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Deficient Seach Warrant in Child Porn Case "Saved" by Good Faith Exception

By Candace Hom, Melinda Ghilardi, Nancy Rimmer, Sarah Gannett, Renee Pietropaolo and Tieffa Harper

United States v. Tracey, No. 08-3290, 2010 WL 681364 (3d Cir. Mar. 1, 2010). The Third Circuit reversed the district court?s suppression order in a child pornography case and held that although the search warrant was deficient because it did not clearly indicate that the items-to-be-seized, the good faith exception applied because the "officer could understandably believe that he had met the requirements of the Fourth Amendment."The defendant, Tracey, was the subject of a state investigation into the internet distribution of a certain video containing child pornography. Tracey?s IP address was identified as participating in the distribution of the video via a peer-to-peer sharing program. Based on that information, the local police obtained a search warrant for Tracey?s residence from a state magistrate...continue to full post

Full post as published by Third Circuit Blog on March 18, 2010 (boomark / email).