United States v. Lopez

OPINION OF THE COURT

RIVES, Judge:

Staff Sergeant Frank Lopez’ commander suspected him of an offense; he guessed that evidence of the crime may be in Lopez’ dormitory room. The commander’s suspicions did not rise to the level of a probable cause basis to believe the evidence would be in the room. Nonetheless, under cover of the commander’s search authorization, Lopez’ room was searched and evidence was seized. Facing the issue of whether the “good faith” exception to the exclusionary rule will validate the search and permit the evidence to be admitted, we hold that it does not.

Lopez was tried…