Court Opinion

ID: 9489107
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:05:59.474988+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:19.588652
License: Public Domain

NATHANIEL R. JONES, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I fully concur in Parts B and C of the opinion, and likewise concur in Part A, excepting the last paragraph. I write separately to briefly explain my concern.
The court’s discussion on [p. 949] of United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984) is unnecessary after determining that the warrant and search, relating to evidence of a crime, were valid. To reach this issue the court must assume that the warrant was defective, and under the facts of this case, the warrant could be defective only if it did not relate to the commission of a crime. As we have not decided the broader issue of whether a warrant must relate only to the commission of a crime to satisfy the Fourth Amendment, it is unwise to assume such in dictum. Further, it is not at all clear to me, given the court’s assumption, valid or not, that the doctrines of Leon and related cases would apply here.