Case Title: State v. Veburst

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: vermont

Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Date: 1990-10-01T00:00:00Z

Document:
NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to motions for reargument under V.R.A.P. 40
as well as formal revision before publication in the Vermont Reports.
Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Vermont Supreme
Court, 111 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont 05602 of any errors in order
that corrections may be made before this opinion goes to press.


                                No. 88-639


State of Vermont                             Supreme Court

                                             On Appeal from
     v.                                      District Court of Vermont,
                                             Unit No. 3, Orleans Circuit

Philip G. Veburst                            October Term, 1990


Dean B. Pineles, J.

Thomas M. Kelly, Drug Prosecutor, Department of State's Attorneys,
  Montpelier, for plaintiff-appellee

Walter M. Morris, Jr., Defender General, and David J. Williams and
  William Nelson, Montpelier, for defendant-appellant


PRESENT:  Allen, C.J., Gibson, Dooley and Morse, JJ., and Peck, J. (Ret.),
          Specially Assigned


     DOOLEY, J.   Defendant Philip Veburst appeals his conviction, after a
court trial, for possession of marijuana with the intent to sell, 18 V.S.A.
{ 4224 (f)(1)(B).  He attacks the validity of a warrant issued to search his
residence and the trial court's refusal to order disclosure of the identity
of a confidential informant.  We affirm.
     On November 11, 1987, Vermont State Trooper Thomas Roberts received a
phone call from Detective Sergeant William Northrup of the Vermont State
Police.  Northrup informed Roberts that Franklin County State's Attorney
Investigator Gary Greenfield had contacted him with information Greenfield
had received from a confidential informant ("the Greenfield informant")
relating to the possible sale of illegal drugs by Philip Veburst at a
residence in Morgan, Vermont.  Roberts already had information from another
confidential informant ("the Roberts informant"), received in August of
1987, to the effect that a person named Phil was selling drugs out of a
house in Derby Line.  A motor vehicle record check revealed that Philip
Veburst matched the description given by the Roberts informant and lived
where the informant reported that "Phil" was living.  Roberts also learned
that Philip Veburst had been arrested and transported to his current
residence in Morgan on September 17, 1987.  Veburst had been in an accident
on that day and was taken to the hospital where he had an officer call his
Morgan home and leave a message with two identified persons.  One of those
persons, Gil Tabor, was identified by the Greenfield informant as having
purchased drugs from Philip Veburst.
     On November 23, 1987, State Trooper Roberts applied for a warrant to
search the house in Morgan.  Roberts' accompanying affidavit stated in part:
         It was related by Det. Northrup that the informant had
         told Gary Greenfield that two subjects had visited a
         subject named Philip Veburst at his residence in Morgan
         during the evening of 11/19/87 where approximately 1 lb.
         of marijuana and a quantity of hashish was observed in
         the bedroom of Veburst residence.  This writer contacted
         Gary Greenfield being informed by him that his source of
         information who refused to be identified told him that
         he was familiar with one of the two subjects visiting
         Veburst, a Gil Tabor.
The affidavit also contained all of the information set forth above,
including the information provided directly to Trooper Roberts in August by
his informant.  Trooper Roberts also provided a supplemental affidavit
indicating that the Greenfield informant had worked for Investigator
Greenfield in the past, making controlled buys of regulated drugs and
providing information obtained by other drug informants.
     The court issued a warrant authorizing the police to search Philip
Veburst's house in Morgan. Trooper Roberts and five other members of the
Vermont State Police executed the search and found seventeen pounds of
marijuana, a quantity of hashish, and several firearms in a closet in
defendant's bedroom.  Defendant was later charged with possession of
marijuana with intent to sell, in violation of 18 V.S.A. { 4224 (f)(1)(B)
(repealed in 1989).
     Defendant filed a pretrial motion to suppress evidence obtained during
the search, claiming that the affidavits supporting the search warrant
failed to establish sufficiently the reliability of the two informants cited
therein.  The court determined that the affidavits showed the reliability of
the Greenfield informant but that they failed to establish the reliability
of the Roberts informant.  The court denied the motion to suppress because
it found that the affidavits were sufficient to justify the search warrant
even when all information provided by the Roberts informant was deleted.
     At that point, defendant tried a different tactic.  He filed a motion
to compel disclosure of the identity of the Greenfield informant for the
purpose of challenging the basis of that informant's knowledge.  He alleged
that there was reason to believe that the law enforcement officials had
acted in bad faith by using false information or information gained by
government misconduct to obtain the search warrant in violation of the
holding in Franks v. Delaware,