CA6: Parsing a Fourth Amendment claim; GFE or inevitable discovery can overcome Heck

The Sixth Circuit parses a Fourth Amendment claim into its parts to find that a civil case can survive a Heck bar because of the good faith exception or inevitable discovery making the seized evidence admissible anyway. Harper v. Jackson, 293 Fed. Appx. 389 (6th Cir. August 12, 2008) (unpublished).* Thus, the good faith exception can become a weapon for the plaintiff:

Although Heck bars § 1983 Fourth Amendment claims where the contested search produced the only evidence supporting the conviction and no legal doctrine could save the evidence from exclusion, see, e.g., Ballenger v. Owens, 352 F.3d 842, 847 (4th Cir. 2003); Covington v. City of New York, 171 F.3d 117, 123 (2d Cir. 1999), the case before us is distinct. If Harper succeeds on his § 1983 claims, his conviction would not necessarily be impugned because both the doctrine of inevitable discovery and the Leon good faith exception apply. See United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 913 (1984) (adopting a “good faith” exception to the exclusionary rule where police seize evidence in reasonable reliance on a warrant issued by a neutral magistrate).

Under the inevitable discovery doctrine, illegally obtained evidence is not subject to the exclusionary rule “if the government can prove by preponderance that the evidence inevitably would have been acquired through lawful means.” United States v. Kimes, 246 F.3d 800, 804 (6th Cir. 2001) (quoting United States v. Kennedy, 61 F.3d 494, 497 (6th Cir. 1995)). In asking whether the inevitable discovery doctrine applies, we examine the circumstances “as they existed at the instant before the unlawful search” and ask “what would have happened had the unlawful search never occurred.” Kimes, 246 F.3d at 804 (quoting United States v. Eng, 971 F.2d 854, 861 (2d Cir. 1992)). We apply the rule in two scenarios: (1) when an “independent, untainted investigation … inevitably would have uncovered the same evidence”; or (2) when “other compelling facts [exist] establishing that the disputed evidence inevitably would have been discovered.” Kennedy, 61 F.3d at 499. Here, the fact that a Wal-Mart security employee notified the police of Harper’s purchase establishes that even if we were to conclude that the officers illegally detained Harper, success on the § 1983 claim would not necessarily impugn his conviction because the resulting discovery of the marijuana and drug paraphernalia would have inevitably occurred regardless of the detention. See Heck, 512 U.S. at 487 n.7.

Likewise, even were Harper to succeed on his claim that the warrant to search his home was without probable cause, that result would not necessarily impugn his conviction because even if the warrant were unlawfully obtained, the police acted in good faith reliance on the warrant as issued by a neutral magistrate, and thus the evidence could have been admitted to secure Harper’s conviction. See Leon, 468 U.S. at 913.