Kenneth R. Friend v. United States
CriminalProcedure Privacy
Does the good-faith-exception apply to wiretap-statute-violations?
QUESTIONS PRESENTED FOR REVIEW It is uncontested that the wiretap orders in Mr. Friend’s case do not contain the proper name of the Deputy Assistant Attorney General who authorized the applications for those orders. Despite that fact, the Eighth Circuit held that the executing officers were entitled to rely on them under the good faith exception to the warrant requirement, and alternatively that they were sufficient. The case thus presents the following questions: 1. Does the good faith exception to the warrant requirement established in United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897 (1984), apply to warrants issued in violation of the wiretap statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2518? 2. Is a warrant which does not contain the proper name of the Deputy Assistant Attorney General who authorized the applications for those orders, and does not describe the authorizing officer in a way which could apply to only one person, sufficient on its face as required by 18 U.S.C. § 2518 and Dahda v. United States, 138 S.Ct. 1491, 1498 (2018)? 1