Fourth Amendment hearings are a crucial part of the criminal justice system. Fourth amendment hearings determine whether the arrest of the defendant was supported by probable cause, if there was a search and/or seizure this must also be supported by probable cause.
If the arrest began with a traffic stop, an ingle hearing is held is determine whether reasonable suspicion of a crime existed at the time of the traffic stop, and if a defendant is arrested inside a home without a warrant, a Payton hearing is held to determine if the arrest is supported by exceptional circumstances such as consent, emergency, or the police were in active pursuit of the defendant. In fourth amendment hearings, the prosecution has the initial “burden of going forward” to demonstrate the legality of the police actions that resulted in the recovery of the evidence. They must introduce evidence that is both credible, factual and not conclusory statements (i.e., supported by facts) The defense then has the ultimate “burden of persuasion” to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the police conduct was unlawful.
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