Major Change in Law

[judith_s]

In a rather significant departure from precedent, the Supreme Court held in a 5-4 decision that if the police fails to obey the knock & announce rule (knock & wait for enough time for someone to reach the door before knocking it down), it will not exclude the evidence they find. Apparently fruit of the poisonous tree is just fine to eat now.

The analysis in Scalia's majority opinion hints at some major future changes. According to the opinion, the key query is not whether the law was obeyed but whether "the interest that a constitutional right serves will, in fact, be directly advanced by barring the evidence obtained from a violation of that right." Here the interest according to the court is "not to be caught in your nightgown." And since excluding the evidence doesn't advance that right, the evidence is not excluded.

Short summary: exclusionary rule has been gutted. Expect more doors to be broken down in the near future.

Comments

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

Here the interest according to the court is "not to be caught in your nightgown." And since excluding the evidence doesn't advance that right

Well, actually since police are more likely to break down your door and catch you in your nightgown in this case, excluding the evidence *does* advance that right.

[judith-s.livejournal.com]

I don't disagree with you, I was merely reporting on the Supreme Court majority opinion's justification. Apparently the fact that you can sue them in civil court is enough deterent, and we no longer need to have an exclusionary rule. I'm expecting tortured confession exclusions & the Miranda warnings to be gutted next.