# Could a killer really go free because of an illegal search? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 29, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-killer-really-go-free-because-of-an-illegal-search/287299 "2005-01-29T17:53:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-killer-really-go-free-because-of-an-illegal-search/287299/21 "2005-01-30T16:17:36Z")
Just found the source of the phrase (thanks to Skibberoo on [Word Origins](http://p066.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm1.showMessage?topicID=11639.topic) ) _To use the phrase coined by U.S. Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter in a 1939 case, in these instances, the question presented is whether the challenged evidence is the “fruit of the poisonous tree.”_ [Law.com](http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1063212109705) ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-killer-really-go-free-because-of-an-illegal-search/287299/22 "2005-01-30T16:44:05Z")
[Dave Wilton](http://www.wordorigins.org/) pins down the case precisely. _The 1939 case is Nardone v. U.S., Justice Frankfurter writes, “Once that is established-as was plainly done here-the trial judge must give opportunity, however closely confined, to the accused to prove that a substantial portion of the case against him was a fruit of the poisonous tree.”_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-killer-really-go-free-because-of-an-illegal-search/287299.md?page=1)