Search Warrant Exceptions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Search Warrant Exceptions - Essay Example he US Supreme Court therefore, crafted several legal doctrines incorporated through several cases that guarantee that a person’s confession does not violate his rights enshrined in the Fifth (on self-incrimination) and Sixth Amendment (rights of the accused) of the Constitution (Brown 2001 p 151). To illustrate this, an instance of confession was culled from a leading US daily and discussed how it will likely impact on the concerned individual’s case, once it goes into trial. In the July 18, 2009 issue of The Washington Post, a news article entitled â€Å"Friends Shocked as Man Charged in Wife’s Murder† appeared. It narrated an incident which happened aboard the Carnival Elation cruise ship while it was on its way to Los Angeles after a five-day cruise. A woman was found dead in one of the cabins’ bathroom strangled and with blunt injuries in the head and torso. The FBI which intercepted the cruise ship while at sea was able to draw out a confession from the woman’s husband admitting that it was him who killed his wife using his bare hands. It turned out that the couple, who were married in 2003, was taking the luxurious five-day Mexican cruise to celebrate their 55th birthdays, only a few days apart from each other. The state in the event the case goes to court, should prove that the confession was valid and admissible in court to qualify its use against the husband. According to the book Criminal Investigation: Law and Practice, there are three tests to determine whether such confession is admissible in court: the due process or voluntariness test; the right to counsel test, and; the Fifth Amendment privilege against incrimination test. During the trial, the state must prove that the confession obtained from the husband was given without any coercion whatsoever otherwise the defense has the right to object to its admission and move for its suppression. Coercion here refers to either physical (Brown v Mississippi, 297 US 278 [1936]), emotional or