What does the Good Faith Exception state?

• A. It makes no difference to evidence validity
• B. It requires suppression of evidence obtained under any defective warrant
• C. It applies to civil cases only
• D. It allows admission of evidence obtained in reasonable reliance on a warrant that is later found invalid

Answer: (D)

The Good Faith Exception says that evidence obtained by officers who rely reasonably on a warrant, even if that warrant is later found to be invalid, can still be admitted in court. This recognizes that prosecutors shouldn’t be punished for police diligence that appeared proper at the moment the search or seizure took place. The rule comes from the idea that suppressing such evidence would not effectively deter serious police misconduct if the officers acted in good faith and with a reasonably reasonable belief the warrant was valid. There are limits, though: if the warrant was so deficient that no reasonable officer would rely on it, or if the magistrate wholly failed to perform his role, the exception does not apply. In short, it allows the evidence to be used when the police acted reasonably under the circumstances, even though the warrant turns out to be invalid.