If you are facing criminal charges, the police will gather evidence while building a case against you. You may be interested in discovering if there are any ways to have that evidence excluded from court, knowing that doing so reduces the chances you will be convicted.
One way to do this is to show that the evidence was illegally gathered. If the police officers broke key procedures or even broke the law, they may not be able to use that evidence in your case. This is true even if the evidence would otherwise be incriminating and is highly likely to lead to a conviction.
An illegal search
One way that this happens is if the police conduct an illegal search of a person’s property. Say that they search your home without first getting a proper search warrant or your consent, for example. While in your home, they find clearly incriminating evidence that can be linked to you.
Under the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine, because that evidence was illegally obtained, it has therefore been tainted. The police may be forced to remove it from the case. If they had taken the time to get a search warrant to do things correctly, they would have had an easy conviction. But by removing that evidence, they may barely have a case against you at all.
This is just one example of how misconduct by the police can undermine a case. It is an important thing to consider as you look into all of your legal defense options. When facing serious charges, it can help to work with an experienced defense attorney.