Criminal Procedure using WestlawNext Fall 2019

1. Criminal Procedure
Research Project
Westlaw
Creative Commons License
This work by Valerie Lang Waldin, J.D., M.L.S., Associate Professor HVCC is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2. What you are about to see…

3. In Westlaw, there are many ways to get
what you need for this assignment.

4. Instructions:
• 1. Find out what the legal issue is in Mapp v. Ohio,
367 U.S. 643 (1961) (see textbook).

5. This is what you see when you
first open WestlawNext!
The search box is designed like Google
for simplicity.
24/7 assistance

7. Since we know the case citation (367 U.S. 643)
we can simply type that in the search field.

9. Or: type in the case name.

10. When you type in the case name, you will retrieve the case, and also any
cases that have cited (referred to) Mapp v. Ohio.
There are advantages to each approach.

11. In addition to case law, Westlaw provides
law reviews and secondary sources
which INTERPRET Mapp v. Ohio and can
help you identify the legal issue in the
case.
These articles can also help you
determine key words and search terms
you should use when searching for cases
in the state you have chosen.

12. Instructions:
• 2. Obtain your appropriate key word terms and issues from
Mapp v. Ohio. Using these terms, search for cases in the
state that you have chosen.

13. Let’s look at the actual case.

14. These are parallel citations
which means same case, found
in different sources. Professor
Pesca gave you the U.S.
Supreme Court official citation
(367 U.S. 643).
81 S. Ct. 1684 is the SAME case,
Mapp v. Ohio, in a West case
reporter.

15. This is the prior
history of the case,
which describes
what courts heard
the case prior to it
coming before the
U.S. Supreme Court.

16. West Headnotes are
brief summaries of
the main legal issues
and points of law and
in the case.
Headnotes are not
part of the Court’s
official decision; they
are written by West
attorney-editors to
help with case
interpretation.
Very useful!

17. Westlaw tells you how many
cases have “cited” a particular
headnote. For example, 953
cases have referred back to
Mapp v. Ohio for this particular
point of law!

18. From anywhere in Westlaw, you can access
the main scree by clicking on WestlawNext.
So what happens when we run the search
Mapp v. Ohio on the main screen? Remember,
before we searched from “Cases.”

19. The case
The Constitutional
Amendment (IV)
Secondary
sources
to help you
understand the
case

20. Instructions:
• 2. Obtain your appropriate key word terms and issues from
Mapp v. Ohio. Using these terms, search for cases in the
state that you have chosen.

21. Secondary Sources!
In addition to the case itself, check law reviews and ALR
(American Law Reports).
Which search terms do I use?
What are the legal issues…?

22. Back to the main screen
(click on WestlawNext)

25. This ALR article
tells you straight
out what the
legal issue is.
Other ideas
for search
terms…

26. Using these terms…
…search for cases in the state that you have chosen.

29. Some courts located in New Jersey (and in all of the
United States) are federal courts, which is why you see
both Federal and State court listings under New Jersey
(and with every state). It may seem confusing at first,
but it is the U.S. court structure.
Here, you want to choose All New Jersey State Cases.

30. In general,you willsearch thesecourtsmost
often.

32. Note the search
results are
displayed in
“relevance” order.
You can sort by
date or “most
cited” as well.

33. Think about this: “Most cited” means
subsequent (later) cases have
referred back to these cases most
frequently.

34. Instructions:
• 3. Print out the list of cases and citations that match your
key words and terms.

35. To print, click on the arrow
just to the right of the
envelope icon.
Your options are: Email,
Print, Download or send to a
Kindle.
Choose Print.

36. Heads up! You do NOT want to print the full
text of each case!
The instructions read, “Print out the list of cases
and citations that match your key words and
terms.”

37. Instructions:
• 4. Read through the cases and find a case that deals with
the same issue that is in Mapp v. Ohio.
Your challenge now is to find a case that most closely deals with the same
issue that is in Mapp v. Ohio, is reasonably current (though a pivotal case
may be very old), and is still good law.

38. Is the case still good law?
•Is the case I am looking at
still good law?
• While viewing a case with a KeyCite flag, click the flag (if
there IS one).
• No flag = no negative treatment (so far)
• Yellow = CAUTION
• Red = CASE HAS BEEN OVERRULED – DO NOT USE

39. No flag = good law so far - Yellow flag = caution – Red flag = no longer good law
(has been overruled, overturned)
Click on the flag for specific negative history.

40. Just because there is no flag…
• … does not mean this is the best case!
• A case like Roe v. Wade – (Supreme Court of the United
States January 22, 1973 - 410 U.S. 113)
• a very famous U.S. Supreme Court case in the 1970s, has a
yellow flag because some courts have not agreed with
certain aspects of the Court’s ruling – but this case has
been cited over 22,000 times!
• If later cases have ‘cited’ to (referred to) a case thousands
of times, even if there is some negative treatment, this case
is still good law, and very, very important!
• Bottom line: don’t be afraid of cases with yellow flags!

41. Let’s say we
decide this is the
case that deals
closely with the
issue in Mapp v.
Ohio. How did
we decide this?

42. Remember those
“Headnotes”
described earlier.
Headnotes are brief
summaries of the
legal issue(s) in the
case, written by
Westlaw attorney-
editors.

43. To understand
and effectively
BRIEF the case,
you have to
read the case,
not just the
headnotes.
The opinion,
written by the
judge, contains
the facts, the
issue(s) before
the court, the
court’s holding
and rationale.

44. To print, click
on the arrow
just to the right
of the envelope
icon.

46. The print screen
defaults to term
highlighting, including
headnotes and dual
column printing (see
next slide).

47. Dual
column
layout

48. Fact Pattern:
• Jay C is a suspected methamphetamine manufacturer and
seller in the small town of Clear Lake. The police think Jay C
keeps drugs and paraphernalia in his truck.
• While Jay C is at work, the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Dept.
walks a K9 drug dog by Jay C’s truck, without a warrant. The
dog immediately detects illegal substances and Jay C is
arrested for criminal possession of methamphetamine
manufacturing material.

49. Legal Issue:
• If a K9 is used to walk by an automobile the police suspect
might have drugs in it, is that a search without a warrant?

53. Here we are approaching the
legal issue with natural
language searching.

55. Things to think about…
• As with the prior example, this is the challenge, once you have
formulated your search technique. It is a balancing act
between:
• Is the case most closely deals with my legal issue?
• Is the case still good law?
• Is there a more recent case close to my fact pattern?

56. Connectors and Expanders
Before jumping in and deciding that natural language is your best bet for retrieving search results,
remember correct Boolean searching produces accurate results that you can compare to your natural
language search results.
& AND
/s In same sentence
Or OR
+s Preceding within sentence
/p In same paragraph
" " Phrase
+p Preceding within paragraph
% But not
/n Within n terms of
! Root expander
+n Preceding within n terms of
* Universal character
The idea is to
anticipate the
language the
judge may use.

57. Concepts:
• Canine or dog or K9
• Auto or automobile or car or vehicle or truck
• 4th Amendment or Search and Seizure or Right to Privacy
• Search Warrant
• (k9 or dog or canine) & (auto! or car or vehicle or truck) &
("4th amendment" or "search and seizure" or "right to
privacy") & "search warrant"

62. Notice we retrieved
19 more cases on
this topic with
Boolean searching!
This is a perfect
example of why you
should not rely
solely on natural
language searching.

63. YOU CAN DO IT!
Ask for help. Ask a Librarian or call 1.800.REF.ATTY