We are in person at the 2024 Animal Forensic Conference in Gainesville, Florida! Dr. G will be interviewing several of the speakers to give our audience a bit of the knowledge gained through the presentations. We will be releasing each interview individually to allow our listeners to find topics of interest.

We all have rights against illegal search and seizure, but how are our rights leveled with victim rights and what can officers do to ensure that evidence collected is allowed in trial? Prosecutor Lauryn Day asnwers these questions and gives advice on how to help build a strong case.

We would also like to invite our listeners involved in animal cruelty investigations to visit and join the International Society for Animal Forensic Sciences https://isafs.org/

Mentioned in this episode:

Keep it Humane Podcast Network

The Animal Welfare Junction is part of the Keep It Humane Podcast Network. Visit keepithumane.com/podcastnetwork to find us and our amazing animal welfare podcast partners.

Our first guest for the second day is Animal Cruelty Unit Chief Lauren Day.

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Thank you so very much for

being here at The Junction.

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Lauryn Day: Thank you for having me.

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DrG: So let's start with your background.

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What your studies were, what

brought you here, and how your

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field relates to animal forensics.

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Lauryn Day: Sure, so I, um, went to

NC State University for undergrad.

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I got my Bachelor of Science

in Animal Science, thought I

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wanted to be a veterinarian.

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Kind of realized at the last minute,

didn't want to do that, but still

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kept my Bachelor's program the same.

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And, um, I had always wanted to get,

you know, a graduate level degree.

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And so basically at that point,

the, or the options were, you

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know, law school, medical school,

any of those types of things.

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But law school was the only one that

didn't have certain prerequisites

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that I wouldn't have to like do a

victory lap in undergrad to get.

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So I applied to law school and

ended up going to Florida State.

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While I was there at Florida State, um,

in law school, I did a lot of mock trial,

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fell in love with that, and that led me

to prosecution, becoming an assistant

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state attorney for the Ninth Circuit.

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That's how I started my career, that's

where I've been for the last seven years.

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And everything was kind of able to

come full circle because my passion

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as a prosecutor was victim crimes, sex

crimes, child abuse, domestic violence.

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Um, those types of things, and

of course crimes against animals.

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We had an animal cruelty unit established

at the office, I asked to join it, um,

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I found that my background in animal

science allowed me to have a different

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perspective on the cases because I was

familiar with necropsy, I was familiar

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with a lot of the terms that the

veterinarians used, I had worked as a

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vet tech so I could easily spot neglect

and not have to convince somebody about

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that, like some of the other attorneys

who maybe even never even owned an animal.

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Um, and so that's kind of how

everything was able to come full circle.

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I'm able to use my degree in animal

science in prosecuting the animal crimes.

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And then I currently prosecute all of

our high profile, um, or torture cases.

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And then I supervise the attorneys in

our unit for all of the other general

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felony or misdemeanor animal crimes.

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DrG: So you're very well poised

to manage cases related to like

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the link, right, between animal

cruelty and interpersonal violence.

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Yes.

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That's great.

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And I mean, I can relate a little

bit because I've always been

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interested in criminology, but

I wanted to be a veterinarian.

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Yeah.

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So I'm kind of a little

bit backwards, right?

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Yeah.

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So I decided to go through the vet

school and everything else, and then

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once the field of veterinary forensic

started growing, then I figured, hey,

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this is the perfect like merge for me.

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The perfect meld.

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Yeah.

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That I can be kind of a criminologist,

but still be a veterinarian.

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Definitely.

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So that's kind of cool.

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So your topic today was on, uh,

issuing warrants and informed consent.

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So I think that there's a, how do

you say, a lack of understanding

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of people of what these terms mean.

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So can you discuss what is informed

consent and what is a warrant?

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Lauryn Day: Sure.

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So every person in our country

has the right to be, um, free from

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an unreasonable search procedure.

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What that basically means at its

very basic level is we all have this,

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Fourth Amendment right, that police

officers can't search me, they can't

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search my car, my house, any of my,

you know, private areas where I have my

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expectation of privacy unless they have

a warrant, which is based on probable

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cause that I've committed a crime.

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And therefore they need to

search me, which is considered

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like an arrest warrant as well.

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So search me or search my property or

take my things because they have probable

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cause that I've committed a crime.

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Informed consent is an exception

to the warrant requirement.

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So at the very base level, we all

have our Fourth Amendment right.

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You cannot search us.

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You can't take our things

unless you have a warrant.

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Or, unless I consent to that, and I

have to have an informed consent where I

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knowingly and voluntarily say, yes, you

may search me, you may search my house,

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my car, you may take whatever that you

find in that search, and I am openly

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and voluntarily consenting to that.

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So, the, the difference in the two is that

consent is just one of the many exceptions

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to police having to have a warrant in

order to search you or take your things.

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DrG: So what are the other

exceptions to not needing a warrant?

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Lauryn Day: So, the other exceptions are

if If officers are in a place where they

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are lawfully allowed to be, which we say

is anywhere that any other citizen is

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allowed to be, and they can see things

in plain sight, evidence of a crime

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in plain sight, that's an exception.

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You don't need a warrant for that.

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So for example, if we are at a stoplight,

I'm in my car, an officer is in their

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patrol car, I've got my windows down

and I'm snorting cocaine off my steering

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wheel, and they can clearly see that

just like an ordinary citizen would

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be able to see it, then, you know,

they wouldn't need a warrant to stop,

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to stop me and, and to search my car

or to take my cocaine from me, right?

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Um, and so plain sight

is one of the exceptions.

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Um, another exception is what we call

exigent circumstances or things that

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are emergencies where there's no time to

get a warrant because of the emergency.

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A lot of times we think of, you know, fast

and furious or hot pursuit of a fleeing

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felon if somebody's fleeing and they're a

felon, you don't need a warrant to go and

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arrest them for that or chase them down.

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Um, so hot pursuit is an exception.

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Um, welfare checks are an exception and

then imminent destruction of evidence.

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So if somebody is, you know, flushing,

Uh, drugs down the toilet, those

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types of things where you're trying to

prevent the destruction of evidence.

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There's other exceptions

to the warrant requirement.

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There's many of them.

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Like, I could probably

name eight or nine of them.

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But other ones are like kids

who are in public school.

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They don't have the same

expectation of privacy.

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And so you can search a backpack.

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Schools can search backpacks.

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Or they can do, you know, those

metal detector searches for public

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safety, like border patrol or in

the airport with the, with the dogs.

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All these other things are.

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Um, if you're on probation or you're a

parolee, again, you're, you can have a

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warrantless search of your, of yourself or

your property because you're on probation

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and you're in that special status.

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So there's many exceptions to

the warrant requirement, consent

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and, and exigent circumstances.

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And then plain view are

just the most popular ones.

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DrG: And plain view is basically

something that can be seen

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from a public area, right?

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So like if you're, if you're going to

somebody's house and peeking over a

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fence, then that's not going to meet.

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That's not going to constitute plain view.

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Lauryn Day: Correct.

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Correct.

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Yeah, an ordinary person wouldn't

be able to just go up to the side of

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your backyard fence and put a stool

up and jump over, you know, and look

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over and see what you got going on.

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That's not going to be

considered plain view.

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DrG: So what are the issues if somebody

does a warrantless search and it's found

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that it was not performed properly?

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Lauryn Day: So the thing that happens

with that is there's It's probably

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going to be a motion to suppress if the

person's already been formally charged.

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Defense, their defense attorney

should file a motion to suppress

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that their Fourth Amendment rights

were violated, we litigate that.

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If they were in fact violated, then a

judge can and should suppress the evidence

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in that case by, Um, which means we are

not allowed to talk about it, introduce

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it, you know, if it was the cocaine, the

cocaine's not coming into evidence at

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the trial, it's going to be suppressed.

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If it's a confession because of something

else, that's going to be suppressed,

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nobody can mention the confession.

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Which materially alters kind

of the direction of the, of the

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state's presentation of the case.

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Sometimes it's dispositive, which

means, you know, If you throw out

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all my cocaine and it's a possession

of cocaine case, I'm probably

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going to have to drop the case now.

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Um, but sometimes it's not.

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If it's, you know, they're suppressing

one thing but not another thing, the

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case may still be able to move forward.

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DrG: What are the steps that officers

should take in obtaining a warrant

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and what should be included in it?

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Lauryn Day: First, they need to have

probable cause, so they need to have

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a reasonable belief that a crime has,

um, been committed or being committed.

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And that probable cause is supported

by certain facts that they've observed.

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It can be based, um, on hearsay, so

maybe anonymous tips or things that

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other people have informed officers.

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Oh yeah, I saw.

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You know, Lauren over there doing

this on this day and time that can

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be in the affidavit for a warrant.

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Um, so any facts and any evidence

that they have at that point that

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brings them the probable cause that

the crime is being committed needs

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to be included in the affidavit.

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And it also has to be sworn to by a

person who has the same authority.

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So a sworn officer or the statute says

attorney for the government as well.

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So anybody who has that sworn capacity

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DrG: I know that some officers, uh,

think about the things to include

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in the warrant because there are

things that we don't think about

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as far as above and below ground or

animals that are, have not been born.

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Right.

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So, uh, what, what's the importance

of having those details in there?

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Lauryn Day: The more details, the

better, the more details, the better.

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It's really important to think

about all the things that

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are unique to animal cases.

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Um, and at least in our jurisdiction,

our animal control officers don't have

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the they're not sworn so they can't

write warrants so they have to rely

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on a deputy or an officer to write

a warrant and they have to work with

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them to, you know, make sure that

they include all of those things.

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Just like you said, any animals that

may not be born yet, um, anything

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above or below ground and also

things that are very particular.

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to the cases that a judge may

not otherwise think is important,

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like a treadmill, right?

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If you're, if you're dealing with, you

know, conditioning dogs, a judge may

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say, why do you need to take a treadmill?

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But we know that that's something

that they do to condition the

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dogs for certain dog fighting

operations or breeding operations.

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You know, a rape stand to the naked eye,

it doesn't really look like anything

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to a person who's unfamiliar with it.

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And so including all of those

things in those descriptions, um,

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in the warrant for the judge will

just make it much easier, much less

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litigation for us on the back end.

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Because if they take a treadmill,

a defense attorney might be

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like, you took a treadmill.

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What was the point of that?

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You know, but that's something that would

be considered maybe paraphernalia for us.

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So the more the better.

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DrG: A lot of people get really upset

when, um, When cases of suspected

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animal cruelty are not prosecuted.

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And I think that they don't understand

that just thinking that somebody

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did something, you know, like, Fifi

that has not had water or whatever,

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go ahead and send them to jail.

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But they don't understand.

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So what are the, what are the

factors that need to be there for

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you to be able to prosecute a case?

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Lauryn Day: So one thing that I always

say is, you know, officers operate

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from probable cause and we have to

operate from beyond a reasonable doubt.

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And so even sometimes, even if there

is probable cause, there's not beyond

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a reasonable doubt because there is

reasonable doubt there to things.

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And we also have to charge

based on all the elements.

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When I do my training with the officers,

I find it really helpful to tell them

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look at the jury instructions, look at

what I have to prove, so you can see

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I have to prove element 1, 2, 3, 4.

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Go get me some evidence to

prove element 1, 2, 3, 4.

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Um, I also try to train on the common

defenses so you can also try to

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combat that in your investigation.

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Like we already know this

person saying I didn't have the

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money to take them to the vet.

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Go try to get some evidence to

show that they did have the money.

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Um, or get the vet

records or lack thereof.

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You know, get a sworn

statement from a vet that says.

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They, they said they

have an appointment here.

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We've never had this person ever, you

know, call here and make an appointment.

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That appointment's not on the books.

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Even omissions can

assist us in those cases.

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So the more evidence, the better,

and really comparing it with the

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elements that we have to prove

on our end is really helpful.

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A lot of times we get cases where,

you know, it's definitely there

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for maybe one or two elements,

but that third one is lacking.

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There just isn't enough

evidence for that one.

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And we have so many cases.

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We don't always have the time

to go back with the officers and

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say, Hey, I need X, Y, and Z.

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We also have to go against

certain timelines and deadlines,

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which I don't think that law

enforcement always keeps in mind.

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That we have speedy trial deadlines, we

have statute of limitation deadlines, and

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the minute somebody's arrested, that clock

is ticking, which also puts a big strain

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on things and sometimes it's just like,

you know, I really needed this, but my,

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my time is up and now I can't file it.

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It's not to say that maybe we

couldn't have, but the time expired,

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we didn't get what we needed.

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DrG: The audience for

this podcast is very broad.

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So there are people that are just

animal lovers and animal advocates.

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And I know that people will, it's so

emotionally charged that people see an

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animal behind a fence and they don't

see food or they don't see shelter.

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And they're like, I'm going to

jump over and take that animal.

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So what would you say

to these individuals?

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Lauryn Day: I would say, I

understand where you're coming

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from, even as a prosecutor and

this, you know, type of, of crime.

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I see those things too, you know,

and I see things on Facebook.

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I see things in my own neighborhood

and I so desperately want to get

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on my computer and charge that

person with a crime, but I can't.

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All right.

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There are rules in place because even

if you try to be a good Samaritan

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and you try to go do the right thing,

you're not It could still backfire.

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We could totally lose a case

because of your interference.

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The best thing to do is

just follow the protocols.

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As flawed as they may be, they're

there for a reason to try to streamline

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everything and keep everything

consistent so we don't lose cases

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and people don't get animals returned

to them who shouldn't have animals.

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Call animal control.

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Call the police.

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Do what, do, you know, do things

the right way so that we can kind of

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protect the system and protect the

evidence the best way we know how.

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DrG: Excellent.

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Well, thank you so much for talking

to us and sharing your information

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and thank you for everything that

you're doing for the animals.

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Lauryn Day: Thank you so much.

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This is fun.