Judicial Preference for the Search Warrant - The Good Faith Warrant Exception to the Exclusionary Rule

• NCJ Number: 102267
• Journal: FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 55 Issue: 7 Dated: (July 1986) Pages: 21-30
• Author(s): R A Fiatal
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 10 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

In promulgating the 'totality of the circumstances' test and the 'good faith' exception to the exclusionary rule, the U.S. Supreme Court has encouraged police to use the warrant procedure for searches.

Abstract

In Gates v. Illinois (1983), the U.S. Supreme Court adopted a new 'totality of the circumstances' standard for determining the sufficiency of probable cause, based on an informant's tip, in issuing a search warrant. This standard was reaffirmed in Massachusetts v. Upton (1984). This does not mean that an informant's tip alone will constitute probable cause, but accompanied by independent corroboration, it can be one factor in a 'totality of circumstances' determination of probable cause. In Leon v. United States (1984), the Supreme Court ruled that search evidence is admissible so long as the seizing officer acted in objectively reasonable reliance on a search warrant, even if the warrant is later ruled invalid. The 'good faith' exception will not apply when a trained officer should recognize that the warrant is flawed. Neither will it apply when an officer misleads the issuing magistrate with false affidavits. The 'good faith' exception is undermined by police 'shopping' for a magistrate to approve a warrant based on shaky probable cause grounds. If probable-cause support for a search warrant is clearly lacking in the view of a well-trained officer, then the 'good faith' exception will not apply even though the warrant is issued by a magistrate. The proper execution of a warrant is required before the 'good faith' exception applies. 56 footnotes.