Justice Felix Frankfurter coined the specific phrase "fruit of the poisonous tree" in the 1939 case Nardone v. United States .
The link between the illegal act and the evidence is so weak or distant that the "taint" has dissipated. Fruits from a Poisonous Tree
fruit of the poisonous tree | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute Justice Felix Frankfurter coined the specific phrase "fruit
If the "tree" (the source) is tainted by illegality, all "fruit" (the evidence) growing from it is typically suppressed and cannot be used against a defendant. 2. Legal Origins fruit of the poisonous tree | Wex |
Any secondary or "derivative" evidence discovered as a direct result of that initial illegal action.
The doctrine uses a simple biological analogy to protect constitutional rights:
The 1963 case Wong Sun v. United States clarified that evidence is only suppressed if it was obtained by "exploitation of that illegality" rather than through a separate, clean path. 3. Key Exceptions