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Exclusionary rule serves no purpose where defendant accused of assaulting officer during illegal search

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Exclusionary rule serves no purpose where the defendant assaults an officer during an illegal search. State v. Lusby, 2008 Ida. App. LEXIS 57 (June 5, 2008): The rationale of these decisions is that, although officers may have conducted an unconstitutional search or seizure, a subsequent attack on the officer is a new crime unrelated to any prior illegality. Because there has been no exploitation of the officer's unconstitutional conduct, the purpose of the exclusionary rule--to deter police misconduct--would not be advanced by suppressing evidence of the attack on the officer. As observed by the North Carolina Supreme Court in State v. Miller, 282 N.C. 633, 194 S.E.2d 353, 358 (N.C. 1973), "Application of the exclusionary rule in such fashion would in effect give the victims of illegal searches [or seizures] a license to assault and murder the officers involved--a result manifestly unacceptable...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on June 09, 2008 (boomark / email).