ABSTRACT
In Arizona v. Evans, 514 US 1, the US Supreme Court established a "good faith" exception to the "exclusionary rule," a rule designed to enforce the Fourth Amendment by prohibiting the use in court of evidence obtained by unlawful searches or seizures. This rule is intended to keep police within constitutional boundaries as they conduct their activities. Evans argued that the possession charge should be dropped because the evidence was the "fruit" of an unlawful arrest. The Arizona Supreme Court rejected the distinction, and the case reached the US Supreme Court, which issued its opinion March 1, 1995. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist explained that the Court accepted cases based on state law when the state courts acted as they did with the understanding that federal law required them to do so. The exclusionary rule was intended to deter police officers from acting illegally in their efforts to collect evidence.
