Under U.S. v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897 (1984), when an officer reasonably relies on a search warrant issued by neutral and impartial magistrate, evidence seized pursuant to the search warrant need not be suppressed even if the search warrant is later determined to be invalid under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Id. at 912. Under State v. Carter, 322 N.C. 709 (1988), the same was not true for violations of Article 1, Sec. 20 of the North Carolina Constitution. State v. Rogers, 388 N.C. 453 (2025), changed that by overruling Carter and pronouncing a good faith exception to any exclusionary rule that may exist under Article I, Sec. 20. Id. at 478. My colleague Joe Hyde covered Rogers and the newfound good faith exception to the exclusionary rule for violations of the North Carolina Constitution in an earlier post, and Shea Denning covered the first post-Rogers case from the Court of Appeals applying the exception, here. Because Carter has been the law of the land for so many years, few state appellate decisions discuss the Leon good faith exception and few state practitioners have experience litigating it. When exactly does the good faith exception apply, and when does it not? What are the limits of the exception? Today’s post covers the basics of the Leon good faith exception. The Exception Covers More than Search Warrants. As noted above, Leon addressed a facially valid search warrant that was later found to lack probable cause. But the U.S. Supreme Court and [...]
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