A police officer with qualified immunity is protected from being personally sued by the defendant.īecause of qualified immunity, the exclusionary rule is often a defendant's only remedy when police officers conduct an unreasonable search or violate the defendant's rights. Qualified ImmunityĮven though the defendant can get evidence excluded, they cannot get a remedy against the government officials who performed unreasonable search or seizure, for the officer has qualified immunity, which is a doctrine that protects government employees when they perform certain actions pertinent to their occupations. For instance, the defendant cannot ask the evidence obtained via lineups and photographic identifications (showing photos of possible suspects in a one-on-one situation to the victim or witness to identify) to be excluded. For 1) other court proceedings, including “federal habeas corpus review of state convictions, grand jury proceedings, preliminary hearings, bail hearings, sentencing hearings, and proceedings to revoke parole,” 2) impeachment of evidence against the defendant, and 3) civil proceedings, this remedy does not apply. This remedy only applies to criminal trials. The remedy to unreasonable search and seizure is the exclusionary rule, which prevents the evidence obtained via the unreasonable search or seizure from being introduced in court, as it is referred to as the fruit of the poisonous tree see Mapp v. The Fourth Amendment reads: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Remedies An unreasonable search and seizure is a search and seizure executed 1) without a legal search warrant signed by a judge or magistrate describing the place, person, or things to be searched or seized or 2) without probable cause to believe that certain person, specified place or automobile has criminal evidence or 3) extending the authorized scope of search and seizure.Īn unreasonable search and seizure is unconstitutional, as it is in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which aims to protect individuals’ reasonable expectation of privacy against government officers.
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