Also known as: attenuation exceptions · attenuated exception · attenuation doctrine · fruit of the poisonous tree exception
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An exception to the exclusionary rule that permits admission of evidence obtained after unconstitutional police conduct when the causal connection between the illegality and the evidence has become sufficiently remote. The doctrine examines temporal proximity between the misconduct and the discovery of evidence, the presence of intervening circumstances, and the purpose and flagrancy of the official misconduct.
Officer Lang stopped Devin on a pier without reasonable suspicion. Running Devin's identification revealed a preexisting valid arrest warrant from another jurisdiction. Lang arrested Devin on the warrant and found narcotics in a duffle bag during the search incident to arrest. The valid warrant served as an intervening circumstance that broke the causal chain despite the brief time between the stop and the search.
Officers arrested Brown without probable cause and took him to the station. Brown received Miranda warnings and made incriminating statements several hours later. The statements were offered at trial. The absence of any significant intervening event and the close temporal link left the taint of the unlawful arrest intact.
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Officer Fackrell stopped Strieff on the street without reasonable suspicion. A records check revealed an outstanding arrest warrant unrelated to the stop. Fackrell arrested Strieff on the warrant and discovered drugs during the ensuing search. The preexisting warrant constituted an intervening circumstance that attenuated the taint of the initial stop.
Courts weigh temporal proximity between the unconstitutional conduct and the discovery of evidence, the presence of intervening circumstances, and the purpose and flagrancy of the official misconduct. Purposeful or flagrant misconduct weighs strongly against attenuation.
Supporting sources
No. The warrant must be valid, preexisting, and unconnected to the stop. The officer's conduct must also be at most negligent rather than purposeful or flagrant. When those conditions are met the warrant functions as an intervening circumstance that breaks the causal chain.
Supporting sources
Close temporal proximity between the illegality and the discovery of evidence weighs against attenuation. It is only one factor, however, and can be outweighed by a strong intervening circumstance such as a valid preexisting warrant combined with non-flagrant police conduct.
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…of this statement could be allowed only by overruling Wong Sun rests either on an overly restrictive interpretation of the attenuation doctrine, to which I cannot subscribe, or on its view that the arrest was made for investigatory purposes, a factual determination that I think more appropriately should have been left for decision…