Kim E. Smith v. United States

BLACKBURNE-RIGSBY, Associate Judge:

The issue on appeal is whether the exclusionary rule applies to derivative evidence? resulting from an arrest warrant that was premised upon tainted evidence obtained during an illegal traffic stop. 1

We hold that where an officer’s mistake of law leads to a warrant premised on tainted evidence, derivative evidence obtained pursuant to that warrant must be excluded, unless there is an independent source for the evidence or sufficient attenuation to “purge the taint.” The traffic stop at issue was premised on a “mistake of law,” namely, that a license plate…