Good-faith exception doesn’t apply to search of wrong iPhone

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the suppression of evidence from an iPhone that federal agents seized and searched knowing that it was different from the device specified in the search warrant they were executing.

The warrant was for a gray Apple iPhone 6s 64GB. When agents from Homeland Security Investigations executed the warrant, they seized the phone in the defendant’s possession, an iPhone 13 Pro Max.

The defendant moved to suppress the evidence discovered on the iPhone 13, which was allowed by a U.S. District Court judge.

“According to the government, the evidence obtained from the iPhone 13 is admissible under the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule. But on the facts before us, viewed in the light most favorable to the district court’s ruling, we conclude that the government has not met its ‘heavy burden’ of demonstrating that the HSI agents acted with objective good faith,” Judge Julie Rkelman wrote for the three-judge 1st Circuit panel.

“Specifically, we find objective good faith lacking because (1) the warrant unambiguously described the iPhone 6s as the device to be searched and (2) the agents realized immediately that they had seized a different model iPhone but made no effort to resolve the discrepancy between the device they seized and the device listed in the warrant,” she stated.

The agents proceeded to search a different electronic device from the one specified in the warrant, the panel observed.

“Thus, they did not ‘refrain[] from searching the wrong’ device. … Exclusion is warranted to deter such conduct in the future,” Rikelman wrote.

The 25-page decision is United States v. González-Arocho, Lawyers Weekly No. 01-148-26.