U.S. v. Goings, 2009 WL 1927455 (11th Cir. July 7, 2009)
The defendant pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine. He then appealed, challenging denial of his motion to suppress and argued that the District Court erred by denying his suppression motion only on the ground that the arrest leading to the discovery of the evidence violated Florida law. However, the Court of Appeals ruled that the district court correctly found that, under the Supreme Court’s Moore decision, it was irrelevant for purposes of the Fourth Amendment whether a defendant’s arrest violated state law, so long as it was supported by probable cause.
