Under fruit of the poisonous tree, Miranda-violated confessions: physical evidence derived from them is...

• A. Admissible
• B. Inadmissible
• C. Admissible only if the suspect later waives rights
• D. Admissible if police would have found it anyway

Answer: (A)

The key idea is how Miranda warnings interact with the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine. Miranda warnings protect against compelled, involuntary statements, not against the use of physical evidence that might be discovered as a result of leads from those statements. If a confession obtained in violation of Miranda is excluded, that exclusion does not automatically bar physical evidence found because of the investigation triggered by that confession. The police may still use physical evidence if it would have been discovered independently or through lawful means, or if the taint can be attenuated or otherwise separated from that evidence. So, physical evidence derived from a Miranda-violated confession is generally admissible.