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'Not consistent with anything I've seen': Retired judge weighs in on DOJ report revealing officers seek out rubber stamp

Search warrants were one of the nine issues the Department of Justice highlighted in their online informational meeting explaining their findings to the public.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) report detailing failures by the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) extends beyond the officers themselves, putting the local justice system under the microscope.

Hours after the findings were published, DOJ officials -- including U.S. attorneys in Louisville -- highlighted search warrants as being one of nine major issues they found.

They suggested some of the duty falls on judges who've 'routinely' signed off on search warrants that were far too broad to hold weight.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Malloy says while much of the blame goes to poor supervision within LMPD, she noted a pattern with those approving the warrants themselves.

"The applications frequently lack the specificity and the detail that is necessary in order to establish probable cause for the search," Malloy said.

She said that although Jefferson County has a rotating schedule for judges to review warrant applications, LMPD does not follow the court schedule.

"Of the warrants in our sample, officers rarely sought approval from 19 of the 30 judges," she said. "Just six of the judges alone approve more than half of the warrants in our sample."

The insinuation is judges in Louisville hold some of the responsibility.

Retired Circuit Court judge Charles Cunningham questions some of the wording in the report.

"One concern I have from a very brief review is they use the word 'routinely' and 'frequently' about some stuff [and] I don't know what they mean by that," Cunningham said. "If by 'frequently,' they mean every other time, [then] that's not consistent with anything I've seen."

   

Cunningham says it's typically district court judges who approve police search warrants, so it's difficult for him to speculate whether officers are knowingly taking shaky warrants to particular judges thinking they will be more "friendly."

He says he 'can't say it doesn't happen' -- and judges can develop rapports with certain officers or departments -- but he believes in most cases there is no rubber stamping.

"If that were the case, defense attorneys would be routinely filing motions to suppress evidence based on a lack of probable cause for the search warrants, [and] those motions are very rare," Cunningham said. "There’s nothing you can do if an officer is going to lie to you."

Still, community leaders like Kathleen Parks aren't convinced.

"What I do know is if I was a judge in this system, I would be very careful moving forward and looking at similar cases like these, and I wouldn't be so quick to flick my pen on a warrant from now on," she said.

Cunningham was selected to help lead a task force organized by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron's office back in 2021 to reform the way search warrants are obtained and executed in the state.

One of the changes recommended was to file these applications electronically, where officers seemingly would no longer play a role in choosing which judge sees them.

We're told that system could soon be implemented in Jefferson County in the months to come.

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