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Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Criminal Procedure, Ronald J. Bacigal
Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Criminal Procedure, Ronald J. Bacigal
University of Richmond Law Review
In Tennessee v. Garner, the United States Supreme Court rejected the common law rule which had permitted the use of deadly force to prevent the escape of an unarmed suspected felon. The Court held that deadly force cannot be used to prevent an escape unless the arresting officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others. The United States Supreme Court noted that "apparently" Virginia was one of the few jurisdictions still following the common law rule. However, the only Virginia authority cited, Berry v. …
Nix V. Williams: The Inevitable Discovery Exception To The Exclusionary Rule, Edward M. Macon
Nix V. Williams: The Inevitable Discovery Exception To The Exclusionary Rule, Edward M. Macon
University of Richmond Law Review
In Nix v. Williams, the Supreme Court created an "inevitable discovery" exception to the exclusionary rule. This exception allows the prosecution to introduce illegally obtained evidence at trial upon a showing that such evidence would inevitably have been obtained, even without the police misconduct. The Supreme Court rejected the imposition of a second prong on the inevitable discovery exception which would have required the government to prove the absence of bad faith. The purpose of the inevitable discovery exception is to prevent the "setting aside [of] convictions that would have been obtained without police misconduct."