Opinion ID: 781489
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Deliberate Falsehoods

Text: 27 Celestine also argues that Zavacky deliberately misled the magistrate judge about the house's comparative electrical use. A defendant may succeed in challenging the validity of a warrant if he can show that a false statement was knowingly and intentionally, or with a reckless disregard for the truth, included in an affidavit in support of probable cause, and the falsified information was necessary to the finding of probable cause. See Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 155-56, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978). 28 The statement that Celestine challenges addresses the relative size of the house and the other homes against which Zavacky compared it. The statement helped show that the castle-like house, consistent with a drug growing operation, used considerably more electricity than similar houses in the neighborhood. However, even assuming that Zavacky's statement was deliberately false, it was not necessary to demonstrate probable cause. Although the question of the existence of probable cause is closer if we disregard all statements about and inferences regarding the house's comparative electricity use, there was still a sufficient and reasonable basis to believe that evidence of drug growing would be found inside the residence. Thus, we conclude that the district court correctly held the warrant was based on probable cause and upheld its validity.