Court Opinion

ID: 9675172
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:44:01.862337+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:31.929174
License: Public Domain

Wright, J.,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. In my opinion, the majority has misapplied the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule as articulated in United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S. Ct. 3405, 82 L. Ed. 2d 677 (1984).
The Court held in Leon that evidence need not be suppressed when the police obtain it through objective good faith reliance on a facially valid warrant that is later found to lack probable cause. In applying this exception to the exclusionary rule, it is necessary to consider the objective reasonableness of the officers who provide information material to the probable cause determination. Id. The test for objective reasonableness is *217whether the affidavit supporting the warrant was sufficient to create disagreement among thoughtful and competent judges as to the existence of probable cause. Id.; State v. Parmar, 231 Neb. 687, 437 N.W.2d 503 (1989).
It is particularly disturbing in the present case that the majority gives no weight to the finding of probable cause by the lower court judges in determining whether the officer acted with objective reasonableness. Investigator Svoboda’s good faith belief in the existence of probable cause was confirmed by the judge who issued the warrant. The district court judge affirmed this probable cause finding at the suppression hearing. The Court of Appeals held that although the affidavit lacked probable cause, Investigator Svoboda’s actions were objectively reasonable. This demonstrates overwhelmingly that Investigator Svoboda was objectively reasonable in believing that the affidavit established probable cause.
In my view, disagreement among thoughtful and competent judges as to the existence of probable cause should be accorded substantial evidentiary weight in any case where the objective reasonableness of an officer’s actions is at issue. The purpose of the exclusionary rule is to deter police misconduct. Leon, supra. Suppression of evidence obtained pursuant to a warrant should be ordered only in those unusual cases where exclusion will further the purposes of the rule. Id. Where the officer’s conduct is objectively reasonable, excluding the evidence will not further the ends of the exclusionary rule in any appreciable way. Id.
In the case at bar, the affidavit creates a reasonable belief that Reeder was a drug dealer who had made a very recent sale to a known user and regular customer. Thoughtful, competent judges disagreed as to whether this affidavit supported a finding of probable cause. The majority cites no evidence of bad faith or recklessness on the part of Investigator Svoboda. Accordingly, I would allow the evidence obtained by the officers and would affirm Reeder’s convictions.
Connolly, J., joins in this dissent.