The Tennessee State Legislature is on the march to wipe out the exclusionary rule in this year’s session . A hearing was held last week . A Nashville  Assistant District Attorney  General  testified during the committee meeting . The discussion centered on a technical error in the search warrant which was later held to be invalid .Criminal defense lawyers  are worried that the Legislature is going to wipe out the exclusionary rule .

The exclusionary rule is used to refer to the exclusion of evidence because it was obtained by law enforcement officials in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment or some provision of the Bill of Rights. The exclusionary rule prohibits the state from using evidence obtained in violation of of four constitutional rights :

1. The right against unreasonable searches and seizures prohibited by the Fourteenth Amendment
2. The right against self incrimination as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment
3. The right to counsel as guaranteed by the Sixth amendment
4. The right to Due Process of law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment

Tennessee first recognized the the validity of excluding evidence in violation of the Tennessee Constitution as early as 1922 . Mapp v. Ohio  is the case where the U.S. Supreme Court applied the exclusionary rule for the first time.Continue Reading An Attack On the Excluisonary Rule