Under the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine, which is an exception recognized for police actions?

• A. Grand Jury
• B. Good Faith Reliance by Police
• C. Intervening Acts of the Defendant
• D. Independent Source

Answer: (C)

When something taints the path from an illegal police action to the evidence, the law allows a break in that chain. The specific break here is that the defendant’s own independent acts can intervene and sever the link between the unlawful conduct and the discovered evidence. If the defendant’s actions occur in a way that is independent of the police illegality, the taint can be attenuated and the evidence may be admitted despite the initial illegality.

This fits the idea that the defendant’s intervening actions can interrupt the causal chain, making the taint less damaging. The other options describe different doctrines or bodies (like a Grand Jury’s role or police-oriented exceptions such as good faith reliance on a warrant, or evidence discovered through an independent source), but they don’t capture the situation where the defendant’s own independent acts break the link between the illegal police conduct and the evidence.