SEARCH AND SEIZURE

Search and Seizure



Search and Seizure

Scenario

Some questions relating to the scenario needs explanation, for example, : How does Mrs. Ellis seem to sleep through an entire event begging on the premise that, before Mrs. Ellis would go to bed in the first place, she would have more than likely gone to her closet before changing her clothes to her night clothes before retiring for the night? How does someone that she knows ends up in her bedroom? Also, nowhere is it mentioned for how long Mr. Stephens was dead.

“Mrs. Ellis calls 911.” Okay, while this is an expected reaction, is this a more staged event after the fact? After all, I am still having trouble understanding how Mrs. Ellis did not hear anything and suddenly “discovered” the body after she woke up in the morning. And, if it staged, is it done to protect herself or, even possibly, her son? And, what is she protecting about her son? Was this, in a sense, a sense of duty or moral obligation to keep the morally weak (perhaps William) from doing evil? (Johnson and Wolfe, 2003) this is an expected reaction with the policing and EMS authorities in any area these days.“The crime scene investigators pronounced Mr. Stevens. This does seem to state the obvious since Mr. Stephens had a butcher knife in his back and, apparently, Mrs. Ellis did not discover this until she awoke in the morning. However, no information is available regarding the time frame.

A comment here: Although Mrs. Ellis transported to the hospital because of her mental status (being “quite distraught”), no note is available if the paramedics had to sedate her and (especially before they sedated her, if indeed she was) whether or not she made a statement.

It would seem that the crime scene could establish upon arrival, and during the waiting period of the arrival of the Justice of Peace Judge or death pronunciation authority to make the pronunciation of death of Mr. Stevens official. Because of this statement pronunciation of death of Mr. Stevens, I certainly would question as to whether the crime scene was appropriately established immediately upon arrival to prevent from any evidence being tampered with by any unauthorized and untrained personnel. Mr. Steven's wife, certainly should be investigated. Why did she not report her missing husband? Why did she not miss him? Where was she when this was occurring? How intimate was she still with her husband? Did she know of any improprieties that Mr. Stevens might have had with Mrs. Ellis?

If William did not break into the house nor use a key, did the Stevens leave their door unlocked (as they usually do in the country - after all, we do not know the environment exactly and the distance between the neighbor's houses), and, if by leaving it 'unlocked', did it actually deny entry to William Ellis? And, if it actually did not deny entry to William Ellis, did he have the malice and aforethought to commit murder? (Chamelin, ...