United States v. Alston, No. 18-4524 (4th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseThe Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress after he conditionally pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime. The court held that the district court did not err by admitting evidence of the firearm where the district court admitted the derivative evidence not because it was the fruit of voluntary statements, but because it found that the inevitable discovery exception to the exclusionary rule rendered the derivative evidence admissible; defendant's first statements were voluntary and the statements admitting possession of the gun were involuntary; and defendant's admission to the first bag of marijuana gave the officer the reasonable suspicion to justify detaining defendant and investigating further. In this case, before defendant made any involuntary admissions, the officer believed that he possessed a gun, had the probable cause necessary to search the car, and intended to find the gun.
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