Was the arrest of Mayo a legal arrest? Discuss why. Please include the components of a reasonable arrest and whether or not they were met with Mayo.

Mayo’s arrest was a legal, the officers’ action to arrest Mayo can be justified based on probable cause and reasonable suspicion. I have mentioned probable cause because whomever called 911, gave a synopsis of what the call was about, the witnesses to the crime have already informed the dispatcher of what the officers might encounter when arrive on scene; plus, the eye witnesses accounts through their statements, provide the officer with the whole story from their views of what actually happened. Upon arrival of the officers at the location, they have learned that Mayo and Scowen were in a heated argument over money owed by Mayo, Scowen being intoxicated menaced Mayo with a beer bottle which Mayo felt threaten and shot Scowen, all this is fact to legally arrest Mayo. The component of arrest in this case would be the fact that the officers had reasonable ground to believe that Mayo had shot and killed Scowen.

2) Did law enforcement need an arrest warrant prior to arresting Mayo? Discuss why. Make sure to support your thoughts.

On a regular basis, responding officers do not walk around with warrants in their pockets, they act according to the situation they are dealing with. In this instance, when officers arrived on scene, there was a victim on the floor shot dead and there was Mayo in possession of a firearm, the witnesses corroborate the officers reasonable suspicion of what has taken place. Warrants are usually issued based on an investigation, therefore, if Mayo was not at the scene of the crime when the officers arrived, they would have taken the witness statements and get a warrant for his arrest but since he was at the crime scene and all the witnesses painted him as the perpetrator, a warrant was not needed prior to his arrest.

3) Can law enforcement seize the broken beer bottle and the gun without a search warrant?

The officers did not need a warrant prior to arresting Mayo because of two exemptions, the plain view doctrine, where the victim can clearly be seen laying on the ground dead and the search incident to arrest exemption, which allowed them to enter and search the premises for evidence

respond to this discussion question in 100 words