Exclusionary Rule Flashcards
Exclusionary rule
a remedy of American constitutional procedure whereby someone who has been the victim of an illegal search or a coerced confession can have the product of that illegal search or that coerced statement excluded from any subsequent criminal prosecution
Does exclusion apply to grand jury proceedings?
No
May a grand jury witness be compelled to testify based on illegally seized evidence?
Yes
Is exclusion available in civil proceedings?
No
Is exclusion available in parole revocation proceedings?
No.
Does exclusion apply to the use of excluded evidence for impeachment purposes?
No.
May illegally seized evidence be admitted to impeach the credibility of the defendant’s trial testimony?
Yes, but only the defendant’s trial testimony may be impeached, not the testimony of other defense witnesses.
Is exclusion available for violations of the knock and announce rule in the execution of search warrants?
No.
Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine
excludes all evidence obtained or derived from police illegality
Does the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine apply to Miranda violations?
Not unless the police act in bad faith in obtaining such information.
What three ways can the government use to break the chain between an original, unlawful police action and some supposedly derived piece of evidence?
(1) independent source;
(2) inevitable discovery; and
(3) intervening acts of freewill.
May the defendant exclude the witness’s in-court identification on the grounds that it is the fruit of an unlawful detention?
No.
Good faith exception
good faith reliance
4 exceptions to good faith exception
(1) lacking in probable cause
(2) lacking in particularity
(3) lied to or misled
(4) biased
harmless error test
conviction will be upheld if conviction would have resulted despite improper evidence
