Exclusionary Rule when arrest warrant outstanding
What is the exclusionary rule? Generally, evidence that is obtained illegally (usually by search and seizure) is not admissible in Court. This is known as the exclusionary rule. So how does the exclusionary rule apply when there is an arrest warrant outstanding? On Monday, June 20, 2016 the Supreme Court court took another slice out of the 4th Amendment in Utah v. Strieff, holding that if the police violate the Constitution by stopping someone without suspicion, if the person has an arrest warrant the police are still entitled to search him. In the Utah v. Strieff case, at the trial level prosecutors conceded that police officer lacked reasonable articulable suspicion to condcut an investigation of the Defendant. The Court held that the evidence seized during the detention should not be excluded when there is an existence of a valid arrest warrant with an “attenuated the connection between the unlawful stop and the discovery of the contraband.
How this Applies to Most People
If a warrant has been taken out for even a traffic ticket this will entitle the police to search you. The District of Columbia the bench warrant database and the State of Maryland bench warrant database is huge. As stated by dissenting opinion Justice Sonia Sotomayor, “The court today holds that the discovery of a warrant for an unpaid parking ticket will forgive a police officer’s violation of your Fourth Amendment rights.”