Tuesday, April 7, 1998

US Supreme Court US v. Leon 82-1771

Decided July 5, 1984

   An untested confidential informant made some allegations against some people, the cops investigated at great length, and eventually applied for a search warrant for three houses.  The warrant application was reviewed by several deputy district attorneys before making its way to the magistrate, who found that there was probable cause.  The warrant was issued, and evidence obtained from the searches led to several arrests (including Leon's) for conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine.

   The defendants moved to suppress the evidence, arguing that the warrant was not supported by probable cause.  The trial court held that this was a close case, and that the investigating officer had acted in good faith in his investigation, but that the affidavit did not contain sufficient information and the warrant should not have been issued.  Accordingly, the evidence was suppressed.  The people appealed.

   The case gets more interesting when the court discusses the exclusionary rule.  Essentially, the exclusionary says that if evidence is obtained as the result of unlawful police conduct, then that evidence may not be introduced in the prosecution's case in chief (the evidence can still be used for other purposes, such as for cross-examining the defendant and for testimony in front of a grand jury).  And there's nothing in the Constitution which guarantees the suppression of unlawfully obtained evidence; the fourth amendment establishes the people's right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, but it doesn't say anything about what should happen with evidence that is obtained when that right is violated.  The exclusionary rule was a sanction created by the courts to ensure that law enforcement would not systemically violate people's rights.

   That's a key point: the exclusionary rule doesn't exist to vindicate someone's rights (that's what lawsuits are for).  The exclusionary rule exists to discourage police misconduct, and so it should only be applied in circumstances where it will actually accomplish that goal.  In a case like this one, the police had already done everything they could to comply with the law.  They sought the guidance of a neutral magistrate by applying for a search warrant, and they were entitled to rely on the magistrate's judgment.  When the police are acting in good faith reliance on a search warrant they believe to be valid, but that warrant is later found to be invalid for some reason, the evidence is still admissible.  And so the good faith exception was born.

   Of course, this exception won't save a warrant that obtained by presenting faulty information to a judge when the officers knew or should have known that the information was false.  It also won't help if the warrant is obviously invalid (such as warrants that don't particularly describe the place to be searched or the item to be seized), warrants that are based on affidavits obviously devoid of probable cause, or "rubber stamped " warrants (meaning warrants issued by a judges who will grant anything just because the cops asked for it).

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