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CA8: Losing a suppression motion then saying "no objection" to admission at trial is a waiver of suppression issue

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Saying "no objection" when evidence the subject of a lost suppression motion is offered at trial is a waiver of the suppression motion. Thus, the issue had to be viewed under clear error. United States v. Comstock, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 14489 (8th Cir. July 8, 2008): At trial, each time the Government moved to admit evidence that Defendant's pretrial motion sought to suppress (namely, the firearms and ammunition seized from Defendant's home), defense counsel stated "no objection." "Normally the denial of a pretrial motion to suppress evidence preserves the objection for appeal and defense counsel need not renew the objection at trial." United States v. Johnson, 906 F.2d 1285, 1290 (8th Cir. 1990); accord Lawn v. United States, 355 U.S. 339, 353 (1958) (denial of suppression motion by the trial court generally "preserves the point and renders it unnecessary again to object when such evidence is offered at trial")...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 11, 2008 (boomark / email).