"The criminal is to go free because the constable has blundered." Judge Cardozo famously rejected the federal exclusionary rule for New York courts in People v. Defore, 242 N.Y. 13, 21 (1926). He noted that the principle suggested by the defendant would apply even in the case of the discovery of the body of a murder victim. Id., at 23-24. Defore was not a murderer, but neither was his crime "victimless." He was a thief.
Do you have a favorite exclusionary rule horror story? I am collecting verifiable examples of people guilty of violent crimes getting away with them because of the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule, Weeks v. United States and Mapp v. Ohio. To share your story, add a comment to this post or email with the link after the jump.
Do you have a favorite exclusionary rule horror story? I am collecting verifiable examples of people guilty of violent crimes getting away with them because of the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule, Weeks v. United States and Mapp v. Ohio. To share your story, add a comment to this post or email with the link after the jump.
By "verifiable," I mean the facts and outcome are recited in a citable source. Published court opinions are preferred, but newspaper articles will do.
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This link will send email to a temporary address that forwards to my real address.
I don't post my real email address on the Internet because spammers' robots harvest them.
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