Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Does the good faith rule apply if they had no warrant?

There are several doctrines which might be called good faith rules, so I can't be sure which you have in mind.

The one which comes up most often is the good faith exception to the requirement that warrants only issue where there is probable cause. This exception was approved by the Supreme Court in United States v. Leon (1984) 468 U.S. 897 and means that, when police execute a warrant which should not have been issued but which they reasonably believe is valid, the evidence they find will usually be admissible. By definition, this cannot apply when there is no warrant.

But in many situations the police don't need a warrant to make an arrest or conduct a search. If they believe in good faith that they are in such a situation then the resulting arrest or search will usually be valid.

The same is true in mistaken-identity cases, where police honestly and reasonably believe they are arresting one person (and/or searching or seizing her property) but are actually searching (and/or seizing) someone else.

Re: Does the good faith rule apply if they had no warrant?

The "good faith" exception is largely considered to be the "Leon" exception, previously described very well by Mr. Hoffman. The theory behind courts suppressing evidence is to take away the incentive for law enforcement to carry out unlawful searches and seizures by denying them the ability to use the evidence they find in a court of law. However,the Supreme Court recognized in United States versus Leon that where law enforcement officers are acting in good faith, believing that a judge knew what he was doing when he issued a search warrant, the deterrent effect is no longer present. In other words the court is not going to deter any unlawful searches or seizures by police officers, where the only mistake was that of the judge in issuing the search warrant in the first place. The Court, in Leon, (argued by Los Angeles attorney Barry Tarlow) held that if the officers acted in good faith in reliance on the validity of the warrant, the search was reasonable, hence lawful, even though the warrant should not have been issued. There are many exceptions to this so-called "Leon exception."