While pouring through some random criminal cases for my own pleasure I found some pretty neat stuff:
The Exclusionary Rule: Under the 4th Amendment when a gov’t agent gathers evidence illegally, that evidence cannot be used against you in court. However, there is an exception to this rule. If the government agent made an honest mistake, then a good-faith exception exists and the evidence can be admitted. I’ve always thought this concept was silly; you either have a right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure or you don’t. Mistakes should have no part in it. Well, Idaho agrees. Under Idaho’s equivalent to the 4th Amendment, Article I, Section 17, there is no good faith exception to the exclusionary rule. I give you State v. Guzman, 842 P.2d 660:
the people of a state are in more real danger from a court of last resort which participates in the violation of its fundamental laws, even in order to bring a criminal to justice, than they are from the most persistent efforts of all the bootleggers at large.
Resisting Excessive Force During Arrest: Mind you, I wouldn’t want the uphill task of defending that poor sap, but in Idaho you can go ahead and resist a cop using excessive force.
Miranda: Here in the great state of Idaho, a Terry stop CAN ripen into one necessitating a Miranda warning.
Checkpoints: Unconstitutional. The money quote in State v. Henderson, 756 P.2d 1057: Perhaps the most important attribute of our way of life in Idaho is individual liberty. A citizen is free to stroll the streets, hike the mountains, and float the rivers of this state without interference from the government.
There are many more that I may get around to in the future. But suffice it to say that many of those things I got upset about during my Criminal Procedure classes and Bar Study have been remedied with greater protections than the Bill of Rights outlines here in Free Idaho(TM)
Now, some Aranda. Get some!
