Opinion ID: 2094056
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: probable cause regarding murder to support wiretap 1

Text: The following is a summary of the relevant facts set forth in the affidavit as to probable cause regarding the murder of Mainelli: Omaha police officers were investigating the murder of Robert Flowers. The suspect in the shooting was identified as Charles Duncan, who at the time of the murder was seen with a female later identified as Mainelli. After the shooting, Duncan and Mainelli fled to the residence of Sherry Anderson, a friend and neighbor of Mainelli's. While there, Duncan made several telephone calls and recounted the shooting to Anderson. Myers and several black males associated with the Murder Town Gangsters came to the residence, and Myers was heard to say that if Duncan needed Myers to shut up the witnesses, he could do that. Mainelli later told police that Myers and three other black males had come to Anderson's residence and that during a conversation, Myers said something similar to, `[Y]ou can't let that white bitch out of your sight until this is over.' In addition, the night Flowers was killed, Anderson heard Myers tell Mainelli to watch the females who were in the car with Flowers so that Myers could take them out and that he would kill any of the witnesses who talked about Flowers' murder. On September 18, 1995, Mainelli was found dead in her apartment from two gunshot wounds to the head. Two .22caliber Remington shell casings were located in the bedroom near the body. Anderson told police that she had gone to Mainelli's apartment at approximately 11 p.m. on September 17 and that she believed Mainelli had male company at that time. Darnell Tatum, who had been dating Mainelli, said he knocked on her apartment door between 11:45 p.m. on September 17 and 1 a.m. on September 18, but that no one answered. However, he believed someone was in the apartment because a light came on after he knocked. A confidential source, who was not on probation or parole and had provided information to police which had led to numerous arrests and the seizure of narcotics, informed the police that Myers and Tim Sanders had severely beaten Blandon Grayer because he had cooperated with police in the investigation of Flowers' murder and that Myers wanted to send a message that you do not snitch on Murder Town Gangsters. When police interviewed Myers, he told them he had had an intimate relationship with Mainelli which was cut short when he went to prison, but claimed that he was with a girl friend, Edwina Wilson, on September 17, 1995, the night of Mainelli's murder. Police later arrested Demond Briggs for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The pistol obtained was a Jennings .22caliber model J-22 semiautomatic pistol, serial number 685824, chrome with black grips. Ballistic tests showed that this was the weapon used in Mainelli's murder. Briggs told police he had purchased the pistol from Edward Wilson in December and that Wilson and Myers were associates. Edwina Wilson, Edward Wilson's sister, reported that Myers had assaulted her at her residence because she had confronted him about Mainelli's death. Edwina Wilson also identified the pistol seized from Briggs as a pistol Myers had once given her and claimed that she had returned the pistol to Myers in September of the previous year. Myers had told her that if the police came by, she was to tell them he had been with her the night Mainelli was killed and not to be specific about the time he actually came home. Edwina Wilson told police that Myers had left her apartment on the night of Mainelli's murder and that he had not returned until Monday, September 18, 1995, between 5 and 6 a.m. Edward Wilson told police that he, Sam Edwards, Grayer, and Alvin Morris accompanied Myers and Ronnie Cross to a Bible study on September 17, 1995. After leaving the church, Myers drove to the apartments where Mainelli lived. Myers got out, put on a pair of brown work gloves, slid a round into the chamber of a small pistol, and left for an hour to an hour and a half. Upon his return, Myers took off the gloves, pulling them over the pistol. Myers later got out of the vehicle and gave Edwards a small ball-like article that looked like brown work gloves. Edward Wilson later obtained the pistol from Edwards. When Edwards handed Edward Wilson the pistol, it was concealed inside a pair of brown work gloves. Wilson told the police that he had seen the pistol in Edwina Wilson's possession in the summer of 1995. This gun was eventually sold to Briggs and was seized by the police when Briggs was arrested. Edward Wilson told police he was later taken to a Best Western motel in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and threatened by Myers, Sanders, Edwards, Cross, James Benford, Cameron Hollis, and Torraz Davis. Police confirmed that Sanders had obtained a room at a Best Western motel in Council Bluffs on December 19, 1995. In addition, Edwina Wilson reported a second assault by Myers, and when police questioned him, they observed that Myers had a hand-held police scanner. Without further detailing the contents of the affidavit, we conclude that the affidavit was sufficiently detailed and of sufficient apparent reliability to warrant a finding by a neutral judge that there was probable cause to believe that Myers and parties unknown had committed a murder and were conspiring in its coverup, that communications concerning these offenses would be obtained through interception of Myers' telephone conversations, and that the telephones at Myers' home would be used in the commission of these offenses. Therefore, we conclude that the requirements of § 86-705(3)(a), (b), and (d) have been satisfied.