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CA5: GFE saves search warrant without attachments limiting search because the search was not overbroad

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The search warrant here did not have the attachments necessary when it was served, but the application for the warrant with all the attachments was reviewed by an AUSA, the USMJ, and all the officers involved were well aware of its limitations. The good faith exception applied. United States v. Allen, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 22920 (5th Cir. November 4, 2010): The warrant at issue clearly does not pass constitutional muster. It is undoubtedly broad because of its lack of particularity, absent the affidavit and attachments. Simply incorporating the affidavit and attachments, which stated specifically what the search entailed and what was to be seized, by reference in the warrant could have cured the deficiency of the warrant. That being said, the issue here is not the constitutional invalidity of the warrant, but whether the evidence seized pursuant to the unconstitutionally vague warrant should be suppressed...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on November 06, 2010 (boomark / email).