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IN: AL arrest warrant was clearly invalidly issued, and GFE would not be applied under Herring

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Indiana officers executed an Alabama arrest warrant that was clearly issued on a mere conclusion that there was probable cause, rather than a finding of probable cause. The good faith exception would not be applied because it was a clear police error, even in another state by another department. Shotts v. State, 2009 Ind. App. LEXIS 399 (March 12, 2009): Alternatively, the State argues that if the warrant is constitutionally invalid, then the "good faith exception" applies to save the evidence seized during Shotts's arrest. It is true that the exclusionary rule does not automatically apply each time a search and seizure technically violates the Fourth Amendment. As the U.S. Supreme Court explained, "Particularly when law enforcement officers have acted in objective good faith or their transgressions have been minor, the magnitude of the benefit conferred on such guilty defendants offends basic concepts of the criminal justice system...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 19, 2009 (boomark / email).