Opinion ID: 508816
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Appellants' Request for a Franks Hearing.

Text: 9 Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978), held that a criminal defendant has a right under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, after ex parte issuance of a search warrant, to challenge the truthfulness of statements made in affidavits supporting the warrant. To obtain an evidentiary hearing, however, 10 the challenger's attack must be more than conclusory and must be supported by more than a mere desire to cross-examine. There must be allegations of deliberate falsehood or of reckless disregard for the truth, and those allegations must be accompanied by an offer of proof. They should point out specifically the portion of the warrant affidavit that is claimed to be false, and they should be accompanied by a statement of supporting reasons. Affidavits or sworn or otherwise reliable statements of witnesses should be furnished, or their absence satisfactorily explained.... Finally, if these requirements are met, and if, when material that is subject of the alleged falsity or reckless disregard is set to one side, there remains sufficient content in the warrant affidavit to support a finding of probable cause, no hearing is required. 11 Id. at 171-72, 98 S.Ct. at 2684. [T]his court has recognized that where a substantial preliminary showing is made, the court must hold a hearing to determine if any false statements deliberately or recklessly included in the affidavit were material to the magistrate's finding of probable cause. United States v. Burnes, 816 F.2d 1354, 1357 (9th Cir.1987); see United States v. Stanert, 762 F.2d 775, 780, modified, 769 F.2d 1410 (9th Cir.1985). A district court's decision not to hold a Franks hearing is reviewed de novo. United States v. Burnes, 816 F.2d 1354, 1356 (9th Cir.1987); United States v. Perdomo, 800 F.2d 916, 920 (9th Cir.1986). 12 We hold that the district court should have granted a Franks hearing. Quite clearly, the defendant made a substantial preliminary showing that Agent White's 1 affidavit was deliberately false or at least in reckless disregard of the truth. As required by Franks, the defendants allege that the observations made by the officers could not have been true. They allege that they never engaged in any activities at the storage unit that could have produced the odors the officers allegedly smelled. They bolster this contention with expert witnesses who swore the officer's affidavit was necessarily false because it is scientifically impossible to smell what the officers claimed to have smelled given the contents of the storage space searched under the warrant. This amounts to a substantial preliminary showing that the affidavit supporting the warrant included false statements. 13 It is also clear that the affidavit purged of those falsities will not support a finding of probable cause. When references to the odor associated with the presence or manufacturing of methamphetamine are removed from the warrant all that is left is a description of the location and rental ownership of the storage unit in question. This is not enough. 14 It is not clear whether the judge below believed that Johns had established a substantial preliminary showing of falsity or omission. He did partially redact the warrant to exclude some of the challenged averments, but found probable cause still existed in the redacted warrant. However, the warrant, as he redacted it, still contained references to the smell of methamphetamine. Again, whether the officers could have smelled what they claimed is what a Franks hearing should determine. The defendants, in challenging all of the averments as to smell, made a sufficient showing to require a Franks hearing. And without those averments the probable cause support for the search warrant collapses because the remainder of the affidavit merely describes the location and ownership of the storage unit. Thus, we remand to the district court with instructions to hold a Franks hearing. 15