Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Good Faith Exception For Once Fails to Save Search Warrant

U.S. v. Cordova, 2015 WL 4072123 (10th Cir. 7/6/15) (Okla.) - it was unreasonable for officers to rely on the search warrant affidavit in this case because it contained so few facts implicating either Mr. Cordova or his current residence. The Tenth reverses the district court's ruling denying the motion to suppress, which was based on the good faith exception. The affidavit indicated nothing more than that a high-volume drug delivery was to have been made two years prior to execution of the warrant to a vehicle parked in front of the home where Cordova lived at that time and that an individual who was a party to that drug deal was at Cordova's current residence on one occasion four months prior to execution of the warrant. It should have been clear to officers that this info did not establish probable cause---it was "so removed from implicating Cordova or his current residence that it amounts to nothing more than a hunch."