WaPo: Magistrate issues arrest warrants for 17 years but is new to “probable cause”

WaPo: Magistrate issues arrest warrants for 17 years but is new to “probable cause” by Orin Kerr:

Here’s a remarkable case from the Ohio Supreme Court, State v. Hoffman, involving an unconstitutional arrest warrant. The defendant was arrested for a misdemeanor based on a defective arrest warrant, leading to the discovery of evidence of murder. The remarkable part is why the arrest warrant was defective. For at least 17 years, magistrates in Toledo, Ohio were instructed to issue arrest warrants without ever actually making a probable cause determination. Officers would just say that the suspect had committed an offense, and the magistrates would issue the warrant without ever hearing the factual basis for that conclusion. Here’s the testimony of the magistrate who issued the arrest warrant in this case:

Q. And during your 17 years of swearing in criminal complaints with requests for arrest warrants, did you know what probable cause was?
A. No.
Q. Had you ever made a probable cause determination?
A. No.
* * *
Q. Did any of [your] training include making a probable cause determination?
A. No, it did not.

State v. Hoffman, 2014-Ohio-4795, 2014 Ohio LEXIS 2817 (November 4, 2014):

[*P1] In this case, defendant-appellant, Brandon Hoffman, challenges the use of evidence obtained as the result of his arrest pursuant to three misdemeanor arrest warrants. We agree with the trial court and court of appeals that the arrest warrants were issued improperly because there was no determination of probable cause. However, we also agree that the remedy of suppression of the evidence obtained pursuant to these defective warrants is not available in this instance, because the officers relied in good faith upon a procedure that had been validated by the Sixth District Court of Appeals. We therefore affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.