Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Legal question re Fourth Amendment

This is a point in an upcoming fic.

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, requires a warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause.

But, isn't this applicable only to governmental actors? Does it apply to private citizens? I think not (based on a very cursory internet search).

So (getting down to it here), if Clark Kent and Lois Lane are trespassing and they find something illegal, let's say a drug lab, can they tip off the police and the police get a warrant based on probable cause (Kent/Lane tip?)

But, if Lane & Kent are trespassing, is the fact of the trespass enough to void the presumption of reasonable cause (I'm not sure how to put this, but would it make the tip "not count"?)

And what if the property is abandoned? Can you trespass, by the legal definition, if the property is abandoned?

And, just to make it interesting, what if it's Superman who finds the drug lab by means of X-ray vision? To me this just seems unfair. I would think that using X-ray vision in itself is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

So, if Clark and Lois are trespassing/investigating around and they find a drug lab, can they make a citizen's arrest of the lab guys? You know they'd probably do it, but is it legal? Will it stand up in court?

I remember reading a recent fic (the excellent Veritas by Shayne Terry) where Clark comes to our world and has a conversation with Lois' lawyer about the legal jeopardy that his Superman exploits could land him in. I'd like to quote it but it's a large part of a chapter and really you should go and read the whole fic, anyway.

But that gets me onto a whole topic which was never really addressed on the show - the legal basis behind Superman's citizen's arrests, etc. (No doubt that would have been a *fascinating* topic - *snort*).

Sorry, off on a long tangent here. Basically, my question is as stated above, about the Fourth Amendment.

Any legal beagles out there who can opine?

From my own research (not being a legal eagle either) a tip given to the police (even an anonymous one) could be enough for probable cause for a search warrant under some circumstances. (And a tip from Superman could still be treated as an 'anonymous tip'.)

As to 'citizen arrests' the general advice to people looking to do citizen arrests is to CALL THE COPS.

As to Superman's legal authority - unless he's been deputized he's still a private citizen. As a private citizen he would be allowed to defend people from acts of violence and chances are good the police wouldn't say much if said violent people were detained. (Like a store detective is allowed to detain suspects within the store even though he is not a sworn officer of the law.)

If he were deputized, then it (most likely) would be unlawful for him to use his powers to do searches without a warrant.

As for trespassing - entering property that is not normally open to the public can be considered trespassing. Even an 'abandoned' property has an owner somewhere.

Wikihow has a article on citizen arrests. Like many things it varies per state on details. North Carolina is the only state that seems to forbid them totally and in fact has anti-vigilante laws that will get you arrested for trying.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Citizen\'s-Arrest

North Carolina?

That's interesting since that's where Mayberry was and I can still hear Gomer 'Citizen's ar-rest! Citizen's Ar-rest!'...

Carol