Adams v. State

383 S.E.2d 378, 191 Ga. App. 916, 1989 Ga. App. LEXIS 836

Opinions

Carley, Chief Judge.

Appellant was tried before a jury and found guilty of bribery, trafficking in cocaine, and possession of marijuana. He appeals from the judgments of conviction and sentences entered by the trial court on the jury’s guilty verdicts.

The sole enumeration is that the trial court erred in its denial of appellant’s motion to suppress the cocaine and marijuana. The contraband was found in appellant’s residence during a search which was conducted pursuant to a warrant. The contention is that the supporting affidavit was insufficient to authorize the magistrate’s issuance of a warrant to search appellant’s residence.

Assuming without deciding that the affidavit did not provide the issuing magistrate with probable cause to believe that contraband would be found in appellant’s residence, the exclusionary rule has nevertheless been “ ‘modified so as not to bar the admission of evidence seized in reasonable, good-faith reliance on a search warrant that is subsequently held to be defective.’ ” United States v. Leon, 468 U. S. 897, 905 (104 SC 3405, 82 LE2d 677) (1984). “It is the magistrate’s responsibility to determine whether the officer’s allegations establish probable cause and, if so, to issue a warrant comporting in form with the requirements of the Fourth Amendment. In the ordinary case, an officer cannot be expected to question the magistrate’s probable-cause determination. . . .” United States v. Leon, supra at 921. “ ‘[A] warrant issued by a magistrate normally suffices to establish’ that a law enforcement officer has ‘acted in good faith in conducting the search.’ [Cit.]” United States v. Leon, supra at 922. “In the absence of an allegation that the magistrate abandoned his detached and neutral role, suppression is appropriate only if the officers were dishonest or reckless in preparing their affidavit or could not have harbored an objectively reasonable belief in the existence of probable cause.” United States v. Leon, supra at 926.

There are no allegations that, in issuing the warrant to search appellant’s residence, the magistrate abandoned his detached and neutral role. There is no evidence that the affiant was dishonest or reckless in preparing the affidavit or that he could not have harbored an objectively reasonable belief in the existence of probable cause to search appellant’s residence. “[T]he [officer’s] reliance on the magistrate’s determination of probable cause was objectively reasonable, and application of the extreme sanction of exclusion is inappropriate.” United States v. Leon, supra at 926. The trial court correctly denied appellant’s motion to suppress.

Judgments affirmed.

McMurray, P. J., concurs. Beasley, J., concurs specially.