Franks v. Delaware

438 U.S. 154 (1978)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

A woman reported to police that she had been confronted in her home by a man with a knife and that the man had sexually assaulted her. She gave a description of the man. Franks (D) had been taken into custody for an assault against a 15-year-old girl six days earlier. D made a statement to the youth officer with him that he was surprised that the complaint was about the younger girl instead of Bailey. This was mentioned to police, and they got a search warrant for D's apartment. The warrant contained statements about the dress of D and their investigation of D's dress. The police searched the apartment and found clothing and a knife that fit the description of Bailey's assailant. D made a motion at trial to suppress the evidence based on the fact that the information sworn to in the warrant was knowingly false and that there had never been an investigation of D's dress of statements by anyone alluding to his clothing. The trial court refused to allow D to question the veracity of the statements in the warrant. D was convicted and appealed.