IN still doesn’t recognize the attenuation doctrine

The attenuation doctrine does not apply to violations of the Indiana Constitution. Admittedly, the search of defendant’s vehicle was unlawful, and a receipt found was followed back to video of the transaction. Indiana hasn’t yet adopted inevitable discovery under the state constitution. Gyamfi v. State, 2014 Ind. App. LEXIS 430 (September 4, 2014):

Next, the State relies on the inevitable discovery doctrine when it contends that the fraud would eventually have been discovered. In support, the State relies on Whitmer’s testimony, stating that she would have checked her credit card statement and would have reported the fraudulent activity to both Discover Card and the police. Furthermore, again disregarding Officer Harves initial investigatory steps, the State also maintains that Detective Ralston’s “independent investigation” would ultimately have turned up the evidence that was admitted at trial. (State’s Br. p. 15).

Under the Fourth Amendment, the inevitable discovery exception to the exclusionary rule “permits the introduction of evidence that eventually would have been located had there been no error, for in that instance ‘there is no nexus sufficient to provide a taint.'” Shultz v. State, 742 N.E.2d 961, 965 (Ind. Ct. App. 2001), trans. denied. However, the inevitable discovery exception has not been adopted as a matter of Indiana Constitutional law. Ammons v. State, 770 N.E.2d 927, 935 (Ind. Ct. App. 2002), trans. denied. Our supreme court has previously held that “our state constitution mandates that the evidence found as a result of [an unconstitutional] search be suppressed.” Shultz, 742 N.E.2d at 965 (quoting Brown v. State, 653 N.E.2d 77, 80 (Ind. 1995)). Despite the State’s request, we are not inclined to adopt the inevitable discovery rule as part of Indiana constitutional law in light of our supreme court’s firm language. See Ammons, 770 N.E.2d at 935. Accordingly, the inevitable discovery doctrine is not available to validate the admission of evidence obtained as a result of an illegal search.