Criminal Procedure and Probable Cause

Criminal Procedure Probable Cause

Relevant issues regarding criminal procedure as well as probable cause have been raised. There are debates regarding the actual implementation of both procedures, the actions taken by the police officers being questioned and related to it as well. One example is the instance when a police during an undercover mission posed a suit over two women in North Attleboro.

The Events

The two women charged were Jun Mei Li and Amy Wei, both pleading not guilty with the charge of indecent touching of a police who was undercover as a customer on a massage parlor where the two women were employed. Attleboro Detective Sgt. Christopher Ciccio stated that he was asked thereafter "Is that okay? Would there be any problem?" based from his testimony during hearing. He also stated that he was told another woman will be inside his room to continue the massage. The indecent touching happened again and the officer told her to stop, paid her for the massage with $60 plus $40 for the tip (Linton, 2011).

Upon trial with the presence of an interpreter so as to ensure that it they understood everything, all such allegations were denied by both women and stated that sufficient evidence was lacking. Their counsel also if the alleged indecent touching constitutes any offense and if conspiracy was present.

The Defense

The counsel of the accused claims that the two were not in conspiracy upon the indecent acts alleged by the officer, and are not engaged in any sexual services. He claims that the fact that they have no criminal records must be taken into consideration, and that such contentions shall not be satisfactory most especially because they do not speak English well, which shall invalidate the contention of such conversation .

Probable Cause

The question rises upon the validity of a probable cause. Were such questions allegedly asked together with the said indecent touching constitutes an act of offering sexual services? What were the indications taken as to have considered that such actions were that of prostitution?

It has been defined that probable cause is a "reasonable belief that a person has committed a crime." ("The Electric Law Library", 2012). In the case at bar, what could be the crime committed? There were no agreements as to the services and its corresponding fee. Therefore, it is safe to say that the reason of the officer is derived from the plain view doctrine. Plain View Doctrine is said to be "Something falling in the 'plain view' of an officer who has a right to be in the position to have that view are subject to action without a warrant..." ("Findlaw", 2012), which is sufficient to be considered as probable cause.

However, the particular