Harley v. State

Eric Allen Harley v. State of Maryland, No. 529, Sept. Term 2024. Opinion by Arthur, J. CRIMINAL LAW—FOURTH AMENDMENT VIOLATIONS—INDEPENDENT SOURCE DOCTRINE The independent source doctrine and the inevitable discovery doctrine are two well- established exceptions to the exclusionary rule, which generally renders evidence inadmissible in a criminal prosecution when police obtain the evidence in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The inevitable discovery doctrine applies when the evidence was not discovered by lawful means, but inevitably would have been. In contrast, the independent source…