Opinion ID: 2329093
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Preliminary Observation

Text: The fact that the state police opted to proceed by seeking an arrest warrant rather than by simply making an immediate arrest on the scene is not at all insignificant as we consider the facts of this case in the light of the controlling principles of law. Just as is the case with respect to searches conducted pursuant to a warrant, it is our view that, in close cases concerning the validity of an arrest, the benefit of the doubt should go to the authorities who have obtained a warrant from a neutral judicial officer before making the arrest. See United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 106, 85 S.Ct. 741, 13 L.Ed.2d 684 (1965) (citing with approval the principle that in a doubtful or marginal case a search under a warrant may be sustainable where without one it would fall); see also Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 699, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996) (The Fourth Amendment demonstrates a `strong preference for searches conducted pursuant to a warrant,'    and the police are more likely to use the warrant process if the scrutiny applied to a magistrate's probable-cause determination to issue a warrant is less than that for warrantless searches. Were we to eliminate this distinction, we would eliminate the incentive.); Ventresca, 380 U.S. at 108, 85 S.Ct. 741 (A grudging or negative attitude by reviewing courts toward warrants will tend to discourage police officers from submitting their evidence to a judicial officer before acting.); Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 270, 80 S.Ct. 725, 4 L.Ed.2d 697 (1960); Golino v. City of New Haven, 950 F.2d 864, 870 (2d Cir.1991) (Normally, the issuance of a warrant by a neutral magistrate, which depends on a finding of probable cause, creates a presumption that it was objectively reasonable for the officers to believe that there was probable cause,    and a plaintiff who argues that a warrant was issued on less than probable cause faces a heavy burden   .). [4]