Opinion ID: 1720049
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Heading: Was There Probable Cause to Issue the Search Warrant?

Text: [1-3] A search warrant may issue only upon a finding of probable cause by a neutral and detached magistrate. However, the showing sufficient to establish probable cause necessary for the issuance of a search warrant is less than the evidence which would justify conviction and less than the evidence required in a preliminary examination. State v. Starke, 81 Wis.2d 399, 411, 260 N.W.2d 739 (1978); State ex rel. Furlong v. Waukesha County Court, 47 Wis.2d 515, 522, 177 N.W.2d 333 (1970); United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 109 (1965). The search warrant may be based on hearsay information as long as it is shown that the information is substantially reliable. Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 270 (1960). [4, 5] On review of the issuance of this search warrant we are confined to the record established before Judge Jaekels. State v. Starke, supra at 408; Scott v. State, 73 Wis.2d 504, 508, 243 N.W.2d 215 (1976); Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 109 (1964). We must be satisfied that Judge Jaekels was apprised of sufficient facts to excite an honest belief in a reasonable mind that the objects sought are linked with the commission of a crime and that the objects sought will be found in the place to be searched. State v. Starke, supra at 408; Morales v. State, 44 Wis.2d 96, 101, 170 N.W.2d 684 (1969). In support of the warrant, the State presented an affidavit of Lt. Norman Daniels stating the grounds for the warrant as: Statements taken from (1) the Stop & Go Store clerk after January 25, 1977, who was the victim of the armed robbery on said date, about the crime & description of the individual who robbed her; (2) a John Doe informant who knows the person who committed the armed robbery at the Stop & Go Store on January 25, 1977, and has given Lt. Daniels numerous facts about the suspect which corroborate the Stop & Go clerk's story. The court also heard oral testimony from another detective and from the informant himself. The John Doe informant was the suspect's brother, Charles Benoit. [1] Charles testified that he called his brother Donald on the phone, and his brother told him that he committed an armed robbery at the Stop-N-Go. He doubted his brother's assertion, so he checked the newspaper for an article about the robbery. After he found the article, he called his brother back and said: I guess you did do it then, and his brother replied, Yes. His brother wanted him to read the article to him over the phone. He read it, and he stated his brother said: [G]ee the lady at the store saw more than he wanted her to because he had his face covered up and everything else. Charles also testified that, although the paper reported the robber took $50, his brother told him he got approximately $67. He stated that his brother wears a green snorkel jacket kept at his home at 922 Division Street and that his brother also wears wire-rimmed glasses, black leather gloves, and blue jeans. His brother told him at a later date that the gun he used in the robbery was a .38 revolver. Neither the State nor the court inquired as to Charles Benoit's reliability as an informer. Charles' testimony was corroborated by the testimony of Sgt. Richard Rice who testified that the store clerk told him the robber was in his early twenties, about five feet [2] tall, slender build, wearing wire-rimmed glasses, a fur-trimmed green snorkel jacket, and blue jeans; that the robber entered the store with a brown paper Prange bag, pointed a gun at her; and that he told her to put the money in the bag or I will blast you. Judge Jaekels observed that he did not find the jacket, blue jeans, glasses, and gloves very unique. He asked the State whether it believed the items to be seized were still at the defendant's residence and whether if the items were found and seized, they would be evidence against Donald Benoit in a criminal prosecution. The State answered both questions, yes, and Judge Jaekels found probable cause. Both the State and the defendant agree that the store clerk is a citizen informant and that her hearsay declarations contained in Lt. Daniels' affidavit and Sgt. Rice's testimony are reliable for purposes of a search warrant hearing even without some actual showing of reliability. But both sides also agree that her description of the robber does not in itself sufficiently distinguish him from the general populace to establish probable cause. Both sides agree that a finding of probable cause depends upon the sufficiency of the oral testimony of the informant Charles Benoit. The defendant contends that Charles Benoit's statement that his brother told him he committed the Stop-N-Go robbery is hearsay and that the trial court was not entitled to rely on it absent any evidence that Charles Benoit is a reliable informant. The defendant contends that because Charles is an informant the Aguilar restrictions apply. In Aguilar v. Texas, supra at 114, the Supreme Court held that, where a police officer's affidavit is based on information supplied by an unnamed informant, the officer must provide the magistrate with (1) the underlying circumstances from which he concludes that the informant is reliable, and (2) information showing the manner in which the informant obtained his information is reliable. Scott v. State, supra at 509; Rainey v. State, 74 Wis.2d 189, 197, 246 N.W.2d 529 (1976). [6, 7] This court has stated that an Aguilar situation exists when the informant does not appear in person before the magistrate, and the magistrate must determine the informant's reliability from the facts sworn to by law enforcement officers. Rainey v. State, supra at 198; Morales v. State, supra at 102-3. As the Supreme Court in Aguilar recognized, without such a showing that the unnamed informant is reliable: . . . `the inferences from the facts which lead to the complaint' will be drawn not `by a neutral and detached magistrate,' as the Constitution requires, but instead, by a police officer `engaged in the often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime,' [Citations omitted]. . . . Aguilar v. Texas, supra at 115. But in Rainey this court emphasized that, when the informant testifies personally, the magistrate is in a position . . . to personally observe the informant and to evaluate for himself, first hand, the informant's reliability and credibility as [is] his judicial function. 74 Wis.2d at 199. Thus in Rainey this court upheld a finding of probable cause based solely on the informant's personal testimony that he observed the defendant sell narcotics. The court so held despite the fact that the identity, the reliability, or the truthfulness of the informant was not established. Similarly, in Morales v. State, supra , probable cause was established by the personal, sworn testimony of an informant Alvarez who testified to his participation in a drug deal with the defendant. We said that a showing that Alvarez was credible was unnecessary. [8] The fact that Charles Benoit testified to declarations of the suspect, rather than to the direct observation of the suspect's criminal activity, as was the case in Rainey and Morales, does not diminish the sufficiency of this evidence to support a finding of probable cause for the search warrant because Judge Jaekels had the opportunity to observe the informant firsthand and evaluate his credibility himself. In fact, at the trial the informant's testimony concerning his brother's confession of the crime will be evidence of an admission by a party opponent and will not be hearsay. Sec. 908.01(4) (b)1, Stats. [9] Although Charles Benoit was not shown to have previously given the police reliable information or to be a reliable person, he was identified as the suspect's brother. His testimony described in detail how his brother told him that he robbed the Stop-N-Go. He testified that he corroborated his brother's story by checking the newspaper. His testimony concerning his brother's clothes, though not highly probative, corroborated the information supplied by the clerk. Most important, the magistrate personally observed his demeanor and evaluated his testimony firsthand. We hold that the evidence before Judge Jaekels supports a neutral and detached determination of probable cause. [10-12] Judge Byers did not suppress the evidence obtained from the search because Charles Benoit was unreliable but because the testimony did not specifically show that the items to be seized were still at the suspect's residence and because Judge Jaekels must have granted the warrant to accommodate the State. However, Charles Benoit did testify that he was familiar with the suspect's house. He testified that the jacket in particular could be found at the house. The evidence adduced at a search warrant hearing is to be evaluated in a commonsense rather than a grudging or hypertechnical manner. United States v. Ventresca, supra at 109; State v. Starke, supra at 410. The fourth amendment does not preclude the judge at a search warrant hearing from drawing the reasonable inferences which reasonable persons could draw from the evidence. State v. Starke, supra . The fact that the informant was the suspect's brother who knew the place to be searched was his brother's residence, coupled with the fact that the hearing was held only twelve days after the robbery, permits a reasonable inference that the items listed in the warrant could still be found in the place to be searched. This is all that was required. The fact that Judge Jaekels also asked the district attorney if he believed the items to be still at the suspect's premises did not entitle Judge Byers to conclude that Judge Jaekels had granted the warrant simply to accommodate the State. The evidence adduced at the search warrant hearing provided ample information to support a finding of probable cause for the issuance of the warrant, and the trial court erred in suppressing the fruits of the search.