Source: https://casetext.com/case/state-v-jackson-139
Timestamp: 2018-12-15 03:09:30
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Matched Legal Cases: ['art. 1', '§ 7', 'art. 1', '§ 7', 'art. 1', '§ 7', 'art. 1', '§ 7', '§ 3', '§ 3', '§ 3', '§ 3', 'art. 1', '§ 7', '§ 9']

State v. Jackson, 102 Wn. 2d 432 | Casetext
102 Wn. 2d 432 (Wash. 1984)
102 Wn. 2d 432•688 P.2d 136•
State v. Creelman
…Kennedy, 72 Wn. App. at 248; State v. Garcia, 63 Wn. App. 868, 871, 824 P.2d 1220 (1992). [4, 5]State v.…
…[5] ¶ 20 We apply the Aguilar–Spinelli test, to determine probable cause to support a search warrant based on…
holding that Washington uses the Augilar-Spinelli test to evaluate informants&apos; tips
Summary of this case from State v. Avila-Cardenas
rejecting Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S. Ct. 2317, 76 L. Ed. 2d 527 (1983) and maintaining two-pronged Aguilar Spinelli test for informant tips
Summary of this case from State v. Eserjose
rejecting Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S. Ct. 2317, 76 L. Ed. 2d 527 (1983) abrogation of Aguilar/Spinelli
Summary of this case from Speed v. State
[1] Searches and Seizures — Similar State and Federal Provisions — Change in Federal Interpretation — Effect. When the United States Supreme Court changes its interpretation of the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures, the Supreme Court may follow its previous decisional law by interpreting Const. art. 1, § 7 more expansively than the United States Supreme Court interprets the Fourth Amendment.
[2] Searches and Seizures — Warrant — Informant's Tip — Reliability — Test. In determining whether information provided by an informant establishes probable cause to issue a search warrant, Const. art. 1, § 7 requires a showing of the manner in which the informant acquired the information and the underlying circumstances making either the informant credible or the information reliable. The "basis of knowledge" and the "veracity" aspects of the test are independent, and both are essential. A magistrate's determination of probable cause is entitled to considerable deference on appeal.
[3] Searches and Seizures — Warrant — Informant's Tip — Reliability — Deficiencies — Additional Police Investigation. Deficiencies in a showing of the basis of an informant's knowledge or the veracity of the information provided can be compensated for by independent police investigation which corroborates the informant's tip and supports the existence of criminal activity as alleged by the informant.
DORE, J., concurs in the result only; DIMMICK, J., concurs by separate opinion; UTTER, J., and WILLIAMS, C.J., dissent by separate opinion; ANDERSEN, J., did not participate in the disposition of this case.
Superior Court: The Superior Court for Kitsap County, Nos. 81-1-00122-8, 81-1-00123-6, Terence Hanley and Robert J. Bryan, JJ., on September 8 and 3, 1981, entered judgments of guilty. Court of Appeals: The court affirmed the judgments in an unpublished opinion noted at 36 Wn. App. 1040.
Supreme Court: Holding that Const. art. 1, § 7 requires application of the Aguilar-Spinelli test for determining the existence of probable cause to search when information is provided by an informant and that the two prongs of the test were satisfied in this case, the court affirms the judgments.
Timothy K. Ford, for petitioners.
We hold that Const. art. 1, § 7 requires that, in evaluating the existence of probable cause in relation to informants' tips, the affidavit in support of the warrant must establish the basis of information and credibility of the informant. See Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 21 L.Ed.2d 637, 89 S.Ct. 584 (1969); Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 12 L.Ed.2d 723, 84 S.Ct. 1509 (1964). We find that the affidavits and independent investigatory corroboration satisfy these requirements and the warrant was thus valid. The convictions are affirmed.
The Jackson affidavit next stated that on the same day Stern's residence was searched, federal agents saw a BMW arrive at the Stern residence. The BMW was registered to Larry Corby. According to the affiant, "the reliable informant" had previously identified a "Larry" as one of Stern's principal distributors. On the afternoon of March 9, the agents saw Stern and a man matching Larry Corby's description removing objects from the BMW and, later, placing a large, heavy, green plastic bag in the trunk. Later that day, when Stern's house was searched, many similar garbage bags containing marijuana were seized. Fifty-five minutes after Corby's departure from Stern's house, authorities spotted the BMW parked in the driveway of a residence at 12509 Sunrise Drive N.E. The BMW remained there for over an hour, but the agents apparently did not see anyone unload anything from the trunk. The affiant did say, however, that "[t]he reliable informant" had previously pointed out the Sunrise Drive address as the home of "`Walter,' who is also another of Judy Stern's main distributors." The affidavit does not mention how the informant knew that Walter was a "distributor." Finally, the affiant said that the federal agents saw several vehicles at the Sunrise address which were registered to "Sharon [ sic] and Walter Jackson."
Based upon the above information, Federal Magistrate John Weinberg issued a warrant to search the Sunrise Drive residence. Federal agents executed the warrant on March 10, 1981, and seized a large quantity of marijuana and cash. Thereafter, the Kitsap County prosecutor charged the Jacksons with possessikn of over 40 grams of marijuana.
The Jacksons moved to suppress the marijuana, arguing that the search warrant was invalid. The trial court denied the motion, and both defendants were subsequently found guilty. The Court of Appeals, Division Two, held that the search warrant was valid under the "totality of the circumstances" test established in Illinois v. Gates, ___ U.S. ___, 76 L.Ed.2d 527, 103 S.Ct. 2317 (1983) and affirmed both convictions by unpublished opinion. State v. Jackson, 36 Wn. App. 1040 (1984).
After nearly 15 years, the United States Supreme Court abandoned the Aguilar-Spinelli test in Gates. The Court opined that "it is wiser to abandon the `two-pronged test' established . . . in Aguilar and Spinelli" in favor of a "totality of the circumstances" approach. Gates, 103 S.Ct. at 2332. Under this nebulous standard, the issuing magistrate is to make a "practical, common-sense decision whether . . . there is a fair probability" that the evidence sought will be found in the place to be searched. Gates, 103 S.Ct. at 2332.
The principal difference between the Gates approach and the Aguilar-Spinelli rule is that "veracity" and "basis of knowledge", while still relevant, are no longer both essential. Under Gates, a "deficiency" on either of these "prongs" may "be compensated for" by a "strong showing" on the other prong. Gates, 103 S.Ct. at 2329. The "totality of the circumstances" analysis downgrades the veracity and basis of knowledge elements and makes them only "relevant considerations." Gates, 103 S.Ct. at 2329. Thus,
Gates, 103 S.Ct. at 2332. The task of a reviewing court, the Gates majority makes plain, is "simply to ensure that the magistrate had a `substantial basis for . . . conclud[ing]' that probable cause existed." Gates, 103 S.Ct. at 2332. In other words, the warrant is to be upheld as long as there is a substantial basis for a fair probability that evidence will be found in a particular case. As concurring Justice White read the majority opinion, the Court holds that
Gates, 103 S.Ct. at 2350 (White, J., concurring). Accord, Massachusetts v. Upton, ___ U.S. ___, 80 L.Ed.2d 721, 104 S.Ct. 2085 (1984).
The two prongs of the Aguilar-Spinelli test have an independent status; they are analytically severable and each insures the validity of the information. The officer's oath that the informant has often furnished reliable information in the past establishes general trustworthiness. While this is important, it is still necessary that the "basis of knowledge" prong be satisfied — the officer must explain how the informant claims to have come by the information in this case. The converse is also true. Even if the informant states how he obtained the information which led him to conclude that contraband is located in a certain building, it is still necessary to establish the informant's credibility. See Woodall, at 76-78; Fisher, at 965-66; Partin, at 903-04.
To satisfy the "basis of knowledge" prong, the informant must declare that he personally has seen the facts asserted and is passing on firsthand information. See Partin, at 903-04; 1 W. LaFave § 3.3(d). If the informant's information is hearsay, the basis of knowledge prong can be satisfied if there is sufficient information so that the hearsay establishes a basis of knowledge. See United States v. Carmichael, 489 F.2d 983 (7th Cir. 1973); State v. Yaw, 58 Haw. 485, 572 P.2d 856 (1977); 1 W. LaFave § 3.3(d).
Finally, if the informant's tip fails under either or both of the two prongs of Aguilar-Spinelli, probable cause may yet be established by independent police investigatory work that corroborates the tip to such an extent that it supports the missing elements of the Aguilar-Spinelli test. Spinelli, at 417; Illinois v. Gates, ___ U.S. ___, 76 L.Ed.2d 527, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 2347-48 (1983) (White, J., concurring); 1 W. LaFave § 3.3(f). The independent police investigations should point to suspicious activity, "` probative indications of criminal activity along the lines suggested by the informant". United States v. Canieso, 470 F.2d 1224, 1231 (2d Cir. 1972); Rebell, The Undisclosed Informant and the Fourth Amendment: A Search for Meaningful Standards, 81 Yale L.J. 703, 716 (1972). Merely verifying "innocuous details", commonly known facts or easily predictable events should not suffice to remedy a deficiency in either the basis of knowledge or veracity prong. See, e.g., United States v. Montgomery, 554 F.2d 754, 757-58 (5th Cir. 1977); Spinelli, at 414; 1 W. LaFave § 3.3(f); Rebell, at 715-20; Kamisar, Gates, "Probable Cause," "Good Faith," and Beyond, 69 Iowa L. Rev. 551, 558-66 (1984). Corroboration of public or innocuous facts only shows that the informer has some familiarity with the suspect's affairs. Such corroboration only justifies an inference that the informer has some knowledge of the suspect and his activities, not that criminal activity is occurring. Corroboration of the informer's report is significant only to the extent that it tends to give substance and verity to the report that the suspect is engaged in criminal activity. Note, The Informer's Tip as Probable Cause for Search or Arrest, 54 Cornell L. Rev. 958, 967 (1969); Kamisar, at 567.
In the present case, the State asks us to reject this established jurisprudence and follow, blindly, the lead of the United States Supreme Court. This we are neither required nor inclined to do. [1] Prior reliance on federal precedent and federal constitutional provisions do not preclude us from taking a more expansive view of Const. art. 1, § 7, where the United States Supreme Court determines to further limit federal guaranties in a manner inconsistent with our prior pronouncements. See State v. Fitzsimmons, 94 Wn.2d 858, 620 P.2d 999 (1980).
Sieler, at 47 (quoting State v. Lesnick, 84 Wn.2d 940, 944, 530 P.2d 243, cert. denied, 423 U.S. 891 (1975)). We held, even prior to Aguilar, that an anonymous informant's tip does not, by itself, establish probable cause. State v. Knudsen, 154 Wn. 87, 96-97, 280 P. 922 (1929), cert. denied, 281 U.S. 745 (1930). There must exist, in addition to the anonymous tip, some indicia of reliability. See State v. Zupan, 155 Wn. 80, 283 P. 671 (1929); State v. Bantam, 163 Wn. 598, 1 P.2d 861 (1931).
The Court's reasoning consists of the following propositions: (1) that probable cause is a fluid concept not readily, or even usefully, reduced to a neat set of legal rules; (2) that the two elements of the Aguilar-Spinelli test should not have such independent status, so that a deficiency in one may be compensated for, in determining the overall reliability of a tip, by a strong showing as to the other, or by some other indicia of reliability; (3) that the new approach is justified by the fact that affidavits are normally drafted by nonlawyers; (4) that after-the-fact scrutiny by courts of the sufficiency of an affidavit should not take the form of de novo review; (5) that if affidavits are subjected to greater scrutiny police might well resort to warrantless searches, with the hope of relying on consent or some other exception to the warrant clause that might develop at the time of the search; and (6) that the strictures of the 2-pronged test cannot avoid seriously impeding the task of law enforcement, as under that test anonymous tips would be of greatly diminished value in police work. Gates, 103 S.Ct. at 2328-34.
Neither the standards nor their effects are inconsistent with a "practical, nontechnical" conception of probable cause. Once a magistrate has determined that he has information before him that he can reasonably say has been obtained in a reliable way by a credible person, he has ample room to use his common sense and to apply a practical, nontechnical conception of probable cause.
Gates, 103 S.Ct. at 2357-58 (Brennan, J., dissenting); see also State v. Woodall, 100 Wn.2d 74, 78, 666 P.2d 364 (1983); State v. Fisher, 96 Wn.2d 962, 965, 639 P.2d 743, cert. denied, 457 U.S. 1137 (1982).
(Citations omitted.) Gates, 103 S.Ct. at 2350 (White, J., concurring). This is why, as Justice White declared in his separate opinion in Gates, the probable cause standard necessitates "some showing of facts from which an inference may be drawn that the informant is credible and that his information was obtained in a reliable way." Gates, 103 S.Ct. at 2350 (White, J., concurring).
Proposition (3) seems to cut the opposite direction. Because laymen police and magistrates must often make the probable cause determination in the first instance, that is good reason, as Justice White pointed out in Gates, for the Court "to provide more precise guidance" rather than "totally abdicating our responsibility in this area." Gates, 103 S.Ct. at 2351 (White, J., concurring). The Aguilar-Spinelli standard, as Justice Brennan stated in his dissent, "Help[s] to structure probable cause inquiries and, properly interpreted, may actually help a non-lawyer magistrate in making a probable cause determination." Gates, 103 S.Ct. at 2358 (Brennan, J., dissenting). By stressing the independent importance of the veracity and basis of knowledge elements and by identifying various ways in which each requirement can be satisfied, the Aguilar-Spinelli test provides lay persons, police officers and magistrates with a useful framework within which to operate. By comparison, the Gates approach, consisting largely on the use of common sense, does not afford any guidance. See Kamisar, at 571-72.
Because we reject the Gates "totality of the circumstances" approach, we must now test the warrant under the Aguilar-Spinelli test. As discussed above, under this test a determination of probable cause requires establishing both the informant's basis of knowledge and the informant's credibility.
The Court of Appeals did not reach this issue because it adopted the analysis of Illinois v. Gates, ___ U.S. ___, 76 L.Ed.2d 527, 103 S.Ct. 2317 (1983).
Some underlying factual justification for the informant's conclusion must be revealed so that an assessment of the probable accuracy of the informant's conclusion can be made. It simply "makes no sense to require some `indicia of reliability' that the informer is personally reliable but nothing at all concerning the source of his information. . ." 3 W. LaFave, [ Search and Seizure] § 9.3, at 100. This additional requirement helps prevent investigatory detentions made on the basis of a tip provided by an honest informant who misconstrued innocent conduct. It also reduces such detentions when an informant, who has given accurate information in the past, decides to fabricate an allegation of criminal activity. Cf. Comment, The Undisclosed Informant and the Fourth Amendment: A Search for Meaningful Standards, 81 Yale L.J. 703, 713-14 (1972) (noting that informants who have given reliable information in the past not infrequently make false allegations).
In Ker v. California, 374 U.S. 23, 10 L.Ed.2d 726, 83 S.Ct. 1623 (1963), a reliable informant told police Ker had been purchasing marijuana from Murphy. This information was apparently hearsay and lacked a basis of knowledge. Surveilling agents, however, observed Ker meeting Murphy, a known marijuana dealer, under circumstances similar to those in which Murphy was known to have made a marijuana sale to another person a day earlier. The Court was unwilling to say that this observation alone amounted to probable cause, but it did give rise to a strong suspicion which was raised to probable cause when considered with the informer's tip. See also People v. Jefferson, 25 Ill. App.3d 445, 323 N.E.2d 495 (1974); Commonwealth v. Norwood, 456 Pa. 330, 319 A.2d 908 (1974); People v. Dasenbrock, 96 Ill. App.3d 625, 421 N.E.2d 948 (1981).
I concur in the result but disagree with the majority's conclusion that this is a proper case in which to decide the propriety of following Illinois v. Gates, ___ U.S. ___, 76 L.Ed.2d 527, 103 S.Ct. 2317 (1983). Since the majority holds that the warrant satisfied the stricter requirements of the Aguilar-Spinelli test, it is unnecessary to decide whether this court should follow Gates.
As Justice White noted in his concurrence to Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 423, 21 L.Ed.2d 637, 89 S.Ct. 584 (1969), corroboration of innocent details does not make existence of criminal activity sufficiently probable to justify the issuance of a search warrant. In challenging the Court's reliance on Draper v. United States, 358 U.S. 307, 3 L.Ed.2d 327, 79 S.Ct. 329 (1959), for this proposition, he stated:
The thrust of Draper is not that the verified facts have independent significance with respect to proof of the [unverified fact]. The argument instead relates to the reliability of the source: because an informant is right about some things, he is more probably right about other facts, usually the critical, unverified facts.
Corroboration of public or innocuous facts only shows that the informer has some familiarity with the suspect's affairs. Such corroboration only justifies an inference that the informer has some knowledge of the suspect and his activities, not that criminal activity is occurring. Corroboration of the informer's report is significant only to the extent that it tends to give substance and verity to the report that the suspect is engaged in criminal activity.