FRUIT OF THE POISONOUS TREE

A criminal law doctrine where evidence that is discovered as a result of misconduct or a violation of a defendant’s constitutional rights (e.g. a forced confession) is deemed inadmissible. For example, if a criminal suspect is beaten and then confesses to stealing a television set and provides its location, if the police recover the television set it would be inadmissible since its location was discovered as a result of the unconstitutional behavior and confession. Note, however, that this error can be cured provided the prosecution can show that the discovery of the television was inevitable by other lawful means, e.g. the store from which it was taken had a camera which recorded all the actions of the defendant, including the location of the television set.