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NJ: Dispatcher's unreasonable error as to existence of warrant for defendant required suppression although arresting officer's actions were reasonable

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Police dispatcher’s unreasonable error as to whether there was a warrant for the defendant required suppression of the evidence, and Herring does not apply. The month of the DOB was the same, but not the date or year, and the first name was a variant of spelling of defendant’s first name. The officer acted reasonably in the field, but the dispatcher did not. This holding is consistent with Herring, but decided under the state constitution. (New Jersey does not have a good faith exception anyway.) State v. Handy, 2010 N.J. Super. LEXIS 53 (April 12, 2010): The facts in the case before us are quite distinct from those in Herring. Rather than a past clerical error, such as neglecting to remove a no-longer valid warrant, the police dispatcher in this case inaccurately reported to the police officer in the field that there was an active warrant for Handy when, in fact, there were significant discrepancies in the spelling of the first name and the date of birth that were not reported at the same time, thereby causing the arrest of the wrong person...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on April 17, 2010 (boomark / email).