As previously posted, on September 24, 2014, the Supreme Court of Ohio is hearing oral argument in the case of State of Ohio v. Sudinia Johnson, 2013-1973. At issue in this case is whether, in the absence of binding appellate precedent, the Davis good faith exception to the exclusionary rule can apply to prevent the suppression of evidence when the officer who committed the Fourth Amendment violation reasonably believed the search was legal.
A useful companion piece to this oral argument preview is this March 27, 2014 U.C. Law Review blog post entitled “No ‘Good Faith” Required: The Broad Interpretation of the Davis Good-Faith Exception to the Exclusionary Rule,” authored by Cameron Downer, now a third year law student at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Cam was also the student contributor to this blog’s oral argument preview post on the Johnson case.