NCJ Number
141967
Journal
American Journal of Criminal Law Volume: 20 Issue: 1 Dated: (Fall 1992) Pages: 79-103
Date Published
1992
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the inevitable discovery exception to the exclusionary rule concludes that lower courts have expanded this exception beyond what the United States Supreme Court envisioned in its 1984 decision in Nix v. Williams and that this expansion has seriously affected both the vitality of the exclusionary rule and the search warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment.
Abstract
Unlike other recent exceptions to the exclusionary rule, the inevitable discovery exception is speculative. It allows the government to use secondary evidence resulting from an illegal investigation (the fruit of the poisonous tree) it can show that an independent or alternative investigation would have led to the evidence in question. However, the independent investigation only hypothetically, not actually, leads to the evidence. Other courts have expanded this exception to include primary as well as secondary evidence. They have also applied the exception even if it effectively eliminates the incentive to obtain a search warrant and have usually taken this approach without discussion. Given the Supreme Court's lack of sensitivity to these issues, expansions to the inevitable discovery exception are likely to continue. Footnotes