## Facts

- Ted Dudek was indicted in federal court for firearms and conspiracy offenses involving stolen firearms and ammunition transported and dealt in interstate commerce.
- Ohio officers obtained and executed a valid state search warrant for premises associated with Dudek and seized firearms and ammunition.
- The search’s legality was not challenged on Fourth Amendment grounds (no claim of lack of probable cause, overbreadth, or improper execution).
- Post-execution, officers failed to comply with Ohio Crim. R. 41(D)’s ministerial requirements: the warrant was not returned “promptly,” and the written inventory was not properly “verified.”
- The return and verification were delayed for roughly eleven months, and Dudek did not claim any specific prejudice from the delay.

## Issues

1. In a federal prosecution, must evidence otherwise lawfully seized under a valid warrant be suppressed solely because officers failed to make a prompt warrant return and properly verified inventory under Ohio Crim. R. 41(D), absent prejudice or bad faith?

## Decision

- The Sixth Circuit reversed the district court’s suppression order and remanded.
- The court held that technical, post-execution violations of Ohio Crim. R. 41(D)’s return and inventory requirements did not require suppression without a showing of prejudice.
- The court treated the defects as nonconstitutional and ministerial, and found no indication of bad faith or concealment affecting the evidence.

## Legal Principles

- Suppression is generally reserved for constitutional violations or rule violations that cause actual prejudice or reflect bad faith.
- Warrant return and inventory provisions under Rule 41(d) and analogous state rules are ministerial; noncompliance, by itself, does not render an otherwise lawful search unconstitutional.
- In federal prosecutions, the admissibility remedy for state-law warrant procedure violations is governed by federal exclusionary-rule standards, not state-law suppression doctrines.

## Conclusion

The Sixth Circuit held that, where a search is constitutionally valid, admitted failures to promptly return a warrant and to properly verify an inventory under Rule 41(D) do not justify exclusion in federal court absent a showing of prejudice or bad faith.


United States v. Dudek, 530 F.2d 684 (6th Cir. 1976)