Opinion ID: 1778765
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 31

Heading: the motion to suppress evidence should have been granted when the government misrepresented the reliability of its informant.

Text: ś 166. Manning contends that evidence found at his mother's house should have been suppressed by the trial judge because there was inadequate probable cause to support a warrant. His primary contention is that Paula Hathorn was not a reliable source for the basis of the warrants. One warrant was executed on April 27, 1993 and another on May 5, 1993. He also argues that the warrants did not state with particularity what items were to be seized. ś 167. The trial court conducted a hearing on the suppression motion, taking testimony from the officers who swore out the affidavits in support of the warrant. At the close of the evidence, the trial court ruled: The defendant is seeking to suppress certain evidence recovered pursuant to a search conducted with a search warrant that has been introduced as State's Exhibit in Evidence Number 1. The parameters of consideration of this hearing are those set forth in Gates versus Illinois and its progeny, and the Mississippi cases decided after Gates. Basically the Court must consider the totality of the circumstances in arriving at a determination whether probable cause to issue the warrant existed. The basic contention, as alleged by defense counsel, is that probable cause did not exist because the credibility of the witness is such that the witness who was the informant could not be considered to be reliable or credible therefore the information she furnished to the sheriff and that he in fact relayed to the justice court judge was so tainted and unreliable that it could not be considered as sufficient to give rise to probable cause. The underlying facts and circumstances as set forth in the application and affidavit for the search warrant in fact lists the informant's name. I now consider under the totality of the circumstances only a portion of the credibility of the witness and when I consider that portion I view that with the other circumstances also then and there available to the sheriff and given to the justice court judge. Warrants and underlying facts and circumstances can be supplemented by sworn oral testimony if the issuing magistrate so requires and the law favors the obtaining of search warrants. In this particular case the sheriff had information from one who was at one time close to the defendant, that is Paula Hathorn, that this particular defendant was in possession of an article identified as coming from a burglary on the same night of the disappearance of these two individuals, that a token had been recovered at the scene that came from one of those vehicles; he also had information concerning a huggie which was located on a road that is a route to the particular individual's house. The information given by Paula Hathorn was in fact in large measure not strictly relied on by the sheriff because of her credibility, but that he in fact verified the information. When she told him that she had a jacket given that matched the description of the one the sheriff was looking for, she in fact took him to the jacket and recovered it. That pretty much verifies information that she has told him, and even though she may be a convicted felon and not of good veracity or truthfulness, the way the sheriff checks it is to verify it to corroborate what she says, and he recovered the jacket based on what she said. That, coupled with the fact that she had twice on two previous occasions furnished information to the sheriff concerning, number one, a still for the manufacture of untaxed liquor that proved to be true, and the fact that she gave the sheriff's office information concerning another burglary in which some of the stolen goods were recovered turned out to be true. So the sheriff had two specific instances of prior information this defendant had furnished that had turned out to be credible, plus he verified what she had said concerning the particular jacket and had recovered that from her. Therefore the motion to suppress is hereby overruled. ś 168. Manning's primary contention is that Hathorn was not a reliable source upon which to issue a warrant. In addition to the affidavits in support of the warrants, the sheriff testified at the suppression hearing that he showed the justice court judge the jacket he had recovered from Hathorn. He also relayed to the judge that Hathorn had given reliable information on two previous occasions. Further, he told the judge that Hathorn had seen Manning shooting a gun at a tree in his mother's yard. ś 169. Manning also alleges that the warrant did not state with particularity the items to be seized in the search. The items to be searched for were listed as: (1) cathedral class ring, Panasonic cd player, car keys to a MR2 Toyota, .380 auto., ammunition, spent shells, or projectiles, (1) Seiko watch, (1) Pulsar watch, any clothes with blood stains, necklace with diamond chips, & any & all other contraband and also a boot or shoe that matches the print that was found on Mayhew Road. ś 170. The standard of review for this probable cause determination is whether the justice court judge had a substantial basis for concluding that probable cause existed based on the totality of the circumstances. Lee v. State, 435 So.2d 674, 676 (Miss.1983)(citing Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983)). This Court looks to both the facts and circumstances set forth in the affidavit as well as sworn oral testimony presented to the magistrate. Williams v. State, 583 So.2d 620, 622 (Miss.1991). ś 171. We find that the justice court judge had a substantial basis for concluding that probable cause existed based on the totality of the circumstances. First, the judge was shown the jacket which Hathorn said Manning had given her, and which John Wise had identified as being the one stolen from his car. Second, the judge was told of other instances in which Hathorn had been a reliable informant. Third, the judge was not misled into thinking that Hathorn was a pillar of the community. He had personal knowledge of her troubles with the law as she had been before him in the past. All of these facts should be sufficient to conclude that the judge had a substantial basis for issuing the warrant. Further, the warrant did state with particularity the items to be seized. The trial judge did not err in refusing to suppress the evidence obtained through this search warrant. There is no reversible error here.