Also known as: intervening circumstances · intervening cause
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A subsequent event that dissipates the taint of prior unconstitutional police action under the attenuation doctrine. Courts assess whether the event sufficiently severs the causal link between the illegality and later discovered evidence so that suppression is unwarranted.
Officer Jones unlawfully detained Israel Irving on a hunch near a suspected drug house. A routine warrant check immediately revealed an outstanding arrest warrant for an unrelated traffic matter. The officer arrested Irving on the warrant and found drugs during the search incident to arrest. The preexisting warrant operated as an intervening circumstance that attenuated the taint of the illegal stop.
After an unlawful detention of nurse Lynne at Coastal Therapeutics, two days passed without further police contact. Lynne then appeared at the station with counsel and voluntarily surrendered records and passwords. Her independent, counseled decision constituted an intervening circumstance that dissipated any taint from the earlier detention.
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Police stopped Igor Ito without reasonable suspicion outside an apartment building. Moments later a warrant check disclosed a valid preexisting arrest warrant for a minor offense. The officer arrested Ito on the warrant and recovered methamphetamine during the ensuing search. The warrant discovery served as the intervening circumstance that rendered the evidence admissible.
Isaiah Ishikawa rejected a favorable plea offer on counsel's deficient advice. Before trial the prosecution uncovered new DNA evidence linking Ishikawa to the crime. The emergence of that evidence functioned as an intervening circumstance that would have caused the prosecutor to withdraw the original offer.
Imani Idowu received ineffective assistance when counsel failed to communicate a plea offer. Before any acceptance could occur, the victim recanted key testimony. That recantation counted as an intervening circumstance that would have led the court to reject the original plea agreement.
Officers arrested Isabella Ingram without probable cause and transported her to the station. Several hours later they administered Miranda warnings and obtained a confession. The passage of time combined with the warnings operated as intervening circumstances that attenuated the taint of the unlawful arrest.
Courts weigh temporal proximity between the illegality and the evidence, the presence of intervening circumstances, and the purpose and flagrancy of the official misconduct. A valid preexisting arrest warrant discovered during an unlawful stop strongly favors admissibility when the officer's conduct was merely negligent.
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Yes. When a suspect independently appears at the station with counsel days after an unlawful detention and voluntarily produces records, that counseled choice severs the causal chain and renders the evidence admissible.
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Purposeful or flagrant misconduct weighs heavily in favor of exclusion even when an intervening event occurs. Negligent errors, by contrast, are more readily attenuated by a later lawful event such as the discovery of a valid warrant.
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…So in most instances it should not be difficult to make an objective assessment as to whether or not a particular fact or intervening circumstance would suffice, in the normal course, to cause prosecutorial withdrawal or judicial nonapproval of a plea bargain. The determination that there is or is not a reasonable probability that the…