Essay Example on Bob Shot Twice After Plan of Attack at LGBTQ Rally Discovered

Introduction

Bob was planning an attack at an LGBTQ rally set to happen on the weekend that followed. He had gathered weapons and stored them in one of the stores in his compounds. However, a neighbor has complained following the continued barking of dogs at Bob's compound. Upon their arrival, they noticed a visible crate of weapon. In a bid to prevent the police officers from investigating the weapons issue further, Bob is shot twice, and he believes that he would not make it. Thus, he confesses about the mission of invading a rally and explains why he had the weapons. The emergency medical team arrives on time and save Bob's life. Bob's lawyer aims at defending Bob using the plain sight evidence does not apply to Bob's case and that the evidence gathered should be dismissed and that the dying declaration was not valid. Therefore, this paper analyzes the details of clear sight evidence and dying testimony by focusing on instances that they are admissible in court.

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Legal Requirements for a Plain Sight Seizure

In the United States, the plain view is an exception made to the Fourth Amendment that allows an officer to acquire evidence and contraband that can be viewed easily during a lawful observation (Holt et al., 2019). The doctrine allows an officer to confiscate objects not described in a warrant when executing an authorized search or seizure. Before seizing an object, an officer must identify whether or not it is connected to criminal activity. It is worth noting that any evidence present in a container cannot be seized via plain view doctrine since a person cannot identify it through sheer observation (Holt et al., 2019). Such objects cannot be taken unless when included in a search warrant.

Bob's Encounter with the Police and the Plain Sight Evidence

The legal requirements for an officer to conduct a plain sight seizure include the fact that they should be in a placer lawfully. In this case, a neighbor had informed the police of continued barking from a dog at Bib's property. The police were in that place to check why dogs often barked hence disturbing the neighborhood. There were in the place legally, and Bob also allowed them to get into his premises, which also showed his consent. In addition to that, it is clear that officer Baker sees the evidence in plain sight. The officer asked Baker what was with the weapons meaning that he could identify that they were weapons. The nature of the evidence was incriminating in that the suspect had a crate of weapons that were illegally acquired since even if there is a law for having guns, one would not have all those weapons retrieved from Bob's house. The crate of firearms recovered at this instance could be admissible in court as plain sight evidence. However, the other weapons acquired after the officers searched the other stores within the compound could not stand as evidence in the court of law. The officers had no warrant to search the premises and were only present due to a concern raised by a neighbor. It was during this process that they noticed the crate of weapons in one of the stores. Therefore, only the evidence gathered in plain view would serve as incriminating evidence in the court.

Consequently, Bob tried to prevent an officer from going towards the store where the weapons were located. During the process, he was shot twice. Bob thought he would die, so he confessed that the guns were to be used to raid a gathering set for the weekend. The confession is frequently termed as a dying declaration. According to Dube and Yadav (2016), a dying declaration is a statement that a declarant makes under a belief that he or she would die and would not appear in court to testify. For a report to be valid, it must relate to what a declarant believed to be the circumstance or cause of impending death. Notably, the dying declaration is exclusion to the hearsay rule that forbids the use of an account made by someone other than the person who was implicated in it while testifying during a tribunal because of its unreliability (Dube &Yadav, 2016). When a person has made a dying declaration and he or she has a chance of recovering, the statement cannot be used as evidence in a court of law.

Bob's Dying Declaration and Its Relevance in Court

In Bob's case, the dying declaration statement may not be relevant in court. First, the suspect who made the statement is alive, and it can be proven that the report was made even though there was hope for the recovery of the victim. Secondly, the suspect is not dead, and he can defend himself or confess if he is guilty of the charges accused against him in the court. In a situation where a person who has made a dying declaration is alive, the content of the statement cannot be used as evidence in court. Dube (2016) asserted that the person making the dying declaration must be dead for the report to be used in court; otherwise, it would not be considered. As the name suggests, the statement is a dying declaration. In this situation, the defendant's arguments on the dying declaration could be successful. However, the reports of dismissing evidence acquired from plain sight may not be a success since the evidence was legally acquired as per the plain sight doctrine.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the constitution outlines measures and doctrines that could be used during an arrest and acquisition of evidence. The two theories discussed in this paper are clear sight evidence and dying declaration. In Bob's case, the police acquired evidence that they could view in plain sight hence having a probable reason to arrest and charge Bob with possession of weapons illegally. The conclusion derived from this is that clear sight evidence could be admissible in court. However, in the process, bob is shot twice when trying to prevent an officer from going towards the crate of weapon. He believes that he would die, which warrants him to make a dying declaration statement. However, the report cannot be applicable in court, as indicated in this paper, since the suspect is not dead. The account is only appropriate when a suspect is not alive since the court does not want to rely on hearsay evidence. The defendant's arguments on dismissing the dying declaration statement could be successful in court.

References

Dube, D., & Yadav, M. (2016). Evaluation of dying declaration - Recent judicial perspectives. Indian Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, 14(1and2), 1. doi: 10.5958/0974-4487.2016.00001.8

Dube, S. (2016). Admissibility of dying declaration. Legal News / Law News. https://www.legalindia.com/admissibility-dying-declaration/

Holt, T. J., Clevenger, S., & Navarro, J. (2019). Exploring digital evidence recognition among officers and troopers in a sample of a state police force. Policing: An International Journal, 43(1), 91-103. doi: 10.1108/pijpsm-07-2019-0119