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Scullys’ involvement with and monitoring of court denied Scully’s motion to suppress, finding
Nataporn and her companies. that “law enforcement’s activities [were]
Note 1: The description stated in full: reasonable within the Fourth Amendment” and
The location of the premises is at the address of “not in violation of the good faith exception.”
1015 East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, CA 95062 and First, Scully argues that the district court erred in
is described as follows: admitting evidence seized from his home office
• It is a white, wooden, one story residence with because the search violated the Fourth
green trimming. There is a small wrap-around Amendment. He claims that the officers exceeded
driveway that has one way in and out. A small sign the scope of the warrant when they searched the
with house number “1015” is hanging in front of home office behind his house at 1015½ East Cliff
the house from the roof of the porch. The front Drive because the warrant4 described only the
door has a screen door with green trimming. primary residence at 1015 East Cliff Drive. The
• There are large bay-windows in the front left of Government argues that the good-faith exception
the residence. to the exclusionary rule applies because the agents
• Residences are only located on the northbound did not commit the sort of deliberate, reckless, or
side of East Cliff Drive. grossly negligent violation that would warrant
• Facing the residence from the street, there isn’t a suppression, and, alternatively, that the good-faith
house on the right side. The home is covered by exception is unnecessary because the warrant
trees. adequately described the location the agents
searched, and therefore the search did not violate
Scully moved to suppress the evidence seized the Fourth Amendment.
from his office, arguing that the search of the
office was unreasonable under the Fourth We review “de novo the reasonableness of an
Amendment because it had a separate street officer’s reliance upon a warrant issued by a
address not listed on the warrant and because the magistrate.” When evaluating a motion to
physical description of the property contained in suppress, “[w]e consider the evidence in the light
the warrant described only the primary residence most favorable to the verdict, and accept the
and not the separate home office. At a hearing, district court’s factual findings unless clearly
Scully presented evidence showing that Pacific erroneous or influenced by an incorrect view of
Gas and Electric had the primary residence and the law.”
home office listed as separate accounts at separate
addresses. Agent Hardeman testified that while he In United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897 (1984),
knew there was a small apartment/office located “the Supreme Court held that the Fourth
behind the primary residence, he did not know that Amendment does not require the suppression of
the buildings had separate addresses and did not evidence obtained as a result of objectively
investigate whether the separate buildings had reasonable reliance on a warrant, even if the
separate addresses or utilities. Agent Ploetz did warrant is subsequently invalidated.” “We
not check with the post office to see if the home employ a two-step process for reviewing a district
office had a separate address. The agents court’s denial of a motion to suppress when a
explained that they had treated the front house and search warrant is involved.” Id. We first
home office as part of the same location during the “determine whether the good-faith exception to
search, that they did not realize that there was such the exclusionary rule announced in [Leon]
an address as 1015½, and that they had sought and applies,” and if it does, the analysis ends. Id. “If
executed the warrant in good faith. The district not, we proceed to the second step, in which we
May/June 2020 www.texaspoliceassociation.com • (512) 458-3140 31