CA3: Overbroad search warrant saved by good faith exception

Good faith cures (nearly) all ills. The overbroad search warrant here was saved by good faith exception. [Because it’s child porn, that’s why.] United States v. Tracey, 597 F.3d 140 (3d Cir. 2010):

The United States Government appeals the order of the District Court suppressing evidence seized and a statement made during a search conducted pursuant to a warrant. The Court held that the warrant was general and not cured by the affidavit of probable cause because it was not incorporated into the warrant. The Court also concluded that a reasonably objective police officer would have recognized that the warrant was defective, and thus the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule did not apply. On appeal, the Government argues that the warrant was not general because it incorporated the narrower affidavit, that the search was limited to the scope of that affidavit, and that, in any event, the good faith exception applies to the circumstances of this case.

Relying on our decision in Doe v. Groody, 361 F.3d 232 (3d Cir. 2004), we conclude that the warrant did not incorporate the affidavit of probable cause, and thus the narrower affidavit did not cure the concededly overbroad warrant. We also conclude that the Government waived any arguments based on the exception to the incorporation rule applied in United States v. Leveto, 540 F.3d 200 (3d Cir. 2008), cert. denied, 129 S. Ct. 2790, 174 L. Ed. 2d 294 (2009), by failing to raise them before the District Court. However, we hold that application of the exclusionary rule is not justified because the officers acted in good faith by relying on the validity of the warrant. Accordingly, we reverse the District Court’s order suppressing the evidence seized as a result of the search and the statement made during the search, and remand for further proceedings.

Videotaping student athletes in a private school’s “open gym” did not invade any privacy interest or the Fourth Amendment. The school was barred from a state athletic tournament. St. Patrick High Sch. v. N.J. Interscholastic Ath. Ass’ns, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17993 (D. N.J. March 1, 2010).*

Defendant was found asleep at the wheel and hard to wake up in an intersection in Kansas City. Officers awoke him and he tried to drive off. He was quite obviously under the influence, and a field sobriety test was not a prerequisite to his arrest. An inventory of the seized vehicle was proper under Gant. United States v. Tinsley, 365 Fed. Appx. 709 (8th Cir. 2010) (unpublished).*