[DO NOT PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

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No. 16-13009

Non-Argument Calendar

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D.C. Docket No. 1:15-cr-00231-KD-N-1

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

 Plaintiff-Appellee,

 versus

WILLIE JAMES HENRY, 

 Defendant-Appellant.

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Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Southern District of Alabama

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(March 17, 2017)

Before HULL, WILSON, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM: 

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Willie James Henry appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to 

suppress evidence found during a search of an apartment believed to be his 

residence. Police sought the warrant in the course of an investigation of a string of 

gas station robberies. Three firearms were found in the residence during the 

search, and Henry was a convicted felon. On appeal, Henry argues that the search 

warrant sought by Detective Deon Thornton was not supported by probable cause 

and that the good-faith exception to exclusion under United States v. Leon, 468 

U.S. 897 (1984), should not have been applied. He contends that there was no 

minimally sufficient nexus between the illegal activity and the place to be 

searched. Further, he asserts that the officers’ mere observation of him entering

the apartment once, without seeing him use a key or carry anything inside, was 

insufficient to connect him to the apartment.

We review de novo whether the good-faith exception to the exclusionary 

rule applies, but the underlying facts upon which that determination is based will 

be overturned only if they are clearly erroneous. United States v. Robinson, 336 

F.3d 1293, 1295 (11th Cir. 2003). 

The exclusionary rule is a judicially created remedy designed to safeguard 

Fourth Amendment rights through its deterrent effect, and requires that evidence 

obtained through an illegal search may not be used by the government in a 

subsequent criminal prosecution. United States v. Martin, 297 F.3d 1308, 1312 

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(11th Cir. 2002). The Supreme Court created a good-faith exception to this rule, 

stating that courts generally should not hold inadmissible evidence obtained by 

officers acting in reasonable reliance upon a search warrant later found to be 

unsupported by probable cause or technically insufficient. Leon, 468 U.S. at 922. 

The Leon good-faith exception does not apply where the warrant is so lacking in 

indicia of probable cause that official belief in its validity is entirely unreasonable. 

Id. at 923.

Searches pursuant to a warrant will rarely require any deep inquiry into 

reasonableness, for a warrant issued by a magistrate normally suffices to establish 

that a law enforcement officer has acted in good faith in conducting the search. Id. 

at 922. The good-faith exception requires suppression of the evidence only if the 

law enforcement officers executing the warrant in question could not have 

harbored an objectively reasonable belief in the existence of probable cause. 

Martin, 297 F.3d at 1313. We will determine, under the totality of the 

circumstances, whether a reasonably well-trained officer would have relied upon 

the warrant. United States v. Taxacher, 902 F.2d 867, 872 (11th Cir. 1990).

The district court did not err by concluding that the good-faith Leon 

exception applied, because Detective Thornton could have harbored an objectively 

reasonable belief in the existence of probable cause. See Martin, 297 F.3d at 

1313. The affidavit established a connection between the ongoing robberies and 

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Henry, there was some basis for Detective Thornton to believe that Henry resided 

at the searched apartment, and it was not unreasonable for Detective Thornton to 

expect that items involved in the robberies could be found in Henry’s residence. 

Given that a warrant issued by a magistrate normally suffices to establish that a 

law enforcement officer acted in good faith, the warrant’s issuance combined with 

the lack of questioning by the issuing judge is another indication of good faith by 

Detective Thornton. See Leon, 468 U.S. at 922. Looking at the totality of the 

circumstances, a reasonably well-trained officer would have relied on the search 

warrant, and it does not so lack indicia of probable cause as to render belief in the 

possibility of probable cause entirely unreasonable. See id. at 923; Taxacher, 902 

F.2d at 872. Accordingly, we affirm.

AFFIRMED.

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