Because Sherlock and Joan are definitely government agents, anything they find after illegally breaking into private property would be suppressed. 443, 487 (1971), the exclusionary rule applies and the evidence can be suppressed as “fruit of the poisonous tree.” Nardone v. But when the private individual “acted as an ‘instrument’ or agent of the state,” Coolidge v. The Fourth Amendment, however, generally does not protect against unreasonable intrusions by private individuals. Because such a provision protects individuals from the government illegally entering and searching one’s home, “vidence obtained by police officers in violation of the Fourth Amendment is excluded at trial” Id. “The Fourth Amendment assures the ‘right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.’” Stone v. So while they don’t have badges, guns, or arresting authority, they do have a responsibility to, you know, abide by the Constitution and proper police investigative procedures. As such, they are acting on behalf of the government when they conduct investigations.
Sherlock and Joan are consultants for the NYPD’s Major Crimes Unit. While Captain Gregson meagerly explains away these violations as “creative” and usually buttressed by a claim that someone was heard yelling inside, could they actually do this? The answer is no, they totally cannot. Watson love to pick locks and break into buildings. The Exclusionary Rule Aka don’t break into private property to steal evidence.Īs previously mentioned, Elementary’s Sherlock and Dr. Hold up, what? Not even the mildly appeasing “Ya got me this time, copper!” full-blown confession after being shown some absolutely circumstantial evidence? Well, while CBS and Elementary may not take their time researching the legal issues actually underlying the episode, we will. “Sure Sherlock, you might be a world renowned detective and genius, but let me play this old Star Trek episode to explain teleportation.”įollowing the deus ex machina discovery of a song recorded by the sex robot that is somehow perceived (correctly!) to be the perpetrator’s cell phone ringtone, see Anita Ward, Ring My Bell (Juana Records 1979), the detectives trot in three minor characters for “interviewing.” Proceeding to call the first suspect’s phone, which plays the song, they announce the killer and everyone is satisfied that the murder has been solved and a conviction is all but guaranteed. Throwing around some law regarding the Invention Secrecy Act, the detectives surmise that (1) the information was leaked so that the perpetrator could cash in on the research and avoid the Act and a non-disclosure agreement, and (2) the victim was murdered in the presence of his sex robot. Gasp! After finding out that last fact, a minor character announces that he was offered (and paid a whole $1000 for) copies of the top secret research.
set out to solve the murder of a sex robot designer who previously headed secret research into real-life teleportation. Whether it’s accusing literally everyone of murder (attorney request be damned) or picking locks to illegally break into private property multiple times, the show focuses less on intellectual investigative skills and more on clean, east-to-digest stories.īut what does that have to do with sci-fi you might ask? Well, in “Uncanny Valley of the Dolls,” Sherlock and Co. My biggest complaint regarding Elementary, however, is Sherlock and Joan Watson’s consistent disregard for due process. Elementary is meant to be a new take on the cocaine-addicted sleuth, managing some decent story lines but not adding to the character much beyond what we’ve already seen in the BBC and Guy Ritchie versions. Ever since I spent a summer reading through the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s collected works, I have loved Sherlock Holmes. Normally I don’t write negative pieces about shows, but I have been stewing since the Sherlock Holmes-but-updated show Elementary aired “Uncanny Valley of the Dolls” last month. “What one man can invent another can discover.” Sherlock Holmes, The Adventure of the Dancing Man