Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Circuit Blog

Criminal Law

: Fourth Circuit Blog

Rule 41 Does Not Apply to State Officer On State/Federal Task Force

By Jonathan Byrne

US v. Claridy: Claridy pleaded guilty to drug and gun charges based on evidence seized from his home pursuant to a search warrant. In the district court, he sought to suppress that evidence (and a subsequent statement) because a "federally deputized Baltimore City police officer" who was part of a joint task force obtained the warrant from a state judge without first trying to obtain one from a federal magistrate judge, in violation of Rule 41(b) of the Rules of Criminal Procedure. The district court denied the motion, holding that even if Rule 41(b) was implicated in this situation it was not intentionally violated so as to require suppression of the evidence.Claridy raised the same issue on appeal, which the Fourth Circuit rejected. The court began by noting that it had never clarified the application of Rule 41 to joint state/federal investigations, as opposed to purely federal ones...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Circuit Blog on April 12, 2010 (boomark / email).