Issue

Exclusionary rule—not mandatory—remand for determination of propriety

Summary

Where a warrantless automobile search violated the Fourth Amendment, the Supreme Court remanded the matter to the trial court for a determination of whether the evidence obtained from the search should be suppressed pursuant to the exclusionary rule. The Court noted that the exclusionary rule is not mandatory and that it should be applied only where the benefits of deterring police misconduct outweigh the societal costs of suppressing evidence of a defendant's guilt.

Summary from the North Carolina Reports digest (official subject index). Read the opinion →