ohio supreme court Toledo arrest warrants ruled unconstitutional

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Toledo’s municipal court has been improperly issuing arrest warrants for 17 years, a “flagrant” violation of protections against illegal searches and seizures, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

The local court should revamp its process for issuing arrest warrants, but police officers acted in good faith and the warrants themselves were valid, the high court said.

At issue in the 6-1 decision were three warrants granted in 2011 for a man later charged with aggravated murder.

Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger said Toledo Municipal Court was issuing warrants without requiring police to provide the source of allegations against the targets of the warrants, facts she called “seriously disturbing.”

“The uncontested evidence is that for at least 17 years, deputy clerks in the Toledo Municipal Court have not determined probable cause before issuing arrest warrants — a flagrant Fourth Amendment violation,” Justice Lanzinger wrote for the majority.

She said the municipal court should ensure that future warrants provide what’s known as probable cause, or officers’ explanation for their belief that a person committed a crime. In addition, Toledo law- enforcement officers no longer can execute those warrants without a magistrate determining whether the warrants are valid, Justice Lanzinger added.

The Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office welcomes the decision because it upheld the conviction, said assistant prosecutor Evy Jarrett. The court recognized “the good faith of the police officers in the execution of the warrants,” she said.

Prosecutors had argued against rejecting the warrants, saying rules preventing the use of illegally obtained evidence are meant to deter misconduct by police, not courts.

Prosecutors also said police would have uncovered the evidence needed to arrest the murder suspect anyway once search warrants were issued.

Justice Paul Pfeifer dissented, saying the warrants were unconstitutional and police had to have known that.