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D.Minn.: No PC, but GFE still applied to save this search

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

While the affidavit for the search warrant did not show probable cause, the officer's reliance on it was not unreasonable because it was not so lacking in probable cause as to render reliance on it unreasonable. United States v. Wiley, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116899 (D. Minn. December 15, 2009)*, affg United States v. Wiley, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116901 (D. Minn. October 15, 2009) (USMJ R&R)*: Even an affidavit that has an obvious facial flaw may not be "so lacking in indicia of probable cause" that it renders an official's belief in the existence of probable cause "entirely unreasonable." In Leon, for example, one of the defendants argued that "no reasonably well trained police officer could have believed that there existed probable cause to search his house," because "the affidavit included no facts indicating the basis for the informants' statements concerning [the defendant's] criminal activities and was devoid of information establishing the informants' reliability...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on December 19, 2009 (boomark / email).