Opinion ID: 6933777
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sufficiency of Search Warrant Application

Text: The Appellant next contends that the District Court erred in dismissing his section 1983 claim on the grounds that the search warrant application contained sufficient facts independent of the “behavioral profile” to establish probable cause. Under the proper de novo standard for reviewing grants of summary judgment, we find that the District Court did not err in granting summary judgment in favor of the Appellees on the section 1983 claim because there indeed existed sufficient independent evidence in the warrant application to justify the magistrate’s finding of probable cause. Thus, notwithstanding the propriety or impropriety of including the race factor in the affidavit, the search warrant was properly issued and executed. The case law of the Fourth Circuit clearly evidences this Court’s general willingness to affirm, under a highly deferential standard of review, a magistrate’s finding of probable cause. Moreover, the case law establishes that, even if an affidavit supporting a search warrant is based in part on some illegal evidence, such inclusion of illegal evidence does not taint the entire warrant if it is otherwise properly supported by probable cause. See United States v. Smith, 730 F.2d 1052, 1056 (6th Cir.1984); United States v. Williams, 633 F.2d 742, 745 (8th Cir.1980); James v. United States, 418 F.2d 1150, 1152 (D.C.Cir.1969). Thus, unless the tainted information is so important that “probable cause did not exist without it,” the warrant will be deemed valid. Smith, 730 F.2d at 1056. This Court has always applied a highly deferential standard of review in considering the sufficiency of a finding of probable cause by a magistrate. In United States v. Jones, 31 F.3d 1304 (4th Cir.1994), the Fourth Circuit, in addressing whether the Fourth Amendment requires suppression of certain evidence obtained by postal inspectors pursuant to a search warrant, recently re-árticulat-ed the well-established standard under which search warrants issued by magistrates should be reviewed by appellate courts. In finding that the search warrant obtained by the inspectors in Jones was indeed supported by sufficient indicia of probable cause to justify the postal search in that case, this Court held: In order to establish probable cause, the facts presented to the magistrate need only “warrant a [person] of reasonable caution in the belief’ that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in the place to be searched. The probable cause standard “does not demand any showing that such a belief be correct or more likely true than false.” The decisions of the Supreme Court, as well as our more recent efforts, consistently establish that “[g]reat deference is to be given a magistrate’s assessment of the facts when making a determination of probable cause.” Applying this level of deference, our inquiry is directed to whether the magistrate had a “substantial basis” for his conclusion that probable cause existed. 31 F.3d at 1313 (emphasis added) (citations omitted). Under this standard, we found that the warrant which the postal inspectors obtained before searching the interior of the appellant’s van was supported by sufficient indicia of probable cause to pass constitutional muster. Id.; see also United States v. Clyburn, 24 F.3d 613, 617, 618 (4th Cir.1994), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 115 S.Ct. 274, 130 L.Ed.2d 192 (1994) (finding that a magistrate’s determination of probable cause “should be paid great deference by reviewing courts” and is supported when there is a “fair probability” that the thing for which the police are searching will be found in the place to be searched), citing to Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 419, 89 S.Ct. 584, 590-91, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969), and Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 2332, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983). Under this Court’s deferential and well-established standard for reviewing probable cause determinations by magistrates, therefore, the search warrant at issue in the instant case was sufficiently supported by evidence of probable cause, even without the race factor consideration, to pass constitutional muster under the Fourth Amendment. Thus, we affirm the District Court’s summary judgment dismissal of the Appellant’s section 1983 claim on those grounds. First, even absent the inclusion in the affidavit of certain of the “profile” characteristics generated by Appellee McCann, the warrant application filed by Appellee Poe contained several facts pointing to a “fair probability” that Simmons was the purported attacker in the instant case, and thus provided a “substantial basis” for the magistrate’s decision to issue the warrant. Those factors included: (1) that Simmons helped clean the victim’s windows ten weeks before the crime, (2) that Simmons therefore had the opportunity to unlock the window, (3) that the point of entry into the home was a window, which was unlocked, (4) that the perpetrator tried to conceal the point of entry, (5) that the attacker was able to move quietly through the home to the victim’s bedroom even though the home was “very dimly lit,” indicating that the assailant had previous knowledge of the layout of the home, (6) that Simmons’s New Jersey accent fit the victim’s description of the attacker as having a “mild,” “Northern” voice, (7) that Simmons’s physical description fit the description of the attacker given by the victim, (8) that Simmons failed to keep several appointments with Appellee Poe for an interview regarding the investigation into the rape, and (9) that Simmons knew that the victim resided alone. Those facts alone suggest that there was a “fair probability” that Simmons was the attacker, and that the Appellee Magistrate therefore certainly had a “substantial basis” for concluding that there existed probable cause to justify issuance of a search warrant. Second, the Appellant’s argument that the warrant application was lacking because nothing in the application indicated what Simmons’s “motive” for the rape might be, is wholly unavailing. Indeed, nowhere does the case law indicate that proof of “motive” is a necessary element of a proper probable cause determination. Moreover, because rape is not a crime in which specifically articulated motive generally plays a large role, the Appellant’s argument that an essential element of probable cause is missing from the application is simply unfounded. Third, notwithstanding the existence of sufficient evidence of probable cause, even without the race factor, to support the issuance of the search warrant, the Appellant’s argument that the search warrant was racially motivated is unsupported by the facts. Indeed, the race factor was only one factor in an entire behavioral profile consisting of eleven separate characteristics, indicating that race was not necessarily the motivating factor underlying the Appellees’ decision to seek and issue the search warrant against Simmons. Moreover, there is no evidence to suggest that race played any part in the consideration of Simmons as a possible suspect where the eleven suspects on Poe’s “short list” were evenly divided racially, and where the one other suspect for whom a search warrant was sought — Eric Land- — was a white man; indeed, of the eleven suspects investigated in connection with the rape, six were white and five were black. Finally, the case law plainly establishes that an appellate court must accord great deference to a magistrate’s finding of probable cause. Indeed, the Supreme Court has held that “[Reasonable minds frequently may differ on the question whether a particular affidavit establishes probable cause, and we have thus concluded that the preference for warrants is most appropriately effectuated by according ‘great deference’ to a magistrate’s determination.” United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 914, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 3416, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984). Thus, the magistrate’s determination should be overturned in this case only if there is no “substantial basis” for concluding that probable cause existed. Id. at 915, 104 S.Ct. at 3416-17. In light of the discussion above, there can be no doubt that such a substantial basis for a finding of probable cause existed in the instant case.