Opinion ID: 793369
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Incorporation of the Affidavit

Text: 53 The instant case presents a unique issue with respect to the incorporation of the affidavit into the search warrant. The application for the search warrant in this case stated: 54 I David P. Morgan being duly sworn depose and say: 55 I am a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and have reason to believe that on the property of premises known as ATTACHMENT A 56 in the Northern District of Ohio there is now concealed a certain person or property, namely SEE ATTACHMENT B which is 57 Property that constitutes fruits, evidence, and instrumentalities of crimes against the United States, concerning violation of Title 18 United States code, Section 1344. The facts to support the finding of Probable Cause are as follows: See attached Affidavit hereby incorporated by reference as if fully restated herein. 58 (J.A. at 128.) The face of the warrant application only listed one crime, violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344, on which the search warrant was based. The problem, however, is the affidavit incorporated to support the finding of probable cause for this single crime also listed additional offenses for which the affiant also found probable cause: violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 341, 1343, 1956, 1957 and violations of 28 U.S.C. §§ 7201, 7203, 7206(1), 7206(2). 59 The question then becomes whether the warrant, in this specific form, was valid for a search for evidence of all of these crimes, as opposed to valid only with respect to evidence of a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344. The district court answered in the affirmative: [T]he affidavit, expressly incorporated by reference on the cover of the warrant, sets forth evidence of tax crimes up to the date of the search, as well as more recent bank fraud and mail and wire fraud violations. In response, Defendant erroneously claims that the search warrant does not contain an incorporation clause at all. The government does not even address the issue of incorporation in its brief to this Court. 60 We disagree with the district court and find that the incorporation clause was insufficient to incorporate the additional violations into the search warrant, and, as a result, the search warrant was only valid for evidence with respect to 18 U.S.C. § 1344. The Court's jurisprudence with respect to incorporation of an affidavit into a search warrant almost exclusively addresses the particularity or probable cause requirement of a search warrant. See, e.g., United States v. Watkins, 179 F.3d 489, 494 (6th Cir.1999) (incorporation of an affidavit to provide sufficient particularity of place searched); and United States v. Blakeney, 942 F.2d 1001, 1024 (6th Cir. 1991) (incorporation of an affidavit to provide probable cause). This Court has not addressed whether an affidavit incorporated for the purpose of supporting probable cause of a single violation may also be incorporated to establish probable cause for additional violations not listed on the face of the warrant but for which the affiant professes probable cause. 3 Despite the lack of directly controlling case law, several factors militate in favor of disallowing such a broad incorporation of the affidavit. 61 The natural reading of the search warrant is that the affidavit was incorporated only to show probable cause for violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344. There is absolutely no indication on the face of the warrant that the affidavit was incorporated to show probable cause for the additional violations. We could foresee an incorporation clause that would have such effect; for example, if the face of the warrant stated, See attached Affidavit hereby incorporated for the violations and underlying probable cause that constitute the basis of the search warrant. The search warrant in this case, however, only states: 62 Property that constitutes fruits, evidence, and instrumentalities of crimes against the United States, concerning violation of Title 18 United States code, Section 1344. The facts to support the finding of Probable Cause are as follows: See attached Affidavit hereby incorporated by reference as if fully restated herein. 63 (J.A. at 128.) The affidavit is only referenced to establish probable cause for a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344. 64 More importantly, this Court cannot determine whether the magistrate in this case found probable cause for all of the violations listed in the affidavit or for only the violation listed on the face of the warrant. The government bears the burden of showing probable cause in connection with a search warrant. Fed. R.Crim. P 41(c); United States v. Weaver, 99 F.3d 1372, 1377 (6th Cir.1996). Only if the magistrate finds probable cause can she issue a search warrant. Fed.R.Crim.P. 41(c); Weaver, 99 F.3d at 1377. In this case, the only certainty is that the magistrate found probable cause with respect to the violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344. 4 65 Three possible scenarios exist as to the magistrate's treatment of the additional violations listed in the affidavit. Under scenario one, the magistrate reviewed the additional violations listed in the affidavit but not on the face of the warrant and found that the government had shown probable cause for each of the additional violations. She then either felt that the incorporation clause was sufficient to incorporate these additional violations or she failed to recognize that the additional violations were not listed on the face of the warrant. Under scenario two, the magistrate reviewed the additional violations and found that the government had not shown probable cause for any of the additional violations but had shown probable cause for violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344. She then noticed that the face of the warrant only listed that violation, and that the incorporation clause only pertained to the probable cause for that violation. She signed the warrant, believing that the basis of the warrant was solely the violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344. Under scenario three, the magistrate did not review the additional violations and the asserted probable cause in the affidavit because the face of the warrant only listed 18 U.S.C. § 1344. 66 We cannot say that one scenario is more likely than the others. The government may argue that Attachment B, listing items to be seized, indicates that the magistrate found probable cause with respect to the other violations; for example, the list includes [c]opies of all tax returns prepared on behalf of the above mentioned businesses and individuals, (J.A. at 119), so that the list evidences that the magistrate found probable cause with respect to the tax violations. This item, however, can also be construed as evidence of a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344, bank fraud. In other words, the government sought these income tax returns not to show the individual Defendants violated income tax laws, but to show disparities between paper and actual wealth as evidence of the check kiting scheme. In fact, all of the evidence of these additional crimes could also be construed as evidence of bank fraud. 67 The point is that we can only speculate as to whether the magistrate found probable cause with respect to the additional violations listed in the affidavit. This Court will not uphold a search warrant based on such tenuous ground. 68 We are sympathetic to the argument that, in practical terms, Defendant was on notice of the additional violations and the evidence for these additional violations overlapped with the evidence of the violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344. This argument, however, misses the point in that notice of evidence to be seized does not cure a lack of a probable cause determination. 69 We also recognize that the exclusionary rule is meant to deter police misconduct: [T]he exclusionary rule was adopted to deter unlawful searches by police, not to punish the errors of magistrates and judges. Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 263, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983) (White, J., concurring in the judgment). The government may argue that the magistrate erred when she did not clearly state for which violations she had found probable cause. We are more inclined to view the case as one of applicant error; the applicant simply forgot or otherwise failed to list the additional violations on the face of the warrant. As the party seeking the search warrant, the applicant maintains the responsibility of clearly setting out the violations for which he is searching for evidence. Specifically listing the additional violations on the face of the warrant would have required a minimal effort, and the resulting clarity would have made such effort worthwhile. 70 Moreover, while the record does not indicate any misconduct on the part of law enforcement in this case, a less than imaginative mind could conjure a scenario where law enforcement purposely placed hidden violations in the affidavit in order to bootstrap these violations to the magistrate's probable cause determination. A better rule would be to require the applicant to list the violations on the face of the search warrant or, if incorporating an affidavit, to require the applicant to make clear with the incorporation clause on the face of the application that the affidavit contains the relevant violations. 71 As a result, we find that the magistrate approved the search warrant only with respect to the violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344. 5 72