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State v. Herrerra and Gonzalez, A-121-10 - New Jersey Supreme Court Holds Exclusionary Rule Does Not Apply Where Suspects Attack Officer

In reversing the Appellate Division, with Chief Justice Rabner writing for a unanimous Court, per the Clerk's syllabus:

"The issues in this appeal are whether the exclusionary rule applies to a prosecution for a violent attack against a police officer after a possibly unlawful motor vehicle stop, and whether defendants would be entitled to racial profiling discovery to challenge Trooper Acevedo’s credibility at a new trial for attempted murder."

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"HELD: The exclusionary rule does not apply to a prosecution for attempted murder and related offenses after a possibly unlawful stop. An attenuation analysis is unnecessary. Defendants are not entitled to racial profiling discovery in seeking to suppress the drug evidence or to challenge the Trooper’s credibility at a new trial."

More after the jump...it probably didn't help the defendants' cause that they attacked the officer, tried to take his gun, got shot fleeing the scene and had nearly a pound of cocaine in their vehicle.