Exclusionary Rule and Its Application in Criminal Procedure

Running head: CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
Criminal Procedure
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1CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
The exclusionary rules states that any evidence which has been obtained by a
government, violating the constitutional rights of the defendant cannot be used against him. This
is a judge made rule wherein the constitutional rights of the defendant are preserved by the
Government. In cases when any evidence has been procured illegally and without any warrant,
the defendant can file for a motion to suppress the evidence. The Fourth Amendment
jurisprudence was upheld by the Court in the case of Weeks v United States, where it was held
that any evidence which is seized without any justification and reasonableness shall be held to be
a violation of the constitutional rights of the person. This is called the exclusionary rule which
applies to Federal Government.. This rule is in place to keep in check police misconduct and also
give courts the power to exclude any evidence which has been procured by way of contravention
of the constitutional rights of the defendant (McGlyn, 2017). Therefore, if any evidence is
produced by the police which has been procured illegally, the defendant can bring a motion to
suppress that evidence.The exclusionary rule can be understood better by understanding the fruit
of the poisonous tree doctrine which states that the court can exclude from trial that has been
seized illegally or by not following the proper code of conduct in searching for the evidence
(Hanlon, 2015). The exclusionary rule applies in cases of seizure of physical evidence, like
drugs, in the present case. If physical evidence is seized illegally in violation of the defendant’s
Fourth Amendment, the Court shall have the power to declare the search inadmissible and also
give a power to the defendant to file for a suppression of evidence.
In the present case, the criminal defendant was stopped by police because he was
speeding and the person also had a history of outstanding misdemeanor. While the police was
proceeding with the process of arrest, a marijuana joint fell from his pocket accidentally and this
led the police to search the car where he found some additional drugs. The police found that his