Opinion ID: 726087
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Position of the Government

Text: 44 The government bears the burden of proof in establishing the independent source and inevitable discovery doctrines. It relied solely upon the testimony of Agent Badaracco to establish such proof. Agent Badaracco admitted that after six months of investigation of the Indiana and Missouri enterprises, agents had no knowledge of Leake--and had not even uncovered the name John Sandusky--prior to the illegal search. Moreover, he conceded they had no knowledge of the U-Haul trip tying Leake to the conspiracy. He also admitted that the illegal search streamlined the investigation against Leake but insisted they would have discovered Leake's role in the conspiracy even without the illegally obtained evidence. 45 The government's argument thus rests upon the premise that agents would have uncovered the alias John Sandusky through utility records, would have used the cooperation of O'Daniel to connect the alias to Leake, and further would have induced O'Daniel to inform them of an otherwise unknown U-Haul trip. 46 According to the United States, the fact that O'Daniel--while sitting in federal prison in 1994 and being reminded of his duty to cooperate--linked Leake to the name John Sandusky and described the U-Haul trip proves that the government would have inevitably discovered such information absent any constitutional violation.