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N.D.Tex.: GFE first analysis leads to tortured opinion sustaining search

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

In a case from three days ago in Texas, the court started with [what I consider] the [faulty] premise that applicability of the good faith exception should be discussed first, and then whether the warrant was issued with probable cause under Gates. The result here is a tortured opinion of search and seizure issues as they relate to good faith, thereby making the case far more difficult to decide. In one-fourth the time, the court could have found the affidavit for the search warrant satisfied Gates because of the informants rich detail of buying cocaine from defendant’s house, which he then took the police to, especially given the presumption of validity of a search warrant. The search warrant application was not “bare bones,” so the GFE applies...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 12, 2010 (boomark / email).