MPOETC Act 120 Practice Exam 2025 – Complete Test Prep Guide

The case known for establishing the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule is United States v. Leon. In this landmark decision, the Supreme Court ruled that evidence obtained by law enforcement officers acting in reasonable reliance on a search warrant that is later found to be defective does not have to be excluded from trial if the officers were acting in good faith. This decision aimed to balance the need to deter police misconduct with the need to ensure that law enforcement can effectively carry out their duties without the fear that evidence they reasonably believed to be valid would be deemed inadmissible simply because of a technical error.

The good faith exception acknowledges that not all violations of the Fourth Amendment warrant the exclusion of evidence, especially when law enforcement has attempted to follow the laws and procedures but made a mistake that was not intentional. This case is significant in the context of the exclusionary rule, which prohibits the use of obtained evidence in violation of a person's constitutional rights, as it allows for the admission of evidence under certain circumstances where law enforcement's actions are deemed reasonable.