If you are facing criminal charges, one doctrine you may want to be aware of is known as the fruit of the poisonous tree. In some cases, this can mean that certain evidence is inadmissible in court, which could be a significant part of your defense strategy.
The fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine focuses on illegal actions by the police. These actions are the “poisonous tree,” and any “fruit,” or evidence, that is discovered is then tainted by that tree. Evidence arising from this illegal action may have to be excluded from the case.
How could this happen?
One example of how this could happen is if the police perform an illegal search. For instance, maybe they are investigating you for financial crimes or drug crimes. They want to search your home or office, but you refuse to give them consent to do so. This means that the police should obtain a search warrant if they want to enter the property without your consent.
But instead of getting a search warrant, the officers decide to conduct the investigation anyway. They find illegal drugs or financial records showing that wrongdoing took place. They then arrest you, citing this evidence as justification for doing so.
But because they only obtained that evidence through an illegal search, it may be inadmissible in your case, meaning that they do not actually have admissible evidence with which to convict you of the charges that you face.
Your legal defense options
The nuances of a criminal defense case are complicated, and you need to consider police procedures and many other details. It can help to work with an experienced defense attorney at this time.