Search and Seizure Principles
Searches and seizures must be "reasonable." Reasonableness is determined by appellate courts, must notably, the U.S. Supreme Court. If searches aren't reasonable, the typical remedy is for the trial court to "suppress" the evidence in question, meaning that the prosecution can't use it against the defendant.
Learn when the government can invade your privacy to hunt for evidence of a crime.
If officers violate your Fourth Amendment rights through a mistake, the evidence they find may nevertheless be admissible.
Fruit of the poisonous tree includes evidence gathered from just about any kind of police conduct that violates a defendant’s constitutional rights. The original evidence is inadmissible in court and so is any derivative evidence—unless an exception exists.
The Bill of Rights comprises the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Your right to privacy when the police come knocking, pull you over, or stop you on the street.
American courts use the exclusionary rule to deter police officers and other government agents from abusing constitutional rights.
A motion to suppress evidence is a request by a defendant that the judge exclude certain evidence from trial.
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