Oregon v. Unger
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The state charged defendant with manufacture of cocaine and endangering the welfare of a minor, among other things. Before trial, defendant moved to suppress physical evidence and statements obtained by detectives after they knocked on the back door of defendant’s house and obtained defendant’s consent to enter and then to search the house. Defendant argued both that his consent had not been voluntary and that the detectives had exploited their unlawful conduct to obtain his consent in violation of Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution. The trial court denied the motion, and a jury convicted defendant as charged. The Court of Appeals reversed, reasoning that, under the "Oregon v. Hall" exploitation analysis, the detectives’ unlawful entry into defendant’s backyard to reach his back door had “tainted [defendant’s] subsequent consent.” Upon review, the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals, modifying in part, the exploitation analysis announced in Hall. Specifically, the Court "disavowed" the minimal factual nexus test described in Hall. Hall considered only the temporal proximity between the unlawful police conduct and the consent and mitigating or intervening circumstances. "Rather, courts must consider the totality of the circumstances, [. . .] including the nature of the illegal conduct and its purpose and flagrancy, without unduly emphasizing any single consideration."
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