There's a reason that chain-of-evidence/provenance/fruit of the poison tree stuff is a big deal.

The defense attorney should be commended, and the cops need to be more careful.

It totally sucks that a murderer goes free, but the reason that we need to be careful about this stuff, is because the authorities would use the exact same methodology to grab shoplifters or dine-and-dashers, and it's highly likely that there would be false positives, there.

The thing about the police, that people don't seem to realize, is that they have the power to completely destroy your life on a whim. If a cop has a bad day, you could end up homeless and alone, in a few months; regardless of whether or not you actually get convicted. That's not even counting, if they draw their gun.

That's not hyperbole. I have actually seen it happen.