Application of the Doctrine

• New Mexico law deems statements, confessions and evidence obtained through illegal police conduct as the fruit of the poisonous tree. Police who act in bad faith or fail to obtain necessary warrants or fail to administer Miranda rights jeopardize the admissibility of collected evidence. New Mexico mandates its law enforcement officers strictly adhere to the requirements of the fourth amendment.
  
  

Intervening Events

• An illegal search or seizure does not always taint collected evidence. For example, a man is illegally arrested without probable cause. He is taken to a police station and is read his Miranda rights. Several hours elapse. He contacts an attorney and after legal advice, he makes a voluntary confession. The confession may not be the fruit of the poisonous tree because of the intervening time and events following the illegal arrest.
  
  

Independent Source Exception

• Evidence discovered during an illegal search may later be seized under a valid warrant. This is known as The Independent Source Exception. For example, police unlawfully enter a warehouse and discover illegal drugs during a search. They do not seize the drugs. A party is subsequently lawfully arrested and informs police of the illegal drugs at the warehouse. A judge issues a warrant based on the party's statement. The drugs may be seized and used as admissible evidence because the basis of the warrant is independent of the illegal search.
  
  

Inevitability Exception

• The Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine is not applied if evidence illegally discovered would eventually by found by other, legal means. For example, a suspected car thief is unlawfully arrested. He tells police the stolen car ran out of gas in front of a busy store. The illegal arrest does not give rise to The Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine because the car would inevitably be independently discovered.