Opinion ID: 1239150
Heading Depth: 7
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Request to search for items already in police custody

Text: On August 7, Detective St. John led a search of Shari's automobile, containing her clothing and other personal belongings. The police removed and inventoried the items, which included a silver spoon ring, five pierced earrings, two silver bracelets, two pairs of cutoff jeans, a black wrist strap, and a pair of brown thongs. Despite the prior recovery of similar items, Detective St. John sought authorization in the warrant to search for a silver spoon ring, women's pierced earrings, a gold bracelet, blue cut off shorts, a female watch with black band, and any female clothing as shown in [a] series of 9 photographs of Shari Miller attached as exhibits to the affidavit, depicting her wearing a pair of cutoff blue jeans, a pair of brown thongs, a wrist band, and jewelry. The affidavit of probable cause did not state that Shari's vehicle earlier had been inventoried, nor that similar articles already were in police custody. The trial court determined that Detective St. John failed to exercise due care in seeking authorization to search for the silver spoon ring that already was in police custody. The court also found Detective St. John negligent in not more fully and explicitly revealing which items were already in police custody and for expressing his reasons for requesting permission to search for additional sets of those items. Defendant contends that Detective St. John knew or should have known that the silver spoon ring already was in police custody, and that his request to search for this article demonstrated an intentional or reckless disregard of the truth. Detective St. John testified that on August 7, he personally directed the taking of the inventory and photographs of the articles, as well as the preparation of the property report. The silver spoon ring and many of Shari's belongings were included within one item, one red duffle bag containing miscellaneous objects, the contents of which Detective St. John did not examine or record. The evidence does not establish that at the time he prepared the affidavit of probable cause, Detective St. John had personal knowledge of the prior seizure of the spoon ring. Defendant further contends that even if Detective St. John personally did not know the spoon ring was in police custody, other police officers investigating Shari's death had personal knowledge that this item had been seized, and should have so informed Detective St. John. (11), (9c) Although it is the rule that the police [cannot] insulate one officer's deliberate misstatement merely by relaying it through an officer-affiant personally ignorant of its falsity ( Franks v. Delaware, supra, 438 U.S. 154, 163-164, fn. 6 [98 S.Ct. 2674, 2680]; U.S. v. DeLeon (9th Cir.1992) 979 F.2d 761, 764), nothing in the record indicates that the police officers who searched Shari's vehicle deliberately withheld from Detective St. John information that the spoon ring had been seized earlier. The trial court did not err in determining that Detective St. John merely was negligent. Defendant also contends that additional items sought by Detective St. John  pierced earrings, a gold bracelet, cutoff jeans, a woman's watch with black band, and a pair of brown thongs  already were in police custody, and the inclusion of them in the affidavit demonstrated an intentional or reckless disregard of the truth. Detective St. John testified he had observed that Shari had pierced ears, and he knew she occasionally wore pierced earrings. Although Detective St. John was aware that pierced earrings had been recovered from Shari's vehicle, he certainly was not unreasonable in seeking their seizure based upon the surmise that she owned additional pierced earrings. The gold bracelet appearing in the photographs and listed in the affidavit clearly was distinct from the two silver bracelets that the police already held in custody. Detective St. John testified that Doreen Music, a criminalist working with Detective St. John, compared the pair of cutoff jeans in the photographs with the two pairs of cutoff jeans recovered from Shari's vehicle, and was unable positively to identify either pair as those Shari wore in the photographs. Detective St. John observed that the pair of thongs depicted in the photographs was the same color as the pair already in police custody, and he did not know whether Shari owned any additional pairs. Detective St. John was unable to determine from an examination of the photographs whether the black wrist strap worn by Shari included a watch, or whether it matched the black wrist strap found inside her vehicle. We have reviewed this evidence, and it does not appear that the items recovered from the vehicle matched those in the photographs. Although the pair of thongs depicted in the photographs resembled the pair already in police custody, the thongs were fungible in nature and it was not unreasonable to conclude that Shari may have owned additional pairs. In addition, the officer who seized the watch with yellow paint flecks was aware of Shari's recent activity as a painter, a circumstance that supplied independent probable cause for seizure of that item. Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court did not err in finding that although Detective St. John should have disclosed in his affidavit that items similar to those in the photographs already were in police custody, his failure to do so merely was negligent and was not intentional or reckless.