Opinion ID: 655972
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Search of the Locker

Text: 21 Duchaine argues the court correctly ruled that the agent's inspection through the locker's vent was an unlawful search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, but that the court erred in ruling that the affidavit later used to obtain the warrant stated probable cause because the affidavit failed to establish a factual nexus between Duchaine, the suspected activities, and the storage locker. United States v. Flores, 679 F.2d 173, 175 (9th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1148 (1983). The government argues the search was not unlawful; in the alternative, if the search was unlawful, there was probable cause to support the affidavit even if the information found during the initial search was excluded from the affidavit. We do not decide whether the agent's efforts to peer through the locker's vent violated the Constitution because, after reviewing the district court's legal conclusions de novo, United States v. Johns, 891 F.2d 243, 244 (9th Cir.1989), we agree that the affidavit presented sufficient probable cause to support the warrant even if the results of the supposedly unlawful search were not reported. The affidavit reported that Duchaine sold GHB and Clenbuterol, that Duchaine made frequent visits to the locker facility (including at least one occasion when he did so immediately after receiving an order from a confidential informant), that Duchaine made the rental payment for the locker, the locker was registered in the name of a former girlfriend who had been arrested with Duchaine for distributing anabolic steroids, and the only other locker connected to Duchaine did not contain any illegal substances. We believe this sufficient to enable the magistrate to conclude that it would be reasonable to seek the evidence in the place indicated by the affidavit. United States v. Hendershot, 614 F.2d 648, 654 (9th Cir.1980).