The Star Chamber Page #3

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after the trash had been emptied from the can.

- I... I don't understand.

- Was the scoop empty...

before Mr. Andujar's trash was put into it?

Yes.

Uh-huh. Thank you, Detective Wiggan.

Oh, I don't understand.

That was a perfectly good search.

Thank you, Detective.

There's no further questions.

Your Honor, may counsel approach the bench?

Yes. Detective, you're excused.

I move that all the evidence

obtained by Detectives Mackay and Wiggan...

be ruled inadmissible in this case,

dismissed immediately.

On what grounds?

They were meticulous in their procedure.

They waited until the garbage can

was emptied. Andujar waived his rights.

- On what grounds?

- Your Honor, under the rule...

my client had a reasonable

expectation to privacy.

The police cannot search his garbage can

without a warrant.

They did that. They waited

until the garbage can had been emptied.

However, they searched the scoop

of the garbage truck.

They did not wait

until Mr. Andujar's garbage...

had been mixed

with the rest of the garbage in the truck...

thereby rendering it common garbage.

As long as Mr. Andujar's garbage

was there by itself in that scoop...

as long as that garbage hadn't been mixed

with other garbage in the body of the truck...

the police could not search without a warrant.

- I don't believe this.

- There is ample precedent on this point, Your Honor...

specifically People v. Krivda, uh...

I know the precedent, Mr. Karras. Thank you.

Since the gun

was the grounds for the warrant...

and the evidence

and the ensuing confession...

were the direct result of that warrant...

and that warrant was granted illegally because

of the invasion of my client's privacy...

Your Honor, I have to ask you to rule

all the evidence and the confession...

as tainted and inadmissible.

- This is not happening.

- Mr. Hyatt, uh, I'm afraid he's right.

The evidence is not admissible.

Your Honor, we have a man here...

who cold-bloodedly murdered

five elderly women...

after robbing them of their welfare checks.

We have the murder weapon

with his fingerprints on it.

We have thejewelry and the wallets

of the victims in the defendant's apartment.

We have his full confession,

freely given by him.

And now you're telling me

that we don't have a case...

because two cops at 6:00 in the morning...

searched the scoop of a garbage truck...

instead of waiting

for some guy to pull a lever.

Are you really going to tell me that?

I'm gonna tell you

that if I allowed this evidence...

it would all be thrown out

in the appellate court.

I don't like it any more than you do.

This man is gonna go free?

- You're gonna let him go?

- I don't have a choice, you understand that?

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