Opinion ID: 2978116
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Search Warrant and Affidavit

Text: As Clements explains, though Detective Cudo was the affiant, the affidavit supporting the search warrant references Agent Lucas, and if Detective Cudo knew of misconduct by Agent Lucas, then Detective Cudo submitted a reckless or fraudulent affidavit. Clements asserts that he would have used evidence of Agent Lucas’s misconduct to successfully challenge the validity of the warrant in a Franks hearing. The Government argues that information about Agent Lucas was unavailable when the Government was obligated to make Brady disclosures in response to Clements’s request for a Franks hearing. And even if that information was available, the Government argues it would not have been relevant or material in a Franks challenge because Detective Cudo was the affiant for -16- the warrant. Under Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154 (1978), Clements is entitled to an evidentiary hearing to challenge the validity of a search warrant only if he “makes a substantial preliminary showing that a false statement knowingly and intentionally, or with reckless disregard for the truth, was included by the affiant in the warrant affidavit, and . . . the allegedly false statement is necessary to the finding of probable cause.” Franks, 438 U.S. at 155-56. If, when the statements which were allegedly made falsely or with reckless disregard for the truth are set to one side, “there remains sufficient content in the warrant affidavit to support a finding of probable cause, no hearing is required.” Id. at 171-72. Clements argues that Affiant Cudo may have known about purported misconduct by Agent Lucas, which would have resulted in a reckless or fraudulent affidavit. However, Clements does not point to a single statement in the affidavit that Affiant Cudo drafted recklessly or fraudulently. Clements also does not dispute that Affiant Cudo was present during the controlled purchase referenced in the affidavit and, as such, Affiant Cudo independently verified the information contained in the warrant. Further, the affidavit does not contain any statements made by Agent Lucas. Accordingly, any information allegedly impeaching Agent Lucas was immaterial for making the substantial preliminary showing for a Franks hearing and is, thereby, immaterial under Brady.