Prior to beginning your written assignment, read the article Excessive bail and review all
previous weeks’ materials concerning the 4 th Amendment, due process, the right to
remain silent, the right to counsel, cruel and unusual punishment and capital
punishment.
In the state of Denial, the Capital City Police have been watching gang activity between
two local gangs, the Drips and the Scruds. The Scruds are mad at the Drips because
they believe that the Drips have been encroaching on the Scruds’ territory and selling
drugs in the Scruds’ neighborhood. Members of the gangs take the first letter of the
gang’s affiliation for their “gang name.” For example, the leader of the Drips is assumed
the name Dripster, while the leader of the Scrips took on the name Stupido. Officers Do-
Right and Justice have been assigned to the case and have been following members of
both gangs closely over the past several weeks.
Dripster (the leader of the Drips) has been driving around in a Black Chevrolet Blazer
that is registered to his girlfriend. Do-Right and Justice have placed a tracking device on
the vehicle so that they can follow the gang leader at a safe distance without him
noticing them. Using the tracking device, they have followed him to a party being held at
a house owned by the girlfriend of a fellow Drip, Dufus.
The officers decide to use a new device that they have obtained from the police
department called the Bloodhound, which can sniff out certain smells from a distance.
Using the Bloodhound, the officers have determined that inside the house are the
following substances: marijuana, creatine (which is commonly used to cut cocaine), and
lye (which can be used in making methamphetamine). Based upon the information they
have obtained from the Bloodhound, they call a magistrate and obtain a search warrant
for Dufus’ house.
After backup arrives, Officers Do-Right and Justice lead the way to the house, where
they break through the front door of the house without first knocking and announcing
their presence. Inside the house, they find Dripster sitting at the kitchen table in front of
a scale and a white powdery substance, which is later determined to be to be cocaine.
They also find Dufus in a back room surrounded by boxes of electronics and a pile of
cash that they later determine to be $50,000. With Dufus are two low-level Drips,
Dummy and Duncecap, who are armed with automatic assault rifles and loaded
handguns.
When the officers rush into the room where Dufus, Dummy, and Duncecap are,
Duncecap immediately throws up his hands and tells the officers, “I’ll tell you everything
I know! Just don’t arrest me!” Dufus turns to his accomplices and says, “If either of you
says a word, you are dead meat.” Duncecap immediately stops talking and claims he
“doesn’t know anything about anything.”
As Do-Right is escorting Dripster to his cruiser after he has arrested him, a carload of
Scruds drives by slowly. The Scruds’ leader, Stupido, leans out of his window and yells
to Dripster, “I told you to keep your business off our turf!” Dripster, thinking Stupido is
the reason that the cops raided the house, grabs Do-Right’s gun and opens fire towards
Stupido’s car. Dripster misses Stupido and his car, but he shoots and injures a 12-year-
old girl, Innocent, who is watching the arrests in her front yard across the street.