State v. Burwell, ___ N.C. App. ___, 808 S.E.2d 583 (Dec. 5, 2017)

In an assault on a law enforcement officer inflicting serious bodily injury case, the trial court did not err by denying the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence of his attack on the officer, alleged by the defendant to be proper resistance to an unlawful arrest. The court concluded: “Even if a police officer’s conduct violates a defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights, evidence of an attack on an officer is not fruit of a poisonous tree subject to suppression.” It elaborated:

“The doctrine of the fruit of the poisonous tree is a specific application of the exclusionary rule[,]” providing for the suppression of “all evidence obtained as a result of illegal police conduct.” However, this doctrine does not permit evidence of attacks on police officers to be excluded, even “where those attacks occur while the officers are engaging in conduct that violates a defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights.” Thus, where a defendant argues an initial stop or subsequent arrest violated “his Fourth Amendment rights, the evidence of his crimes against the officers would not be considered excludable ‘fruits’ pursuant to the doctrine.” (citations omitted).

Here, the defendant sought suppression of evidence of an attack on a police officer. The court concluded: “Defendant seeks the suppression of evidence of an attack on a police officer. Since evidence of an attack on a police officer cannot be suppressed as a fruit of the poisonous tree, the evidence Defendant sought to suppress cannot be suppressed as a matter of law.”