Opinion ID: 2629661
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Veracity Hearing

Text: A defendant may contest the sufficiency of a warrant affidavit on the ground that the statements of the affiant are false. People v. Winden, 689 P.2d 578 (Colo.1984). Since probable cause determinations are based on inferences drawn from the language in warrant affidavits, false statements may result in a mistaken finding of probable cause. Id. at 582-83. If the defendant shows some good faith basis in fact to question the accuracy of an affidavit for a search warrant, a veracity hearing should be held. People v. Dailey, 639 P.2d 1068, 1074-75 (Colo.1982). At a veracity hearing, Dailey requires that three issues be addressed: (1) whether the warrant affidavit contains false statements; (2) whether the false statements must be excised; (3) if the statements are excised, whether the remaining statements establish probable cause to authorize the search. People v. Young, 785 P.2d 1306, 1308 (Colo.1990) (citing Dailey, 639 P.2d at 1075). False statements in affidavits must be stricken under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution if the source of error is intentional falsehood or reckless disregard for the truth by the affiant. Winden, 689 P.2d at 582. If the error resulted from some other source, such as negligence or a good-faith mistake, the question of appropriate sanctions, if any, is initially left to the discretion of the trial court, but subject to our subsequent review. Id. Thus, not all false information in a warrant affidavit need be stricken; rather, the source of error is determinative. Young, 785 P.2d at 1309. To evaluate the falsity of a statement or the source of an error, a court may consider facts outside the four corners of an affidavit. Dailey, 639 P.2d at 1073. Reed contested the veracity of two statements in the affidavit in support of the warrant. At the veracity hearing, Reed first challenged an allegation in the affidavit which stated, On 11/04/01 Michael Reed and his associate Levi Ornelas were observed smoking cigarettes outside of room twelve at approximately 11:00 P.M. He also disputed a second statement in the affidavit: Michael Reed had rented room number three at the Loveland Motel and changed into room number twelve on 11/04/01. Again, it is unclear whether the trial court struck the second statement at all and whether it completely or only in part excised the first statement from the affidavit. [1] For both statements, we disapprove of any excision from the affidavit as discussed below. We apply the Dailey test to the allegedly false information included within the affidavit. Under Dailey, a trial court must first determine the veracity of the contested statement. Second, it is imperative that the trial court make specific findings why the false statements are in the affidavit: whether the error was intentional, or with reckless disregard for the truth, or due to negligence or a good faith mistake. We do not address the third prong of Dailey which requires an evaluation of whether the excised material affected a finding of probable cause because we conclude that none of the contested information should have been stricken.
In response to testimony in the veracity hearing, the trial court determined that some or all of the first statement, describing Reed and Ornelas smoking cigarettes together outside Room 12 two days prior to the search, was false. Specifically, Ornelas testified that he did not know of Reed until he and Reed were together at the Larimer County Detention Center. Since the prosecution adduced no evidence to the contrary, the court found the statement to be false. Similarly, the court determined the second statement that Reed had initially rented Room 3 and moved to Room 12 on November 4, 2001, to be clearly erroneous based on motel records and testimony given by Sarah Verner Reed. [2] However, the trial court also found that evidence and testimony indicated the defendant had been in Room 3 prior to November 4th. In addition, the motel housekeeping believed that defendant was renting Room 3.
After the trial court assessed the veracity of the disputed statements, it did not follow the second prong of the Dailey test: It did not evaluate the origin of error for the false statements. Because the trial court deleted all or part of the first statement without determining the source of error, its strike of that information was contrary to Dailey. In addition, if the trial court had performed an evaluation of the origin of error in the first statement, it would not have excised any of it; testimony from the veracity hearing suggests that the source of error was not an intentional falsehood, reckless disregard for the truth, or even negligence. Rather, the affiant relied on the first-hand observations of a fellow officer who recognized Ornelas and Reed. It is well-established that an affiant need not have personal knowledge of statements in an affidavit under the fellow officer rule. People v. Alexander, 797 P.2d 1250, 1253-54 (Colo.1990) (officer who does not personally possess sufficient information to constitute probable cause may nevertheless make a valid arrest if (1) officer acted upon the communication of a police officer, and (2) the police, as a whole, have sufficient information to constitute probable cause); People v. Pannebaker, 714 P.2d 904, 908 (Colo.1986) (information supplied by fellow officer was reliable). Therefore, because the reasonable affiant could have relied on information provided by a fellow officer, a trial court cannot excise that information from the warrant affidavit. Similarly, the trial court did not evaluate the source of error for the second statement which incorrectly stated that defendant had moved from Room 3 to Room 12 on November 4th. Like the first statement, this statement cannot be attributed to intentional falsehood or reckless disregard for the truth. At best, it shows negligence on the affiant's part to consult the motel records. Again, since a reasonable affiant can rely on information from a fellow officer or from a motel manager who stated that Reed rented motel Room 3, and because evidence indicates that Reed had been in Room 3 prior to November 4th, this error did not require excision from the warrant affidavit. See Young, 785 P.2d 1306 (in a similar case, where officer reasonably relied on information that later proved to be false, the officer was not negligent). In summary, no part of either of the two disputed statements should have been stricken from the affidavit under Dailey. Accordingly, we next proceed to determine whether the unexcised affidavit supported a showing of probable cause.