United States v. Haynes (1968)

United States v. Haynes (1968) was a Supreme Court case about whether a state court’s decision to exclude certain evidence was fair when the defendant claimed his rights were violated during an arrest. Haynes was arrested without proper probable cause, and he argued that evidence obtained from this arrest should not be used against him. The Court ruled that, under the official misconduct exception, evidence collected via police misconduct that violates constitutional rights can still be admitted if the evidence would have inevitably been discovered through lawful means. This decision clarified limits on excluding evidence obtained improperly when it would have been found legally anyway.