Also known as: derivative evidence · fruit of the poisonous tree · exclusionary rule derivative
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An evidentiary doctrine that extends the exclusionary rule to bar admission of evidence obtained directly or indirectly through exploitation of an initial constitutional violation.
Coast Guard investigator Dana Boyd boarded a docked cargo vessel owned by Harborline Shipping without a warrant or consent and opened sealed containers to record their numbers and routing information. Using those details, agents obtained formal boarding orders and search warrants that led to discovery of contraband aboard the vessel. Harborline moved to suppress the contraband as evidence derived from the initial unlawful entry.
Officers arrested Delilah Duran without probable cause and took her to the station. Several hours later, after she had been released and returned home, Duran voluntarily contacted the police and led them to a hidden cache of narcotics. Duran moved to suppress the narcotics on the ground that they were obtained through exploitation of the unlawful arrest.
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After an unlawful interrogation, officers learned the location of a murder victim's body from Diego Duarte. Search teams were already closing in on the same remote area through an independent, ongoing grid search that would have reached the site within hours. Duarte moved to suppress the body and related forensic evidence as fruit of the improper questioning.
Federal agents intercepted calls between members of a drug conspiracy without satisfying all statutory prerequisites. The recordings revealed plans to import narcotics through Duarte Shipping. Agents used the calls to obtain further evidence against the participants, who moved to suppress the derivative importation records.
Officers questioned Damian Decker at length without providing Miranda warnings and obtained an incriminating statement. The same statement was later repeated after proper warnings were given. Decker moved to suppress the second statement as derivative evidence flowing from the initial unwarned interrogation.
Agents equipped a cooperating informant with a concealed transmitter and recorded conversations with Destiny Davis in her home without a warrant. The recordings led agents to additional physical evidence hidden at a second location. Davis moved to suppress the physical evidence as the product of the warrantless electronic surveillance.
The rule applies to both physical evidence and testimonial statements obtained through exploitation of an initial constitutional violation.
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Evidence remains admissible if obtained through an independent source, if discovery was inevitable, or if the connection to the illegality has become sufficiently attenuated.
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A later warrant does not automatically purge the taint. The warrant affidavit must rest on information wholly independent of the illegality. Otherwise the resulting evidence is still derivative and subject to suppression.
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Courts consider the temporal proximity between the illegality and the acquisition of evidence, the presence of intervening circumstances, and the flagrancy of the official misconduct.
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Yes. When officers exceed the permissible scope or duration of a detention of luggage or other property, any evidence discovered as a result is subject to suppression as fruit of the poisonous tree.
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…discovery exception to the exclusionary rule. Williams contends that evidence of the body's location and condition is "fruit of the poisonous tree," i. e. , the "fruit" or product of Detective Leaming's plea to help the child's parents give her "a Christian burial," which this Court had already held equated to interrogation. He…