Supreme Court of Georgia

Tatum v. State

June 11, 2024319 Ga. 187

Summary

The court held that the independent source doctrine requires courts to determine both whether probable cause remains after excising unlawfully obtained information and whether the decision to seek the warrant was prompted by the prior unlawful search. Because the trial court made no findings on the prompting issue and the appellate record was insufficient to resolve it, the court vacated the Court of Appeals’ decision and directed further proceedings below. All Justices concurred.