M.D.N.C.: Calling def a “suspect” in the affidavit for SW for his house, without more, isn’t PC and the GFE doesn’t apply

Defendant was identified as a “suspect” in a shooting, but the police provided nothing to the issuing magistrate that even suggested how. The affidavit for the search warrant of defendant’s home was “bare bones,” and the good faith exception can’t be applied. United States v. Holtzclaw, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109444 (M.D. N.C. June 29, 2018):

After review of the interviews, it appears to this court that the officers involved in this case were earnest in their efforts to investigate or, alternatively, allay their suspicions as to Defendant. It may very well be that other information, not presented in this case, might cause this court to reach a different result. Nevertheless, the paucity of factual information and striking conclusions contained in the warrant and this court’s inability to determine what facts may have been available to and relied upon by the officers who swore out the affidavit and executed the search preclude the application of the good-faith exception. The search of an individual’s home cannot be based on a general allegation of suspicion without facts to support or explain how that suspicion amounts to probable cause to believe that the individual was engaged in criminal activity and that evidence thereof will be found in the individual’s home.