UNITED STATES v. CATHCART (2019)

MEMORANDUM *

The United States appeals the district court's grant of Jason Cathcart's motion to suppress evidence of child pornography found pursuant to a search warrant. The district court concluded the warrant was not supported by probable cause and the good faith exception did not apply. Because the parties are familiar with the facts, we will not recite them here. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we reverse.

We need not reach the question of probable cause in this case. Even if the warrant lacked probable cause, the good faith exception to the Fourth Amendment's exclusionary rule applies. United States v. Elmore, 917 F.3d 1068, 1076 (9th Cir. 2019) (holding that the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule is especially likely to be applicable “when an officer acting with objective good faith has obtained a search warrant from a judge or magistrate and acted within its scope” (quoting United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 920, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984))). The affidavit supporting the warrant at issue here contained more evidence than the bare inference present in United States v. Needham, 718 F.3d 1190, 1194-95 (9th Cir. 2013). Because a reasonable law enforcement officer acting in good faith could conclude there was probable cause to search Cathcart's devices, we reverse the district court's order granting Cathcart's motion to suppress.

REVERSED.