What Is the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine?
The fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine is a law that details which evidence can and cannot be used in a court of law. It comes from a Biblical phrase and means any evidence obtained illegally is tainted and therefore inadmissible in court.
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Biblical Background
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Matthew 7:17-18 says, "Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit." This phrase is applied to the law in this doctrine.
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Tainted Evidence
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If a bad tree always yields bad fruit, then a bad source always yields bad evidence. This is the theory behind the fruit of the poisoned tree doctrine.
Illegal Means
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If police obtain evidence through illegal means, then that evidence is tainted. The evidence cannot be used in a court of law.
Examples
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If a police officer performs an illegal search of someone's property and finds a murder weapon in that search, the murder weapon generally cannot be used in a trial. Because the weapon was found as the result of an illegal search, it is thought to be tainted evidence and must be excluded.
Legal Origins
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In Silverthorne Lumber Company vs. the United States (1920), this doctrine was upheld when the government conducted an illegal search and found documents that incriminated the owner of a lumber company.
References
- Photo Credit "Boalt Hall Lecture Hall" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: umjanedoan under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
