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D.Utah: Law office search was not overbroad, and "taint team" is constitutional

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

In this law office search case, “[t]here is no evidence to establish that the search team grossly exceeded the scope of the warrant in this case, nor that the search was overly broad as to give rise to constitutional concerns.” The use of a “taint team” protected attorney client communications and was not a constitutional violation. United States v. Mower, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 106927 (D. Utah October 6, 2010): Defendants argue that the government's use of taint teams to protect against the improper intrusion into attorney-client privileged information constitutes a per se intrusion on the attorney-client privilege. While courts have expressed mixed reviews on the appropriateness of the use of taint teams in addressing attorney-client privilege issues, the use of a taint team itself does not constitute an intrusion warranting complete suppression of all evidence seized...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on October 10, 2010 (boomark / email).