Opinion ID: 162439
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Admissibility of the Physical Evidence

Text: Regarding the applicability of the inevitable discovery doctrine to the admissibility of the relevant firearms and the evidence of Mr. Sanders’s drug use, Mr. Sanders argues that we may not apply the inevitable discovery doctrine unless, at the time of the illegal search, the government had already initiated the alternative investigation by which the government would have inevitably discovered the challenged evidence. Our decision in a case that Mr. Sanders fails to discuss – United States v. Larsen, 127 F.3d 984 (10th Cir. 1997) –, however, expressly rejects this position. In Larsen, the police, suspecting that Mr. Larsen was dealing in stolen cars, illegally searched Mr. Larsen’s home. During the search, the police discovered evidence confirming Mr. Larsen’s illegal conduct. Given the illegal search, a judge suppressed the discovered evidence, effectively destroying the prosecutor’s case. The local police contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (the “FBI”), passing to the FBI evidence obtained in the illegal search. Simultaneously, the FBI received a second tip suggesting the need to investigate Mr. Larsen. The -8- second tip arose when a police officer who participated in the illegal search happened to mention, to a local banker, the police suspicion regarding Mr. Larsen’s title to certain vehicles. Fearing that Mr. Larsen may have defrauded the bank in securing loans based upon those car titles, the banker followed routine procedure in filing a report with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”); the FDIC, in turn, followed routine procedure in notifying the FBI. The FBI, in possession of two tips suggesting an investigation of Mr. Larsen, did so, eventually bringing charges against Mr. Larsen. Mr. Larsen moved to suppress the evidence gathered by the FBI as a fruit of the illegal search (absent the illegal search, the FBI would never have been led to investigate Mr. Larsen). We salvaged the admissibility of the FBI’s evidence by invoking the inevitable discovery doctrine. The Larsen panel indicated that, insofar as the FBI investigation depended upon the first tip (from the local police), the FBI investigation was the fruit of the illegal search, thus leaving the FBI’s evidence inadmissable. The panel continued, however, by further indicating that the second FBI tip (via the banker and FDIC) was not fruit of the poisonous tree because the suspicion of the local police (communicated to the banker) predated the illegal search. Since the record contained evidence that the FBI would have investigated based upon the second tip alone, the panel affirmed the district court’s application of the inevitable discovery doctrine: the FBI would inevitably -9- have discovered Mr. Larsen’s bank fraud and money laundering via an independent, legal means. For the Larsen panel, the fact that the FBI investigation (the lawful means of discovering the evidence) was not ongoing at the time of the illegal search was not controlling. The inevitable discovery doctrine does not necessarily require that the separate, lawful means of obtaining the challenged evidence be “already underway”; rather, the doctrine requires “only that the investigation that inevitably would have led to the evidence be independent of the constitutional violation.” Larsen, 127 F.3d at 987. The panel further explained: “The fact that another investigation was already underway when a constitutional violation occurred is strong proof that [the alternative investigation] was independent of the illegal investigation . . . . However, it is possible for an investigation that begins after the violation to be independent of the illegal investigation.” Id. In Larsen, then, we squarely rejected Mr. Sanders’s contention: “We conclude [that] the inevitable discovery exception applies whenever an independent investigation inevitably would have led to discovery of the evidence, whether or not the investigation was ongoing at the time of the illegal police conduct.” Id. at 986 (emphasis added); see also 3 C HARLES A LAN W RIGHT , F EDERAL P RACTICE AND P ROCEDURE § 677, at 375 n.14.1 (2d ed. Supp. 2002) (citing Larsen for the proposition just quoted); S TEPHEN E. H ESSLER , -10- E STABLISHING I NEVITABILITY W ITHOUT A CTIVE P URSUIT : D EFINING THE I NEVITABLE D ISCOVERY D OCTRINE E XCEPTION TO THE F OURTH A MENDMENT E XCLUSIONARY R ULE , 99 M ICH . L. R EV . 238 (2000) (arguing against rigid application of an active pursuit element of the inevitable discovery doctrine). Applying Larsen to Mr. Sanders’s case dictates admission, via the inevitable discovery doctrine, of the physical evidence discovered during the May 26, 1999 search of Mr. Sanders’s property. 2