United States v. Mario De Leon-Reyna

KING, Circuit Judge,

concurring in the judgment:

As Judge Thornberry’s thoughtful dissent points out, the rationale employed by the majority to reach the conclusion that the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies in this case also supports the conclusion that the stop in this case met the “reasonableness” requirement of the fourth amendment, and I would decide the case on the latter basis. The Supreme Court’s cases on the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule (which post-date our Williams decision) feature an external source, e.g., a warrant or a statute, on which the officer could rely. Because it is unnecessary to do so in this case, I see no need to extend those cases to the stop at issue here, which does not contain such a source. I therefore concur in the judgment.