On January 15, 2009, the Supreme Court ruled that evidence from an illegal search can be used if a police officer made an innocent mistake.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said “the guilty should not “go free” just because a computer error or a misunderstanding between police officers led to a wrongful arrest or search.  .. good evidence, even if obtained in a bad search, can be used against a suspect unless the police deliberately or recklessly violated his rights.”

A similar principle is at the heart of a dispute in Cuyahoga County.  A new integration project to share information between the prosecutor and the courts has been stalled by allegations of corruption related to a contract assumed by the potential integration vendor.

In a long chain of events, the proposed integration vendor took over a contract from another vendor who is now alleged to have bribed various Cuyahoga County officials to secure county business.  Hence, if the original contract is the fruit of unlawful behavior, should the county still do business with the successor integration vendor? Does the same principle apply - “good technology, even if obtained from a bad contract can be used…”  There have been no allegations against the successor company.

 You can read more here http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/12/court_administrators_say_suspi.html