Opinion ID: 453009
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Philip Weinstein.

Text: 23 On July 13, 1977, FBI agents executed a search warrant at the premises of American Medicinal Corporation (AMC) in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Pursuant to this search warrant numerous corporate documents were seized. Moreover, information obtained during the July 13 search led to a subsequent search warrant executed at AMC offices on July 18, 1977. Documents seized from both searches were introduced at trial. The appellant Philip Weinstein filed pretrial motions to suppress evidence obtained through both searches. During evidentiary hearings on these motions the district court ruled, and the government conceded, that the defendant had legal standing to raise the issue of fourth amendment violations. We assume that this is so. 24 After evidentiary hearings, the district court denied the motions to suppress in all respects. The district court later denied a renewed motion to suppress and a consequent motion for judgment of acquittal or a new trial on this ground. 25 Appellant Philip Weinstein's attack on the validity of this evidence is two-fold. He argues, first, that the warrant executed on July 13, 1977 was impermissibly overbroad in light of the probable cause shown in support of that warrant. Alternatively, he argues the July 13, 1977 warrant was insufficiently particular. We will address both claims. 26
27 Attached to the July 13, 1977 warrant and incorporated therein by reference was an Exhibit A listing 28 individuals, companies, and organizations thought by the FBI to be involved in the pharmaceutical fraud scheme. Included in this list of individuals and organizations were Philip Weinstein and his companies, AMI and AMC, Robert Falvo, Wilhelmina Harich Weinstein, Stanley Kowitt, Solomon Richman and his company, GABAR, and the purportedly charitable organizations of Opus Christi America, IMA and Church of God World Missions, Inc. Exhibit A also noted the types of documents which were thought to be material to the investigation: correspondence, invoices, cancelled checks, check stubs, address books, diaries, and other documents typically used in a business organization. Also attached to the warrant was an affidavit by FBI agent Claude Roberts reciting the operative facts upon which a conclusion of probable cause was sought. The affidavit set forth in detail the scope and operation of the pharmaceutical fraud scheme. The affidavit did not, however, make mention of the role of GABAR or Solomon Richman in that scheme. 28 On the basis of these facts the appellant Philip Weinstein argues that, because the affidavit did not mention GABAR or Solomon Richman, the magistrate could not conclude probable cause existed as to these entities. Because Exhibit A to the warrant did authorize the seizure of documents pertaining to Richman and GABAR, however, the warrant is alleged to be overbroad. 29 As noted previously, the FBI entered the AMC premises to peruse documents authorized by the magistrate's warrant. The warrant and Exhibit A appended thereto gave clear indication that correspondence addressed to Solomon Richman or GABAR was within the scope of probable cause shown. We believe seizure of a document so apparently within the scope of the warrant would be made in good faith, hence valid. United States v. Leon, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 3421-23, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984). 30 In the instant case, however, we are presented with an officer exercising the utmost of good faith. Entering the AMC premises on July 13, warrant and affidavit in hand, the agent viewed the GABAR file and concluded that, because the affidavit did not recite facts about Solomon Richman or GABAR (even though the exhibit to the warrant did), the content of the file might be beyond probable cause shown. Appellant Philip Weinstein urges that the good faith exception is inapplicable here because, by refusing to seize the GABAR file during the first search, the agent, an experienced member of the FBI, manifested his awareness that he did not have probable cause as to Richman or GABAR. We reject this argument. By declining to seize the GABAR file during the initial search, the agent showed careful respect for the judicial limitations upon his authority to search. We approve such caution, and refuse to allow what is clearly a good faith attempt to abide the fourth amendment's mandate to become, through judicial interpretation, the indicium of bad faith. Assuming arguendo that the warrant authorizing the initial search of AMC premises was overbroad, we nevertheless hold that documents viewed during the course of that search and seized during the course of a second, need not be excluded. They were obtained in good faith reliance upon the warrant. United States v. Leon, --- U.S. at ----, 104 S.Ct. at 3423 (1984). 31
32 Appellant Philip Weinstein also argues that the initial search warrant was insufficiently particular and invalid. Consequently the second search warrant obtained as a fruit of the first was also invalid. The warrant in question authorized the FBI to search the premises of American Medicinal Corporation for property identified in Exhibit A, attached to the warrant and expressly incorporated within it. The warrant stated that the property sought was 33 relevant and material to alleged violations of the mail fraud statute (Title 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1341), the wire fraud statute (Title 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1343) and Racketeer Influenced Corrupt [sic] Organizations statute (Title 18, U.S.C. Sections 1961 to 1968 inclusive) committed in the Southern District of Florida and elsewhere.... 34 Exhibit A identified the property sought as: 35 [c]orrespondence, invoices, cancelled checks, check stubs, telegrams, bills of lading, warehouse receipts, bank statements, ledgers, work papers, purchase orders, telephone toll records, address books, daily diaries, calendars, customer lists, autodexes, intracorporate and intercorporate memoranda, and credit card statements pertaining to the following individuals, business firms, and/or purported charities: ... 36 Exhibit A then set out twenty-eight individuals, business firms, and purported charities which were suspected of involvement in the pharmaceutical fraud scheme. 37 Clearly, an affidavit incorporated into a warrant by express reference and attached to and accompanying the warrant can cure ambiguity in the warrant itself. United States v. Wuagneux, 683 F.2d 1343, 1351 n. 6 (11th Cir.1982), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 69, 78 L.Ed.2d 83 (1983); United States v. Haydel, 649 F.2d 1152, 1154-58 (5th Cir.), corrected, 664 F.2d 84 (5th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1022, 102 S.Ct. 1721, 72 L.Ed.2d 140 (1982). The affidavit of FBI agent Roberts, attached to the warrant, set out the scope and operation of the pharmaceutical fraud scheme thought to be operated by, inter alia, AMC, AMI and Philip Weinstein. Included within that affidavit were the dates during which the scheme was believed to have operated. Moreover, the agents conducting the challenged searches were briefed about the investigation; the agent who investigated the case was available to answer questions. On the basis of this showing we believe that the warrant, both as issued and as executed, was sufficiently particular in scope to pass muster under the fourth amendment. 4 As the initial warrant was valid, so the second warrant, issued on the basis of probable cause ascertained during the initial search, was likewise valid. 38