Good Faith Saves Search

US v. Campbell, -- F.3d --, 2010 WL 1839028 (10th Cir. 5/10/10)(Kan). Affirmance of denial of suppression motion. Court of Appeals bypasses the "troublesome issue" of whether there was probable cause for a search warrant seeking evidence at Mr. Campbell's home of his criminal activities and his Crips gang membership, in violation of RICO, because the executing officers acted in the good faith belief that the magistrate properly authorized the warrant.

Mr. Campbell did not meet his burden to show that officers provided the magistrate with deliberately misleading information or information provided with reckless indifference to the truth. The officers' belief that there was probable cause was not "entirely unreasonable" because the affidavit was not "devoid of factual support." There was a "minimally sufficient nexus between the illegal activity and the place to be searched." Even if the information was so stale as to fail to establish probable cause regarding the defendant, it was good enough to justify officers' good faith reliance. There was adequate info regarding the cooperating witness' reliability, veracity, and basis of knowledge.

Applying the rationale of US v. Herring, 129 S.Ct. 695 (2009), the COA concludes that while there was some evidence of an arguably negligent breakdown in officers' communication, it did not meet the Herring-endorsed standard of "recurring or systemic negligence" that must be met to negate good faith.