CONSTITUTIONAL

According to Art. 1, § 6 of the Revised Constitution of American Samoa, does not state that the term “infamous crime” includes only the crimes of murder and rape and excludes all other crimes. A plain reading of this provision of the Revised Constitution suggests that the crimes of rape and murder are merely examples of the much larger category of “infamous crimes.” The term “infamous crime” is contained in the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which requires an indictment to hold a person “to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime.” Because of the close nexus between the United States and American Samoa Constitutions, the federal definition of “infamous crime” is the intended definition of “infamous crime” in Art. I, § 6 of the Revised Constitution. “[I]nfamous crimes” includes, among other things, those crimes for which one may be imprisoned for more than one year. First degree assault, possession of a controlled substance, and the production of a controlled substance are “infamous crime[s]” which are not bailable under the Revised Constitution if, a) the presumption is great that the Defendant committed the crime, and, b) releasing the Defendant will constitute a danger to the community. A.S.G. v. Samana, 1 A.S.R.3d 166 (1997).

The Revised Constitution requires the Court to determine whether the Defendant is a threat to society, and does not require the heightened standard of proof by “clear and convincing” evidence. A.S.G. v. Samana, 1 A.S.R.3d 166 (1997).

Article I, Sec. 5 of the Revised Constitution of American Samoa, which guarantees the right of individuals "to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures", protects only those with a legitimate expectation of privacy with respect to the area searched. A.S.G. v. Atafua, 1 A.S.R.3d 174 (1997).

Article I, § 5 of the Revised Constitution of American Samoa guarantees the right of individuals "to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." A.S.G. v. Dunham, 1 A.S.R.3d 176 (1997).

Article I, § 5 of the Revised Constitution of American Samoa attaches privacy rights only to those individuals who have legitimate expectations of privacy with respect to the searched area. A.S.G. v. Dunham, 1 A.S.R.3d 176 (1997).

Where search at issue took place in the bush, and defendant neither asserted nor demonstrated that he had a property or possessory interest in area, he had no standing to complain of warrantless search. A.S.G. v. Dunham, 1 A.S.R.3d 176 (1997).

Had police violated another individual’s constitutional rights in conducting warrantless search, such violation would not justify exclusion of the seized evidence against the named defendant. A.S.G. v. Dunham, 1 A.S.R.3d 176 (1997).

Article I, section 3, of the Revised Constitution of American Samoa, which shields Samoans from “alienation of their land and destruction of the Samoan way of life and language,” does not prohibit the alienation of communal land to other Samoans, nor does it limit the categories of Samoan land ownership. Mailei v. Faumuina, 1 A.S.R.3d 206 1997).