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Vindictive and Selective Prosecution

A prosecutor may violate a defendant's due process rights if they are using their decision to prosecute the defendant for purposes of retaliation.

Search and Seizure - An Overview

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution has been the subject of thousands of legal opinions. The Fourth Amendment guarantees that all people in the United States shall be free from unreasonable government searches. The Fourth Amendment provides: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Larceny and Conversion of Government Property

Larceny or the theft of government property is a federal offense. In order to prove the crime; the prosecution mustprove the following: A wrongful taking or carrying away of property; the property belonged to the United States; the defendant took the property without the consent of the United States; the defendant had the intent to deprive the United States of the property.

Criminal Law Basics

A criminal case arises when either the federal or state government seeks to punish an individual for an act that is a crime. Whereas a civil case typically deals with a dispute over rights and duties that individuals and entities owe to one another.

Joinder of Offenses

If a defendant is charged with multiple offenses, the prosecution may file a motion to join the offenses in order for the defendant to be tried in a single proceeding. Although some prejudice may result from permitting the joinder of offenses, the judicial economy of joinder may outweigh any potential prejudice a jury may have if the defendant is charged with more than one offense. It is within a trial court's discretion to grant or deny a motion to join offenses. The defendant may also request to join her offenses; however most often the prosecution is the party seeking the join the defendant's offenses.