Opinion ID: 885118
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Whether the search warrant application contained sufficient probable cause for the issuance of the search warrant.

Text: ¶ 57 In State v. Kuneff, 1998 MT 287, ¶ 18-19, ___ Mont. ____, ¶ 18-19, 970 P.2d 556, ¶ 18-19, 55 St.Rep. 1173, ¶ 18-19, we overruled previous decisions wherein this Court had held that a magistrate's determination of probable cause should receive great deference, and that such determinations should be upheld if there is a substantial basis for them. We stated in Kuneff : As a matter of logic and common sense, a reviewing court cannot defer to a magistrate's consideration of an application for search warrant that the magistrate in effect did not review. . . . [I]t would therefore be inappropriate to deferentially review the magistrate's determination that the application for search warrant established probable cause. . . . Kuneff, ¶ 19. ¶ 58 Thus, we held in Kuneff that when the issuance of a search warrant is based in part on illegal information, the reviewing court shall excise the illegally obtained information from the application for search warrant and review the remaining information de novo to determine whether probable cause supported the issuance of a search warrant. Kuneff, ¶ 19. ¶ 59 Using this approach, we remand this case to the District Court to conduct a de novo hearing on Worrall's motion to suppress consistent with our previous determinations in this opinion. ¶ 60 Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. JIM REGNIER, TERRY N. TRIEWEILER, WILLIAM E. HUNT, SR., W. WILLIAM LEAPHART, JJ., concur.