Court Opinion

ID: 9541070
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:22:26.430621+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:02:29.486153
License: Public Domain

Liacos, J.
(concurring, with whom Abrams, J., joins). While I agree with the result reached by the court, I cannot join in that portion of the opinion of the plurality of the court (part 2) which treats the issue of the admissibility of evidence seized under a warrant admittedly defective.
My disagreement is specifically directed to the grudging acceptance of the exclusionary rule displayed by Justice Wilkins in his discussion of the law and the facts. Cf. Commonwealth v. Loughlin, 385 Mass. 60, 63 n.3 (1982) (“Doubt about the wisdom of the views of the Supreme Court... on the subject of illegal searches and seizures . . . hardly justifies ignoring those views when Fourth Amendment issues are raised in this court”). Moreover, the discussion by the plurality opinion does not accurately reflect either the facts of this case or the relevant legal principles. The plurality initially describes the question involved as one that is both “serious and challenging,” because it deals with a “police search conducted in good faith.” Supra at 488-489. Further, the plurality describes the issue as “whether an er*510ror of a magistrate, unrelated to police error, calls for the application of the exclusionary rule.” Supra at 503. The plurality then characterizes the error of the magistrate as one that occurred “negligently but in good faith” and as one not “rising above the level of negligence.” Supra at 503-504.
It is clear and established law that a warrant, albeit based on probable cause, must specifically describe the premises to be searched and the objects to be seized in order to be a valid basis of a search. Ybarra v. Illinois, 444 U.S. 85, 92 n.4 (1979). Lo-Ji Sales v. New York, 442 U.S. 319 (1979). Stanford v. Texas, 379 U.S. 476 (1965). Marcus v. Search Warrant of Property at 104 E. Tenth St., Kansas City, Mo., 367 U.S. 717 (1961). Marron v. United States, 275 U.S. 192, 196 (1927). Commonwealth v. Smith, 370 Mass. 335, cert. denied, 429 U.S. 944 (1976). Commonwealth v. Hall, 366 Mass. 790 (1975). The warrant herein had no reference whatsoever to the items sought to be seized, contrary to the requirements of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, art. 14 of the Declaration of Rights, and G. L. c. 276, § 2. Yet the plurality seeks to minimize this violation because of the alleged “good faith” of a magistrate in issuing this grossly defective warrant.
The motion judge ruled, and a majority of the court agrees, the search warrant was constitutionally defective and in violation of Federal and State law because it did not describe with particularity the items sought in the search.1 Supra at 489. See generally supra at 500 n.10. The court then concludes that the exclusionary rule requires the suppression of the evidence seized pursuant to the search warrant. Because, however, the plurality finds it necessary to engage in a gratuitous discussion of the wisdom of the rule in this instance, I am compelled to state my views on this issue.
*511I point out first that nowhere in the judge’s written findings is there a finding that the actions of the magistrate were merely negligent. Indeed, while the judge viewed the police as having acted in good faith,2 at the hearing on the motion he characterized the actions of the magistrate in these terms: “I saw this search warrant, and when I saw it I had to put my glasses on because I had not seen anything like that before. . . . [Tjhis warrant is so inappropriate [as] to be plainly unconstitutional,” under the State and Federal Constitutions.3 The judge viewed the warrant as a “general warrant” akin to the colonial “writs of assistance” which led to the enactment of art. 14 of the Massachusetts Constitution and the Fourth Amendment. He regarded the warrant as one that “flies right in the face of the Constitution.” He characterized the magistrate’s issuance of this warrant as a “judicial blunder.” In describing the warrant, he stated he had “never seen anything so plainly on its face a nullity.”
A reading of the search warrant in this case reveals that the judge’s views were not unduly harsh.4 Although the plurality agrees that the warrant nowhere described the things the police sought to seize and was thus unconstitutional, the plurality’s view of the magistrate’s error as being merely one of negligent good faith is supported neither by the record nor the findings of the motion judge. A proper legal definition of “good faith” involves not only a lack of malevolence,5 but also a reasonable effort to comply with the law. One commentator has defined the good faith “exception” as follows: “[W]hen an officer acts in the good faith belief that his conduct is constitutional and where he has a reasonable basis for that belief, the exclusionary rule will not operate” (emphasis added). Ball, Good Faith and *512the Fourth Amendment: The “Reasonable” Exception to the Exclusionary Rule, 69 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 635, 635 (1978). See United States v. Williams, 622 F.2d 830, 841 & n.4a (5th Cir. 1980) (en banc) (alternative holding), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1127 (1981) (recognizing that reasonable good faith exception must be grounded on an objective reasonableness). Cf. Commonwealth v. Sherry, 386 Mass. 682, 697 (1982) (mistake of fact defense requires an objective standard of reasonableness); Commonwealth v. Huffman, 385 Mass. 122, 126 (1982) (whether “exigent circumstances” present based on objective view of totality of circumstances). The magistrate who utterly fails to describe or even attempt to describe the things to be seized under the search warrant has not made a reasonable effort to comply with the law. Compare Commonwealth v. Rugaber, 369 Mass. 765 (1976).6 This is not a case of mere accidental violation of constitutional commands.
I turn now to the conduct of the police, which both the motion judge and the plurality find to have been in “good faith.” At the outset, it should be emphasized that an effort to characterize police conduct here as in “good faith” is again neither factually nor legally accurate. The evidence is undisputed that the officer seeking the warrant was an experienced officer who had been on the force for nineteen years, ten of which were as a detective. Other experienced officers were also present. Additionally, the district attorney reviewed the application typed by this officer, and the first assistant district attorney was present at the home of the magistrate when the warrant was issued. It is also undisputed that the form of the warrant used was that used *513under a narcotics statute repealed about eight years earlier. See G. L. c. 94, § 213, repealed by St. 1971, c. 1071, § 2 (now G. L. c. 94C, the Controlled Substances Act). All present at the magistrate’s home knew that the form warrant given to the judge was defective in form and substance. According to those present, the judge made only two alterations in this warrant,7 by changing the caption as to the issuing court and the name of the issuing magistrate.
Even if one puts aside the police officer’s experience, there is no justification in treating the “police” separately from the first assistant district attorney, a trained and experienced prosecutor. See Commonwealth v. St. Germain, 381 Mass. 256, 261 n.8 (1980) (police are also part of prosecution). To take the position that these law enforcement personnel acted in “good faith” is simply to say that no showing of evil intent has been proved. It cannot be said, however, that they acted reasonably when the officers, knowing from the start that the form warrant was improper, apparently never even read the warrant. Their acquiescence in the acts of the magistrate cannot be viewed as “good faith.” The plurality’s condonation of this default of responsibility by law enforcement personnel is particularly troubling.8 In using the approach it has taken, the plurality turns its back on the teaching of history and opens the door to the return of general warrants and writs of assistance.
1. Judicial error. Assuming, as does the plurality opinion, that what is involved in this case is not police error but rather judicial error, the plurality points to no cases wherein the supposed good faith but negligent act of a judge who *514issues a defective warrant is relevant in determining whether the evidence should be suppressed. As the appellate court of last resort in this State, our primary concern is to correct judicial error in all stages of a proceeding. I fail to understand why the “good faith” of a judge should make any difference in this case. Do we not always assume that the judges of all the various courts throughout the Commonwealth carry out their duties in good faith? If our standard of review is to be limited to examining the good faith of the judge, few cases would require reversal, and errors of law would stand uncorrected.
The plurality opinion appears to recognize that suppression of illegally seized evidence may encourage greater care by magistrates in the future, but expresses doubt as to the efficacy of such a rule in deterring judicial error. I strongly disagree with the plurality’s reasoning on this point. Our responsibility as the court of last resort in this Commonwealth requires that judicial violations of the Fourth Amendment find no sanction, express or implied, in our opinions. Unless this court “safeguards its own capacity to function and to preserve the security of its people, society itself could become so disordered that all rights and liberties would be endangered.” United States v. United States Dist. Court for the E. Dist. of Mich., 407 U.S. 297, 312 (1972). The language in today’s opinion will hardly encourage greater care by judges who issue search warrants. Indeed, the language of the plurality cannot but encourage negligent behavior, a hardly laudable characteristic of judicial conduct. Common sense tells me that greater care will be encouraged if the rule remains as it is, viz., evidence seized under an invalid warrant will be suppressed.
2. Prior Federal precedent. Acknowledging, as the plurality does, that the exclusionary rule has not been applied in all circumstances by the Supreme Court of the United States, does not answer the question whether it should be applied in this instance. Admittedly, the Supreme Court has refused to extend the exclusionary rule beyond that established in Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 *515(1961). See Alderman v. United States, 394 U.S. 165, 175 (1969). See also, cases cited by the plurality, supra at 501 n.13. The Supreme Court, however, has continued to apply “judicially created means of effectuating the rights secured by the Fourth Amendment.” Stone v. Powell, 428 U.S. 465, 482 (1976). Even those on the Supreme Court who have criticised the exclusionary rule have recognized that the rule should not be eliminated, absent a satisfactory alternative means of protecting Fourth Amendment values. Thus, despite the minority views cited by the plurality opinion, the Supreme Court has not taken the step the plurality appears to favor. Indeed, there is some recent indication that the Court would not accept a good faith exception to the exclusionary rule. See Taylor v. Alabama, 457 U.S. 687, 693 (1982) (expressly rejecting any good faith exception to exclusion of confession that was fruit of an illegal arrest).
The cases that have discussed a good faith exception to the exclusionary rule are significant to the points I have made. See Michigan v. DeFillippo, 443 U.S. 31 (1979); United States v. Peltier, 422 U.S. 531 (1975). In the Peltier case, the Court allowed admission of evidence obtained from a search and seizure where the officers had conducted the search in good faith reliance “upon a validly enacted statute, supported by longstanding administrative regulations and continuous judicial approval.” Id. at 541. Similarly, in DeFillippo, supra, the Court allowed admission of evidence seized pursuant to an arrest under an ordinance which was subsequently found invalid. So long as “the arrest was valid when made, the search was valid and the [contraband was] admissible in evidence.” 443 U.S. at 36. In both Peltier and DeFillippo, the searches were valid under the then existing law, and, more importantly, there were no search warrants involved. In the instant case, the search was invalid from the beginning.9 It is one thing to consider *516the reasonable good faith of law enforcement officials who proceed according to then existing legal standards that are later changed, and another to consider, in hindsight, the good intentions of a judge who issued a clearly defective warrant that was invalid at the time issued and is still invalid today. “[Cjlearly there is a crucial distinction between withholding [the exclusionary rule’s] cover from individuals whose Fourth Amendment rights have not been violated — as has been done in the ‘standing’ cases, . . . Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257 (1960) — and withdrawing its cover from persons whose Fourth Amendment rights have in fact been abridged.” United States v. Calan-dra, 414 U.S. 338, 364-365 (1974) (Brennan, J., dissenting).
Even assuming that there was a good faith exception for judicial error, it would not apply in this case. Permeating the plurality opinion is the assumption, which is plainly stated at one point in the text, supra at 503-504 that the *517judge acted “negligently but in good faith.” This is a contradiction in terms. The plurality acknowledges that the judge’s error “was a serious omission of constitutional significance.” Supra at 504 n.17. In the circumstances of this case, such error stemmed from a failure on the part of the judge to exercise reasonable care in issuing the warrant. Obviously, the judge did not read the warrant before handing it over to the police. Such behavior cannot be characterized as “good faith.” Indeed, Justice Rehnquist, the most vehement critic of the exclusionary rule on the Supreme Court of the United States, has recognized that the deterrent function of the exclusionary rule is served by proscribing negligent as well as wilful behavior: “The deterrent purpose of the exclusionary rule necessarily assumes that the police have engaged in willful, or at the very least negligent, conduct which has deprived the defendant of some right. By refusing to admit evidence gained as a result of such conduct, the courts hope to instill in those particular investigating officers, or in their future counterparts, a greater degree of care toward the rights of an accused. Where the official action was pursued in complete good faith, however, the deterrence rationale loses much of its force.” Michigan v. Tucker, 417 U.S. 433, 447 (1974). In order to be viewed as being in good faith, official action, though later proved to be erroneous, must have been undertaken with a greater degree of care than was exhibited in this case. See note 6, supra.
The recent opinions questioning the purposes and functions of the exclusionary rule, as it applies to good faith errors by arresting or searching officers, stress the problems that the exclusionary rule “poses to the policemen who must act on the firing line (unfortunately too often literally so) and under the need to make immediate law enforcement decisions without the luxury of deliberation.” United States v. Santucci, 509 F. Supp. 177, 182 (N.D. Ill. 1981), rev’d on other grounds, 674 F.2d 624 (7th Cir. 1982). The pressures of law enforcement cannot serve as an adequate basis for excusing judicial error. Cf. Santucci, supra at 182-183 *518(United States Attorney cannot invoke “policemen in the field” good faith exception to the exclusionary rule).
3. Judicial integrity. Although the plurality opinion asserts that the notion of preservation of “judicial integrity fails as a substantial, independent support for the [exclusionary] rule,” supra at 502, it fails to address adequately whether the imperative of judicial integrity, in this particular instance, would support invocation of the exclusionary rule. See Stone v. Powell, supra at 485 (judicial integrity has limited role in determining whether to apply exclusionary rule in a particular context). “The primary meaning of ‘judicial integrity’ in the context of evidentiary rules is that the courts must not commit or encourage violations of the Constitution.” United States v. Janis, 428 U.S. 433, 458-459 n.35 (1976).
One need only turn to history to recognize the dangers to society if the judiciary cannot, or will not, diligently and carefully protect the rights of individuals. See Marsh, Some Aspects of the German Legal System Under National Socialism, 62 Law Q. Rev. 366 (1946); Roetter, The Impact of Nazi Law, 1945 Wis. L. Rev. 516. See also Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944); L. Tribe, American Constitutional Law 1000 (1978).
The imperative of judicial integrity strikes me as being at the very core of Fourth Amendment values. It is appropriate to note, in this context, the impressive words of the Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics:
“Article 55. Citizens of the USSR are guaranteed inviolability of the home. No one may, without lawful grounds, enter a home against the will of those residing in it.
“Article 56. The privacy of citizens, and of their correspondence, telephone conversations, and telegraphic communications is protected by law.
“Article 57. Respect for the individual and protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens are the duty of all state bodies, public organisations, and officials.
*519“Citizens of the USSR have the right to protection by the courts against encroachments on their honour and reputation, life and health, and personal freedom and property.”
Constitution of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, in 16 Constitutions of the Countries of the World 29 (A. Blaustein & G. Flanz eds. 1982).
We take for granted the meaningless nature of these words because the courts of that nation cannot, or will not, implement them to protect the rights of their citizens. In contrast, John Adams said of James Otis’s argument against the colonial writs of assistance that “[t]hen and there was the first scene of the first Act of Opposition to the arbitrary Claims of Great Britain. Then and there the child Independence was born.” 2 Legal Papers of John Adams 107 (L. Wroth & H. Zobel eds. 1965).
In this case, the goal of preserving judicial integrity is a sufficient justification for applying the exclusionary rule, since it is a judge who committed the violation. “It is the duty of [judges] to be watchful for the constitutional rights of the citizen, and against any stealthy encroachments thereon.” Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 635 (1886).
What becomes of judicial integrity when three members of this court appear to condone the egregious judicial error involved in this case? And what is left of the most significant protection embedded at the core of the Fourth Amendment and art. 14 values, namely the role of a neutral and detached magistrate in determining the validity and terms of a search? See Lo-Ji Sales v. New York, 442 U.S. 319 (1979); Connally v. Georgia, 429 U.S. 245 (1977); Shadwick v. Tampa, 407 U.S. 345 (1972); Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443 (1971). The crucial role of a magistrate is to determine whether probable cause for a search warrant exists and, just as importantly, to describe with particularity the place to be searched and the things to be seized. Stanford v. Texas, 379 U.S. 476 (1965). Marcus v. Search *520Warrant of Property at 104 E. Tenth St., Kansas City, Mo., 367 U.S. 717 (1961).10
The particularity requirements of the Fourth Amendment are “precise and clear. They reflect the determination of those who wrote the Bill of Rights that the people of this new Nation should forever ‘be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects’ from intrusion and seizure by officers acting under the unbridled authority of a general warrant.” Stanford v. Texas, supra at 481. In the instant case, the plurality condones “a manifest neglect if not an open defiance of the prohibitions of the Constitution, intended for the protection of the people against such unauthorized action.” Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383, 394 (1914). Although “[t]he criminal goes free, if he must, . . . it is the law that sets him free. Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence.” Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. at 659.
The language the plurality opinion uses in reaching the correct result mandated by State and Federal law does unnecessary harm to a body of law now well-established in our jurisprudence. The case is “serious” but there is nothing “challenging” about this issue except the plurality’s unnecessary and unhappy incursion into a field of law well rooted in American history. One cannot but wonder as to the purpose of such treatment of an issue so clear cut. It would be well to keep in mind that what was involved here is a search of a home, the most sacrosanct of places under Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. “The Fourth Amendment protects the individual’s privacy in a variety of settings. In none is the zone of privacy more clearly defined than when bounded by the unambiguous physical dimensions of an individual’s home — a zone that finds its roots in clear and specific constitutional terms: ‘The right of the *521people to be secure in their . . . houses . . . shall not be violated.’ That language unequivocally establishes the proposition that ‘[a]t the very core [of the Fourth Amendment] stands the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion.’ Silverman v. United States, 365 U.S. 505, 511 [1961]. In terms that apply equally to seizures of property and to seizures of persons, the Fourth Amendment has drawn a firm line at the entrance to the house.” Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 589-590 (1980). The violations of the Fourth Amendment and our State laws involved here were not merely “negligent.” They were inexcusable.11 The warrant was clearly defective. The search of this dwelling was as though without a warrant. The evidence illegally obtained as a result must be suppressed without question.
*522APPENDIX
To the Justices of the Municipal Court of the Dorchester District for the transaction of crimiru "^District , holden in said business within the County of Suffolk __of Boston---in the County of Suffolk, Police Officer, on oath informs the said Court, that he has reason to believe that any controlled substance, article, implement or other paraphernalia used in, for, or in connection with die unlawful possession or use of any controlled substance, is kept or deposited by r person or persons unknown to the said -in certain rooms in the-g-ffD BASEMENT story of the building situated and numbered..... —fyg__ in- —DECKARD-S-T", ----sfrft in said city and within the judicial district of said Court and prays a Warrant to search there for the same. Received and sworn to before this Court, this_6-ICR......-.................... day of MATT______in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seventy - CZerJfe.
CEmnnummpalíh nf SzmHorlpmpiia
SUFFOLK, TO WIT:
To the Sheriff of our County of Suffolk, his Deputies, and the Constables and Police Officers of the City of Boston in said County: Greeting.
We command you, and each of you forthwith, with necessary and proper assistants, to enter iu the day time or in the night time in the----------------------------------— mentioned in the above information, and there diligently to search for any controlled substance, article, implement or other paraphernalia used in, for, or in connection with the unlawful possession or use of any controlled substance, and to seize and securely keep the same until final action, and to arrest the person or persons in whose possession it is found, together with all persons present if any of the aforesaid substances is found, and bring them before said Court to be dealt with according to law, and return this warrant with your doings thereon.
You are also commanded, in like manner, to notify the informant to appear and give evidence touching tile matter contained in the above complaint, when and where you have the said substances and persons or either of therp. _ sty/9-/J. 7~/C Mi-C7Ts¿-s0s* 'X ara u/ts/ Witness, -PAUL I1“I£'IMG, Esquire, at Boston, in said Burcherter-Bistrict, this ____day of-in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seventy—

 “Such particularity is necessary in order to identify . . . the things to be seized; it both defines and limits the scope of the search and seizure, thereby protecting individuals from general searches, which was the vice of the pre-Revolution writs of assistance.” Commonwealth v. Pope, 354 Mass. 625, 629 (1968).

I shall comment further on this point.

The judge also viewed the warrant as defective under G. L. c. 276, §§ 2, 2A.

 The warrant used in this murder investigation is reproduced as an appendix to this opinion.

I do not view the conduct of the magistrate, the police, or the office of the district attorney as malevolent.

 The plurality points out what, assumably, it believes to be the extenuating circumstances surrounding the issuance of this warrant. In my estimation, however, because everyone involved knew that they were dealing with an improper “form” warrant that had to be adapted to fit their purposes, extra care should have been taken to ensure that the warrant read properly. Thus, I would hold the officers and the magistrate to a higher standard of good faith based on the circumstances in this case which put them on notice that a defective warrant could easily be issued if proper care were not taken.

 The testimony of the officer who sought the warrant was that the visit with the judge took approximately twenty-five minutes with only three or four minutes to change the form.

 The plurality also stresses that the search, as actually carried out, was within the limits that the police understood the warrant to permit, supra at 503, and, in any event, the occupants of the defendant’s household did not actually read the warrant, supra at 494. Both of these factors appear to be irrelevant in light of our recent decision in Commonwealth v. Taylor, 383 Mass. 272, 277-278 (1981).

The plurality’s reference to the “good faith” exception relied on in United States v. Williams, 622 F.2d 830 (5th Cir. 1980) (en banc), cert. *516denied, 449 U.S. 1127 (1981), is less than illuminating. The court in Williams stated: “No warrant is involved here, hence nothing that we say applies to factual situations where one has been obtained.” Id. at 840 n.l. Additionally, the Williams majority made it clear that good faith alone was not sufficient; the officer’s acts had to be “reasonable” as well. Id. at 841 n.4a. No justification can be found in Williams for applying its principle to negligent acts, such as are here involved.
The decision in Williams was “unusual.” Abell v. Commonwealth, 221 Va. 607, 616 (1980). Sixteen members of the twenty-four judge court held that evidence seized incident to an arrest should not be suppressed because the arrest was valid. 622 F.2d at 839. Thirteen members of the court, including some of those who joined in the first holding, united in an alternative holding that, even if the arrest were invalid, the exclusionary rule would not be applied because the officer acted under a reasonable good faith belief that the arrest was lawful. Id. at 846-847. Ten judges, in a concurring opinion, including some of those who joined in the first holding, objected to the majority’s alternative holding. The concurrers chastised the court for lack of judicial restraint in writing an alternative holding not necessary to resolve the case, as the entire court agreed that the arrest was valid. The concurrers also asserted that the conclusions reached by the court in the second holding were supported only by dissenting opinions and law review articles. The Williams case has had, at best, a sparse following. Most importantly, the Williams court was dealing with reasonable conduct, not the kind of conduct here involved.

 One should not have to add that, in every one of the decisions cited here which involves a defective warrant issued by a magistrate, the fruits of the search conducted under the authority of the defective warrant were suppressed.

I point out also that despite the plurality’s attempt to excuse the conduct here on the ground that the defendant was “at liberty” (supra at 497) and that there was need for “prompt action” (supra at 504 n.17), the evidence shows that an arrest warrant had been issued for the defendant, and that the police knew he was not at home and dispatched a team of officers who arrested him at another place at the same time the search under the defective warrant was conducted.