Opinion ID: 1693745
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Search of 541 Castle Kirk

Text: Trial courts are vested with great discretion when ruling on a motion to suppress. Consequently, the ruling of a trial judge on a motion to suppress will not be disturbed absent an abuse of that discretion. See State v. Horton, 01-2529 (La.6/21/02), 820 So.2d 556, 561. Ultimately, however, the appellate courts must determine whether the district court did, in fact, abuse its discretion. In the first issue presented to this Court in the case sub judice, the trial court suppressed the evidence obtained during a search of the defendant's home. In the hearing on the motion to suppress, the defendant argued that the information contained in the affidavit was merely conclusory, because it did not provide any basis for determining the veracity and reliability of the CI. The defendant points out that there was no information provided as to how the informant obtained his knowledge regarding the defendant's drug-related activities, or as to when the said activities may have occurred. Additionally, he argues that the information provided by the CI remained uncorroborated when the warrant was issued. We find these arguments unpersuasive and find that the correct standard of review was not applied by the district court in its review of the magistrate's determination of probable cause. When evaluating whether probable cause exists for the issuance of a warrant, the United States Supreme Court has explained that the task of the issuing magistrate is simply to make a practical, common-sense decision whether, given all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit before him ... there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place. And the duty of a reviewing court is simply to ensure that the magistrate had a `substantial basis for ... conclud[ing]' [citations omitted] that probable cause existed. Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 2332, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983). Following this line of reasoning, the Court in Gates decided that a magistrate should examine the totality of circumstances that are presented to him in the affidavit by the officer when determining if a Fourth Amendment violation has occurred. Id., 462 U.S. at 230-231, 103 S.Ct. at 2328. For the following reasons, however, we need not reach a totality of the circumstances examination to determine the existence of probable cause. The United States Supreme Court has held that evidence seized pursuant to a warrant based on less than probable cause need not be suppressed if the officers who executed the warrant believed it to be validly issued. United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984). [4] In Leon, the Court evaluated the costs and benefits of suppressing reliable physical evidence seized by officers reasonably relying of a warrant issued by a detached and neutral magistrate and found that such evidence should be admissible in the prosecution's case in chief. Id., 468 U.S. at 913, 104 S.Ct. at 3415. In formulating this judicially created good faith rule, the Court reasoned that the good faith of an officer in the execution of a warrant signed by a neutral magistrate should be enough for the evidence obtained as a result of the search to be admissible. Id. Thus, the Court expressed a strong preference for warrants over warrantless searches by allowing evidence seized in constitutionally questionable searches to be admissible into evidence if the officers were relying on a validly issued warrant. The Supreme Court justified the creation of a good faith rule by explaining that a search warrant provides a neutral and detached analysis of probable cause by a magistrate rather than the hurried judgment of a law enforcement officer, and thus should be entitled to reliance by the executing officer. Id., 468 U.S. at 914, 104 S.Ct. at 3416. Following along these lines, this Court addressed the good faith rule in State v. Varnado. 95-3127 (La.5/31/96), 675 So.2d 268, 270. In this case we explained that: [t]he exclusionary rule is designed to deter police misconduct rather than to punish the errors of judges and magistrates. Leon, 468 U.S. at 916, 104 S.Ct. at 3417. Its application therefore must be carefully limited to the circumstances in which it will pay its way by deterring official lawlessness. Id., 468 U.S. at 907 n. 6, 104 S.Ct. at 3412 (quoting Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. at 257-58, 103 S.Ct. at 2342 (White, J. concurring in judgment)). As a general rule, an officer cannot be expected to question the magistrate's probable-cause determination or his judgment that the form of the warrant is technically sufficient. Leon, 468 U.S. at 916, 104 S.Ct. at 3417. Varnado, 675 So.2d at 270. However, we also have ruled that a law enforcement officer's reliance on a magistrate's determination of probable cause is not boundless. In State v. Horton, 01-2529 (La.6/21/02), 820 So.2d 556, this Court, citing Leon, decided that suppression was the appropriate remedy only if: (1) the affiant misled the magistrate by including in the affidavit misleading statements which the affiant knew were false or would have known were false, except for reckless disregard for the truth; (2) the magistrate abandoned his neutral and detached role; (3) the affiant was so lacking of indicia of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence entirely unreasonable; and (4) the warrant was deficient and could not be presumed valid. 468 U.S. at 914-914, 104 S.Ct. at 3405. Applying these factors to the current case, we find that the record contains no evidence of any misleading statements that were contained in the affidavit presented to the magistrate. Additionally, there was no evidence that the issuing magistrate abandoned his neutral role in his issuance of the search warrant, nor was there on the face of the warrant anything that would make the warrant so deficient that it could not be presumed valid. Thus, in order for the exclusionary rule to be the proper remedial mechanism in the case sub judice, the affidavit provided by Officer Smith must have been so lacking in the indicia of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence entirely unreasonable. Leon's good faith rule recognizes that an officer cannot be expected to question the magistrate's probable cause determination, but also presupposes that the police have a reasonable knowledge of what the law prohibits. Id., 468 U.S. at 919-921, 104 S.Ct. at 3419. It is necessary, then, to examine what information was provided by the officer to the issuing magistrate in order to determine if a reasonably well trained officer would have known that the search was illegal despite the magistrate's authorization. Id., 468 U.S. at 922, 104 S.Ct. at 3420. The instant affidavit stated that the CI's knowledge of defendant's drug-smuggling activities was consistent with what the officer knew of defendant's history through two independent sources. Thus, the affiant had an independent basis for believing the report to be true, and this knowledge corroborated the informant's report and bolstered his reliability. See State v. Dazet, 378 So.2d 1369 (La., 1979). In Illinois v. Gates , the Supreme Court determined that [s]ufficient information must be presented to the magistrate to allow that official to determine probable cause and that his actions cannot be a mere ratification of the bare conclusions of others. 462 U.S. at 239, 103 S.Ct. at 2332. Here, the magistrate was provided with several bases of suspicion, the combination of which provided the magistrate with more than the bare conclusions of others from which to determine probable cause. Id. The affiant, after learning of drug trafficking by the defendant from a reliable confidential informant, and already being independently aware of the defendant's involvement in the drug trade, took the initiative to confiscate the defendant's trash in order to look for additional information regarding the defendant's activities. During this search Officer Smith found a portion of a cured marijuana plant of the kind that is bought and sold in the drug trade. Additionally, he found an empty box of large Ziploc bags of the type that Officer Smith knew from past experience was used to store marijuana. As this court stated in Gibson v. State, 99-1730 (La.4/11/00), 758 So.2d 782: The determination of probable cause, unlike the determination of guilt at trial, does not require the fine resolution of conflicting evidence required at trial, and credibility determinations are seldom crucial in deciding whether available evidence supports a reasonable belief that the person to be arrested has committed a crime. Probable cause, as the very name implies, deals with probabilities. The probable cause standard recognizes that a degree of uncertainty may exist and that an officer need not have sufficient proof to convict but must have more than a mere suspicion. The facts need not eliminate all possible innocent explanations in order to support a finding of probable cause. (citations omitted) Furthermore, in State v. Barrilleaux, this Court decided that there should be no specific tests to be satisfied by an informant's tip, and the magistrate may issue the warrant when the totality of the circumstances, viewed in a common-sense and non-technical manner, establish `there is a fair possibility that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.' 620 So.2d 1317, 1320 (La.7/2/93) (citing Gates, 462 U.S. at 239, 103 S.Ct. at 2332 (1983)). In our case, Officer Smith provided the magistrate with information from a reliable confidential informant as well as his own personal knowledge of the defendant's history with narcotics through two separate informants, who corroborated this information. Additionally, he informed the judge of the marijuana plant stem and empty box of Ziploc bags found in the defendant's trash. It cannot be said that when all of these factors are taken together Officer Smith was unreasonable in believing that he was providing the magistrate with sufficient information to issue a warrant. [5] Thus, since the facts do not support that the affiant was so lacking of indicia of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence entirely unreasonable, the trial court committed reversible error in suppressing the evidence found pursuant to the search warrant of the defendant's home. Leon, 468 U.S. at 914-915, 104 S.Ct. at 3405.