Opinion ID: 2500041
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Determining When a Warrant Is Based on Stale Information

Text: ¶ 7 Of course, some time passes between the officer's or informant's observations of criminal activity and the presentation of the affidavit to the magistrate. The magistrate must decide whether the passage of time is so prolonged that it is no longer probable that a search will reveal criminal activity or evidence, i.e., that the information is stale. The magistrate makes this determination based on the circumstances of each case. Sgro v. United States, 287 U.S. 206, 210-11, 53 S.Ct. 138, 77 L.Ed. 260 (1932). Among the factors for assessing staleness are the time between the known criminal activity and the nature and scope of the suspected activity. See, e.g., Andresen v. Maryland, 427 U.S. 463, 478 n. 9, 96 S.Ct. 2737, 49 L.Ed.2d 627 (1976); State v. Petty, 48 Wash.App. 615, 621, 740 P.2d 879 (1987). In the context of a marijuana growing operation, probable cause might still exist despite the passage of a substantial amount of time. See, e.g., State v. Payne, 54 Wash.App. 240, 246, 773 P.2d 122 (1989) ([a] marijuana grow operation is hardly a `now you see it, now you don't' event); State v. Hall, 53 Wash.App. 296, 299-300, 766 P.2d 512 (1989) (two months between the date of the informant's observations and issuance of the warrant not too long). ¶ 8 It should go without saying that the magistrate cannot determine whether observations recited in the affidavit are stale unless the magistrate knows the date of those observations. Federal courts have found two separate statements of time to be important in determining staleness: (1) when the affiant received the tip and (2) when the informant observed the criminal activity. See Rosencranz v. United States, 356 F.2d 310, 315 (1st Cir.1966) (absence of any averment on either time frame a serious defect in the affidavit). Commentators have identified the second time frame as the critical one: the time of the facts relied on to establish probable cause. See 2 Wayne R. LaFave, Search and Seizure: A Treatise on the Fourth Amendment § 3.7(b) at 391 n. 67 (4th ed.2004); see also Partin, 88 Wash.2d at 904, 567 P.2d 1136 (the underlying facts alleged must be current (emphasis added)); Payne, 54 Wash.App. at 246, 773 P.2d 122 (evaluating the time between the informant's observations and issuance of the warrant); Hall, 53 Wash.App. at 299-300, 766 P.2d 512 (same). ¶ 9 An affidavit lacking the timing of the necessary observations might still be sufficient if the magistrate can infer recency from other facts and circumstances in the affidavit. 2 LaFave, supra, at 393-94 (undated facts may be factually interrelated with other dated information in the affidavit); see also Maddox, 152 Wash.2d at 509, 98 P.3d 1199 (In determining probable cause, the magistrate makes a practical commonsense decision, taking into account all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit and drawing commonsense inferences.). However, without such additional facts from which to draw an inference of recency, the affidavit does not provide a magistrate a basis to find probable cause that a crime is now occurring. 2 LaFave, supra, at 392 (`It is one thing to expect the magistrate to give a commonsense reading to facts set forth and to draw inferences from them. It is quite another thing to expect the magistrate to reach for external facts and to build inference upon inference in order to create a reasonable basis for his belief that a crime is presently being committed.' (quoting Commonwealth v. Simmons, 450 Pa. 624, 631, 301 A.2d 819 (1973))).