Defendants: Exclusionary Rule

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Because almost all defendants charged with crimes are in fact guilty, they have few legitimate ways to defend against the charges. Defendants' first line of defense in a great many cases is to try to suppress the evidence of their guilt. To do that, they have to find some misstep by police that would require the court to exclude incriminating evidence.

There are various exclusionary rules under the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments, but the one people generally have in mind when they use the term "exclusionary rule" is the one that applies to evidence obtained by a search or seizure that doesn't comply with the Fourth Amendment case law. This exclusionary rule has applied in federal court since 1914 (Weeks v. U.S.), and to all …show more content…

The Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the obtaining of information revealed to a third party [such as a bank or utility] and conveyed by him to government authorities." (U.S. v. Miller)

Vehicle Passengers

Only the driver or owner of a vehicle will generally have "standing" to challenge a search of the vehicle. Often, a search of a stopped vehicle will yield evidence implicating a non-owner passenger, and the passenger will want to suppress this evidence. However, even if the search cannot be justified on any basis, the passenger still cannot invoke the exclusionary rule.

When the passenger of a stopped car tried to suppress evidence found inside incriminating him in a robbery, the court said this: "Fourth Amendment rights are personal rights which may not be vicariously asserted. The glove compartment, area under the seat and trunk of an automobile are areas in which a passenger simply would not normally have a legitimate expectation of privacy." (Rakas v. Illinois)

Another's …show more content…

On trash collection day, they went through plastic garbage bags he had put out for collection. Based on what they found, officers obtained a warrant to search Greenwood's home, where they located additional evidence. Greenwood and his codefendants moved to suppress, arguing that they had an expectation that police would not go through people's trash. Although California courts bought this argument and ordered suppression of the evidence, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed, saying the following: "Respondents exposed their garbage to the public sufficiently to defeat their claim to Fourth Amendment protection." (California v. Greenwood)

Co-conspirators

Just because several crooks may be involved in a joint criminal enterprise does not give each of them "standing" to challenge a search or seizure that affects only the Fourth Amendment rights of another conspirator. In U.S. v. Padilla, several drug distributors hired a "mule" to drive a large quantity of narcotics across Arizona by himself. Following a vehicle stop and search that uncovered the drugs and the conspiracy, all defendants moved to suppress on the grounds of unlawful vehicle stop and search. The Ninth Circuit tried to extend "standing" to all conspirators, but the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed.

Said the court, "A defendant can urge the suppression of evidence only if he demonstrates that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated by the challenged

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