Opinion ID: 2117993
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Effects of Illegal Search

Text: The State urges that we recognize and apply the good faith exception carved out by the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Leon (1984), 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677, reh'g. den. 468 U.S. 1250, 105 S.Ct. 52, 82 L.Ed.2d 942. The State reasons that conceding the warrant to have been invalidly issued, the officers who executed it were acting in good faith. Therefore, the State contends that the evidence obtained should not be suppressed. We disagree. In Blalock v. State (1985), 483 N.E.2d 439, this Court, in dicta, recognized the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule articulated in Leon. That good faith exception, however, cannot be so broadly construed as to obliterate the exclusionary rule. The Leon Court itself recognized the limited applicability of the good faith exception in holding that: Suppression therefore remains an appropriate remedy if the magistrate or judge in issuing a warrant was misled by information in an affidavit that the affiant knew was false or would have known was false except for his reckless disregard of the truth. 468 U.S. at 923, 104 S.Ct. at 3421. The State urges that the trial judge should be the sole determiner of whether or not Houck had acted in good faith in preparing the affidavit. Although we agree with this general proposition, we also must fulfill our role as an appellate tribunal and determine whether the record reveals such inconsistencies between the anonymous telephone call and the allegations of fact sworn to by Houck that, at best, reveal a reckless disregard of the truth in the preparation of the affidavit. The facts contained in this record force us to conclude that the search warrant in this case was obtained as a result of an affidavit that Houck either knew was false or would have known was false but for a reckless disregard for the truth. During the suppression hearing, Houck testified that he was unaware that the telephone conversation was being taped, and that he made mistakes. Houck's testimony may very well have been truthful, but his lack of mens rea in preparing the affidavit cannot change the fact that the affidavit so flagrantly misrepresented the nature of Houck's knowledge so as to render the judge's issuance of a warrant based on such affidavit a nullity. Therefore, we must conclude that all evidence obtained as a result of the invalid warrant must be suppressed. This, logically, applies equally to the search of Dolliver's automobile and person because, as the State admits, neither would have occurred but for the discovery of drugs in Dolliver's trailer. Clearly, all of the evidence requested to be suppressed constitutes fruit of the poisonous tree and, therefore, should be excluded. Wong Sun v. United States (1963), 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441.