Brierley v. Layton, 2016 UT 47 (Oct. 21, 2016)

Oct 21, 2016

The district court granted a motion to suppress evidence obtained while a warrant application remained pending.  The Court of Appeals reversed based upon the inevitable discovery doctrine and a four-factor test articulated by the Tenth Circuit.  Reversing the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court held that the City failed to carry its burden of showing, by a preponderance of the evidence, that evidence would have been inevitably discovered in the absence of a warrant.  In doing so, the Supreme Court declined to apply the Tenth Circuit’s four-factor test.