culprits to justice. Those who are typically found culpable for either of the crimes have been sentenced to some periods in prison as a way of rectifying their illegal actions (Int’L, 2015). That is why; looking at the case involving Abby and Bobby there is a clear basis in the law that can be applied in bringing them to books.

In law, there is an aspect that states ‘a person arrested remains as a suspect until proven guilty.’ Proving of a case depends on the shreds of evidence that get presented in court by the prosecutor. Therefore, in proving a case against a suspected criminal, a prosecutor will majorly have to rely on the pieces of evidence that are gathered at the scene of the crime. Having this information, as a police officer, the evidence which I witnessed at the couple’s house must be protected so that the same can get applied during the trial process the said couple. In safeguarding the evidence, it will be instrumental for me to undertake two critical actions. First, I will need to inform both Christiana and David who were to remain at the scene of the crime about the illegal things which I saw in the house so that they become aware of the same as they continue to code off the house. Secondly, it will be of importance if I equally take photos of these illegal products in the house which in any case, can be used in backing up the case against

the two. Besides, in case of any further discovery of evidence either from their house or in their possession, an almost similar procedure can equally apply. The only distinction will be the need to take the said evidence and keep them under my jurisdiction or take them directly to the prosecutor who might decide to keep them as per the court’s acts on procedures of storing evidence.

Based on the utterances which were made by Abby in our presence, there is enough ground upon which she can get arrested. Take for instance, while her husband was being taken away, Abby shouted that she would sell the remaining stock of “goods” and raise the money which he would use to bail out Bobby. At the time of her utterance, other police officers were not aware of the kind of goods she was referring to except me. Since I had already noticed a baggie of marijuana, it was clear that apart from being consumers of marijuana as a drug, these couples were also trading on this illegal product upon which they were raising money for their other expenses. Her association with Bobby was also a platform upon which she can get arrested. She knew how violent and armed Bobby was but she did not bother to report him to the nearest police station yet there were clear signs that her life was continuously being placed at risk.

All of the illegal activities which both couples were engaging in would be more visible if their house was to be searched in totality. Based on the laws, searching an offender’s home can just be carried by police officers upon having a warrant for conducting the same from the court. In securing a search warrant, the police officer concerned with the search activity must swear an affidavit which contains reasons for the need of undertaking a search activity in the house of an offender. Just as the case of this couple, in an affidavit for securing a search warrant, I would include the marijuana and presence of a gun in the couple’s house which I saw as part of reasons for obtaining such a permit. The presence of the said two illegal products serves as evidence that some of the similar kinds of products might be available in the hidden corners of the couple’s house.

As a method of preventing interference with the evidence which already I had seen inside the house of this couple, and any other form of evidence that might be available, the best way both Christina and David would protect such evidence is by coding off the entire area and its locality from any form of penetration. The best material used in such cases is a ribbon with writings of crime scenes around it as such would bar the public away from the locality of the house (Rahtz, 2012). The officers, also, need to stay attentive and alert all around until that time when the entire evidence might have been collected.

Search warrant always has various reasons as to why it might be carried out on a person’s house. For instance, a search might be carried out with the aim of protecting the officers and the public from any other possible attacks, preventing the offender from possible escape or making a discovery and subsequent seizing of the elements of crimes from the offender (Shahidullah, 2008). Therefore, based on this case, the reason for the need of the search warrant is to look for the available illegal products (marijuana, guns and any other) that were at the premises of Abby and Bobby. Once these illegal products are identified and taken away, they can be used for justifying the case concerning these two people.

Upon Arrival at the precinct of Abby and Booby, undertaking a personal search on them would be only possible upon approval by the court. This is because forcefully searching get considered as a trespass by law since it goes against the rights of the accused. Though if there can be an agreement with them, examining them would be made accessible and more legal. At the crime scene even without taking any measure of searching, there will be the presence of blood samples which will have dropped as a result of a small fracture that both of them might have suffered as result of their fighting. Because of the battle that is evidential from this couple in addition to signs of abuse of drugs, there might be significant need of proving this as part of the case. Because it is not legal to forcefully search person’s body without his or her consent or approval by the court, based on this kind of scenario, it would be appropriate to seek for permission from the courts to undertake this step. It is more of evidence that because the body parts of each of them had some fractures, both might be hibernating some form of crude weapon on them. Additionally, since their behavior seems to be more of influenced by subsistence abuses which evidently is inside their house, there is some possibility that they might have some in their pocket. For such a reason, searching their pockets, for example, would be most appropriate since it would assist in proving the case against the two beyond any other reasonable doubts.