Supreme Court rules 6-3: evidence from a bad warrant stands if officers trusted it in good faith

In August 1981, Burbank police got a tip on suspected drug dealers Patsy Stewart and Armando Sanchez, watched their houses, and traced the operation to Ricardo Del Castillo and Alberto Leon. A detective wrote an affidavit and a judge signed off on a search warrant. On July 5, 1984, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that even though the warrant was later found invalid for lacking probable cause, the evidence it turned up could still be used because the officers had relied on it in good faith. Justice Byron White wrote the majority opinion; Justice William Brennan dissented, joined by Justice Thurgood Marshall…