Supreme Court of the United States

United States v. Leon

September 18, 1984468 U.S. 897

Summary

The Court held that evidence obtained by police officers in objectively reasonable, good‑faith reliance on a search warrant that is later found to be defective is admissible in the prosecution’s case‑in‑chief, thereby creating a good‑faith exception to the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule. The decision reversed the Ninth Circuit and affirmed the judgment of the district court on the merits of the criminal prosecutions.