Criminal Law Articles

  • Search & Seizure - Abandoned Property

    The right under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures is based upon an expectation of privacy in a person's property. If the person abandons his or her property, he or she no longer has an expectation of privacy in the property.

  • Jury Instructions on Application of the Law to the Facts

    A jury's role in a criminal case is to determine the guilt or innocence of a defendant. In accordance with this role, the jury must also judge the facts of the case. In order to make its factual determination, the jury is instructed on the law by a trial court. The trial court sets forth the law in written instructions that are delivered to the jury before the prosecution and the defense make their closing arguments. The jury is not permitted to receive the law from any source other than the trial court.

  • Cruelty to Animals

    A person commits the offense of cruelty to animals if he or she intentionally or knowing tortures an animal, fails to provide food, care, or shelter for an animal, abandons an animal, transports or confines an animal in a cruel manner, kills or seriously injures an animal that belongs to another person, or causes an animal to fight with another animal.

  • Ex Post Facto Laws

    An ex post facto law is a law that provides for punishment for an act that was committed when the act was not illegal.