Herring v. United States

129 S.Ct. 695 (2009)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D had driven to the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department to retrieve something from his impounded truck. Police made a check for any outstanding warrants for D's arrest. They then checked in a neighboring County. They were informed there was an active arrest warrant for D’s failure to appear on a felony charge. Police asked to fax over a copy of the warrant as confirmation. As D left the impound lot, police pulled him over and arrested him. A search incident to the arrest revealed methamphetamine in D’s pocket and a pistol (which as a felon he could not possess) in his vehicle. It turns out a mistake had been made. When police in the other county went to retrieve the actual warrant to fax they were unable to find it. It turned out that the warrant had been recalled five months earlier. For whatever reason, the information about the recall of the warrant for D did not appear in the database. Police were immediately notified. This entire event occurred within 10 to 15 minutes, but D had already been arrested and found with the gun and drugs, just a few hundred yards from the sheriff’s office. D was indicted and moved to suppress the evidence on the ground that his initial arrest had been illegal because the warrant had been rescinded. This was denied because the officers had acted in a good-faith belief that the warrant was still outstanding. D was convicted and appealed. The Eleventh Circuit held that the officers were entirely innocent of any wrongdoing or carelessness and affirmed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.