Opinion ID: 486544
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Franks Motion

Text: 26 Under Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978), a district court may not admit evidence seized pursuant to a warrant if the warrant was based on materially false and misleading information. As the district court correctly observed, materially misleading omissions as well as misrepresentations may be challenged by the defense. See e.g., United States v. Ferguson, 758 F.2d 843, 848 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 124, 88 L.Ed.2d 102 (1985). 27 The Franks Court outlined the procedures and standards to be used in trying to balance the defense's right to challenge the sufficiency of the affidavit against the potential for misuse of the privilege as a way to expand the proper scope of discovery. 438 U.S. at 171, 98 S.Ct. at 2684. Specifically, the court held that a defendant would be entitled to a hearing on a challenge to the affidavit only upon a substantial preliminary showing that (1) the affidavit contained false statements made knowingly or intentionally, or with reckless disregard for the truth; and (2) the challenged statements or omissions were necessary to the Magistrate's probable cause finding. Id. at 171-72, 98 S.Ct. at 2684-85. This court has further explained that under this second requirement, the defense motion must be denied without a hearing if, after setting aside the allegedly misleading statements or omissions, there remains a residue of independent and lawful information sufficient to support probable cause. Ferguson, 758 F.2d at 849. 28 We agree with the district court's conclusion that the majority of alleged deficiencies in the Cross Affidavit were too insignificant to suggest that agent Cross had deliberately falsified information or shown a reckless disregard for the truth. See 619 F.Supp. at 779-82. We also agree with the district court that the failure to outline informant Aceto's full history of pre- and post-cooperation criminal activity, drug and alcohol abuse, and psychiatric problems did not require that there be an evidentiary hearing on the motion. See id. at 784-85. This is because, as the district court noted, more than thirty paragraphs in the Cross Affidavit recited detailed information, not obtained from Aceto, about the appellants' criminal activities, about previous discoveries of weapons, ammunition, dynamite and other materials at houses abandoned by the appellants, and about the then-recent sightings of explosives, weapons, and other evidence in the particular places to be searched. Id. at 785-91 (quoting Cross Affidavit paragraphs 24-54). Those paragraphs provided more than enough independent and lawful information ... to support [a finding of] probable cause. Ferguson, 758 F.2d at 849. 29 Thus, despite our concern that the Cross Affidavit may have seriously understated the factors that would call into question Aceto's reliability, we conclude that the district court properly denied the Franks motion without a hearing.