Court Opinion

ID: 9541394
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:25:02.575987+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:02:49.264313
License: Public Domain

SINGLETON, Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the result. Alaska Rule of Evidence 412 generally excludes from evidence material obtained in violation of the fourth and fifth amendments to the United States Constitution and, the comparable provisions of our state constitution. See Harker v. State, 637 P.2d 716 (Alaska App.1981). Unless a substantial violation of fights occurs, however, illegally obtained evidence is admissible in a perjury prosecution.1 From this I infer that the drafters of the rule did not intend to bar the introduction of evidence obtained in violation of the fourth and fifth amendments, and their Alaska counterparts, unless the violation of rights was such that it independently violated due process. Rochin v. California, 342 U.S. 165, 72 S.Ct. 205, 96 L.Ed. 183 (1952). In the absence of coercion, violence or brutality to the person, I would admit evidence obtained in violation of the fourth and fifth amendments in perjury prosecutions. See Irvine v. California, 347 U.S. 128, 74 S.Ct. 381, 98 L.Ed. 561 (1954) (applying the Rochin standard to a fact situation similar but more egregious than the instant one). It seems to me that the Rochin test strikes an appropriate balance between the need to deter perjury on the one hand and judicial integrity on the other. Since the instant facts do not meet the Rochin test, I join the decision to affirm.

. Such a rule is clearly consistent with federal law which permits illegally seized evidence to be used for impeachment. Harris v. New York, 401 U.S. 222, 91 S.Ct. 643, 28 L.Ed.2d 1 (1971) (admissions obtained in violation of the Miranda Rules); Walder v. United States, 347 U.S. 62, 74 S.Ct. 354, 98 L.Ed. 503 (1954) (evidence obtained in violation of the fourth amendment).