Opinion ID: 2621326
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: material misrepresentations

Text: Petitioners argue that material misrepresentations prevented the magistrate from accurately assessing the informant's reliability because much of the informant's information was inaccurate and based on hearsay. They note that the affidavit stated Petitioners talked about a bank robbery and not about a pub or casino robbery; that Ms. Rachel Krause told the informant Petitioners had left Anderson Island that night and had money after the shooting; that the informant did not see the ammunition and told police officers that Paul Vickers owned an AKC and a shotgun but not an SKS and a pump-action shotgun. Petitioners' challenge does not satisfy the requirements enunciated in Franks v. Delaware. [66] Under that case the Fourth Amendment requires a hearing at the request of the defendant when the defendant makes a substantial preliminary showing that misrepresentations were made deliberately or recklessly by the affiant in a search warrant affidavit, and the misstated information was material or relevant to the magistrate's determination of probable cause. [67] `Allegations of negligence or innocent mistake are insufficient.' There must be allegations of deliberate falsehood or of a reckless disregard of the truth, accompanied by an offer of proof. [68] Even though Petitioners did not establish that the affiant deliberately or recklessly made misrepresentations in this case, the trial court nevertheless conducted a Franks hearing. In that hearing the affiant, Detective Davidson, testified that the confidential informant in fact personally saw Petitioners leave Anderson Island by ferry, and the facts that Petitioners did not return that night and returned the following day with money was related by a second-hand source, Ms. Rachel Krause. Even if the informant did not have personal knowledge that Petitioners did not return to Anderson Island, that would not render the search warrant invalid. The affidavit would still be sufficient to support a finding of probable cause. [69] The other alleged misrepresentations are not material to a determination of probable cause for the search. It is of no particular significance that the affidavit referred to a bank robbery instead of robbery of a pub or casino and referred to an SKS instead of an AKC, and a pump-action shotgun instead of a shotgun. In the suppression hearing, Judge Buckner concluded the affiant did not deliberately provide any misleading information and the incorrect date of Petitioners' departure to Steilacoom was an innocent mistake. [70]