United States v. Bell

Before MANION, WOOD, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

After receiving information from confidential informants indicating that LC Bell was involved in the sale of crack cocaine, law enforcement officers from the East Central Illinois Task Force obtained and executed a warrant to search Bell’s residence. There, they found crack cocaine and two handguns. Bell moved to suppress the evidence obtained during the search, arguing that the warrant was not supported by probable cause. The district court concluded that although a close call, the affidavit submitted in support of the search warrant established probable cause. We disagree. Because the affidavit failed to establish the reliability of the informants, and the law enforcement officers did not sufficiently corroborate the informants’ reports, the warrant was not supported by probable cause. Nevertheless, the evidence is admissible under the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule. See United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897 (1984). Therefore, we affirm the district court’s denial of Bell’s motion to suppress. How-ever, we order a limited remand for the district court to determine if it would have issued a different sentence in light of its new-found discretion under Kimbrough v. United States, 128 S.Ct. 558 (2007).