Leonard

After his motion to suppress evidence was denied, defendant submitted “slow pleas” to cultivating marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale. (Health & Saf. Code, §§ 11358, 11359.) Found guilty by the court and placed on four years’ formal probation defendant appeals, challenging the denial of his suppression motion. He claims the search warrant was infirm because the information upon which it was obtained was not verified under penalty of perjury. Although we agree the warrant was defective as alleged, we conclude that under the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule as set out in United States v. Leon (1984) 468 U.S. 897 [ 82 L.Ed.2d 677 , 104 S.Ct. 3405 ], the suppression motion was properly denied.

On May 13, 1994, Butte County Deputy Sheriff Shane Redmond sought a warrant to search all buildings and grounds at 95 Shane Court, Berry Creek. A “Statement of Probable Cause” was submitted to the magistrate. The statement recounted the training and experience of Officer Redmond in marijuana cases as a member of the sheriff’s special enforcement unit and included the following information.

The district attorney’s office recently received information from an…