C.D.Ill.: Failure to execute state SW in 10 days doesn’t automatically trigger exclusionary rule

Failure to execute a state search warrant within 10 days (F.R.Crim.P. 41) where state law says 60 days does not automatically trigger the exclusionary rule. The affidavit for the warrant showed probable cause, and the good faith exception also applies. United States v. Felton, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158685 (C.D.Ill. Aug. 23, 2021):

No bright line rule operates to automatically void an unexecuted warrant for purposes of Fourth Amendment analysis after the lapse of some specific number of days or hours. See United States v. Sutton, 742 F.3d 770, 774 (7th Cir. 2014) (affirming denial of motion to suppress where the defendant asserted that information more than 72 hours old was too stale to give rise to probable cause and holding that “there is no bright line rule for determining staleness”). Nonetheless, the age of the inculpatory information relied on by police when seeking a warrant is one of the primary factors used to determine the existence of probable cause. United States v. Spry, 190 F.3d 829, 836 (7th Cir. 1999); see United States v. Bradford, 905 F.3d 497, 504 (7th Cir. 2018) (weighing age or “staleness” of informant’s information alongside the other probable cause factors). Accordingly, the lapse of time between issuance and execution of the warrant is a factor in the Court’s probable cause analysis.