Also known as: fruits of the poisonous tree · poisonous tree doctrine
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A rule of evidence that bars admission of evidence obtained directly or indirectly from an unconstitutional search or seizure. The doctrine extends the exclusionary rule to derivative evidence resulting from exploitation of the initial illegality unless an exception such as independent source, inevitable discovery, or attenuation of the taint applies.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Environmental officer Dana Cruz secretly placed a sampling device inside ChemTech Corporation's locked outfall pipe without a warrant. Using only data from that device, the agency obtained warrants and seized servers and records. ChemTech moved to suppress the seized materials because they flowed directly from the initial unlawful intrusion.
Agent Perez hacked Malik's home server without a warrant and viewed IP logs. Perez then used those logs to obtain warrants for NimbusCloud records and emails. Malik moved to suppress both the original logs and the later emails as products of the initial constitutional violation.
Investigators obtained incriminating information through an invalid wiretap on a suspect's phone. They used that information to establish probable cause for a later search warrant. The suspect moved to suppress the evidence seized under the warrant because it derived from the unlawful interception.
Detective Leaming questioned Williams without counsel and obtained the location of a child's body. Police later recovered the body at that location. Williams moved to suppress evidence of the body's condition and location as the product of the Sixth Amendment violation.
Officers questioned a suspect without Miranda warnings and obtained an initial statement. A later properly warned statement followed. The defense moved to suppress the second statement as derivative of the initial constitutional violation.
Police obtained an initial confession from Fulminante through coercion by a government informant. Six months later Fulminante made a second confession to the same informant under different circumstances. The defense moved to suppress the second confession as fruit of the earlier violation.
The doctrine originated with Fourth Amendment violations but extends to other constitutional violations that trigger exclusionary rules, such as Sixth Amendment right-to-counsel violations during lineups. Courts apply the same exploitation analysis to determine whether later evidence must be suppressed.
Supporting sources
Courts examine the temporal proximity between the illegality and the discovery of evidence, the presence of intervening circumstances, and the flagrancy of the official misconduct. When these factors show the evidence was obtained by means sufficiently distinguishable from the primary illegality, the taint dissipates and the evidence becomes admissible.
…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…
…by police conduct which overcame his will to resist," id. , at 654.) The next year, the Court again declined to apply the "fruit of the poisonous tree"
…coercive tactics. Under the totality of the circumstances, the Court finds that Defendant’s statements were voluntary. C. Fruit of the Poisonous Tree
…In its initial opinion, the Arizona Supreme Court had determined that the second confession, to Donna Sarivola, was not the "fruit of the poisonous tree
…invalid warrants ( see supra discussion of the wiretap issues and standards for lawful search). Seeking application of the “fruit of the poisonous tree
Supporting sources
No. A warrant does not cleanse the taint if the probable-cause affidavit rests solely or primarily on information obtained through the prior constitutional violation. The independent-source exception applies only when the government can show an untainted basis for the warrant that existed apart from the illegality.
Supporting sources
Property is not fruit of an unlawful seizure when no seizure has yet occurred because the suspect did not submit to a show of authority and fled before any physical restraint. The abandoned item is then treated as discarded property discovered during a lawful pursuit rather than as derivative evidence.
Supporting sources