Also known as:purges · purged · purging · purgation · purgation of contempt
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A process by which evidence or an identification obtained after an initial constitutional violation becomes admissible because intervening events have severed the causal link to the illegality. Courts evaluate attenuation by examining the lapse of time, the presence of independent intervening circumstances, and the flagrancy of the official misconduct.
Sources & Authorities
How it applies
Common Examples
2
Attenuated Confession After Illegal Arrest
Federal agents arrested Pierre Poulin without probable cause and held him for two days. During that time a family member independently contacted police with new information that led agents to a separate witness. The witness then voluntarily identified Poulin in a lineup conducted after his release on bail. Because the lineup identification rested on the intervening family tip rather than the initial unlawful detention, the connection to the arrest had become attenuated and the identification was admissible.
Independent In-Court Identification
Police showed Perry Pratt a single photograph two hours after a robbery. At trial the victim identified Pratt in court. The victim had viewed the robber in good light for several minutes during the crime, gave an accurate description immediately afterward, and expressed high certainty at the confrontation. Those factors established an independent source that purged any taint from the suggestive pretrial display, allowing the in-court identification.
Put it into practice
Test Yourself
10
Practice Questions5
· 2 primary sources
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Cases
Restatements
Hornbooks
Dictionaries
Common questions
Frequently Asked
2
What factors determine whether evidence has been purged of the taint from an illegal search or arrest?+
Courts examine the temporal proximity between the illegality and the discovery of the evidence, the presence of intervening circumstances that break the causal chain, and the flagrancy of the official misconduct. When these factors show that the evidence was obtained by means sufficiently independent of the primary illegality, the taint is dissipated and the evidence may be admitted.
Supporting sources
How does an independent source allow an in-court identification to be admitted after an unconstitutional pretrial identification?+
An in-court identification is admissible if the witness's ability to identify the defendant rests on observations made at the time of the crime rather than on the tainted pretrial procedure. Courts weigh the witness's opportunity to view the perpetrator, degree of attention, accuracy of the prior description, level of certainty at the confrontation, and the time between the crime and the identification.
Supporting sources
Constitutional LawIndividual rights · First Amendment freedomsUBEIntermediate