8.18 - E. Hearing On Motion To Suppress Tangible Evidence

• Jurisdiction: New York

E. Hearing on Motion to Suppress Tangible
Evidence¹⁵⁶³

A Mapp¹⁵⁶⁴ hearing concerns the admissibility of physical evidence or contraband (e.g., illegal weapons or drugs) obtained by law enforcement officers pursuant to a search and seizure. Under the judicially created exclusionary rule,¹⁵⁶⁵ where a search¹⁵⁶⁶ and seizure¹⁵⁶⁷ is made in violation of an individual’s constitutional rights, the property seized cannot be introduced as evidence against the individual at a trial¹⁵⁶⁸ if suppression of the material seized may help deter future unlawful police conduct.¹⁵⁶⁹ In this context it is worth noting that although a statement which is taken in violation of an individual’s Miranda rights will be suppressed,¹⁵⁷⁰ physical evidence obtained as “fruits” of such a statement will not.¹⁵⁷¹ Unlike unreasonable searches under the Fourth Amendment or actual violations of the Fifth Amendment’s due process or self-incrimination clauses, “statements taken without sufficient Miranda warnings are presumed to have been coerced only for certain purposes and then only when necessary to protect the privilege against self-incrimination. . . . There is therefore no reason to apply the ‘fruit of the poisonous tree’ doctrine.”¹⁵⁷²

The requirement of Miranda rights being triggered by custodial interrogation in a de novo review of what constitutes custody the Supreme Court holds “that so long as the child’s age was known to the officer at the time of police questioning, or would have been objectively apparent to a reasonable officer, its inclusion in the custody analysis is...