Opinion ID: 1625527
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: federal search warrant

Text: Vajgert's affidavit for the federal search warrant established that he was a postal inspector trained and experienced in the investigation of the use of the Express Mail service for trafficking in narcotics and other controlled substances; that an Express Mail/Narcotics Profile had been developed to detect the use of Express Mail for narcotics trafficking; that the package addressed to Morrison fit the profile and was suspicious for a number of specific reasons, including a fictitious return address in a known source state for drugs; and that Bush, a certified drug detection canine, alerted to the package, indicating the presence of a controlled substance. The affidavit also specifically explained that while under the control of his handler, Bush had correctly alerted to narcotics 106 out of 113 times and had correctly alerted 35 out of 40 times in response to requests from the postal inspection service for parcel presentations. A trial court could properly find, without being clearly wrong, that the information contained in Vajgert's affidavit constituted probable cause or reasonable suspicion founded on articulable facts for the issuance of a search warrant for the package. Morrison's primary objection to the detention of the package centers around Vajgert's profile of a suspicious package. Morrison argues that there was no underlying basis for the criteria used by Vajgert. However, Vajgert testified extensively regarding his training and experience, through which he developed his criteria of suspicious packages. Vajgert explained that his duties as a U.S. postal inspector entail discovery of dangerous or controlled substances in the mails. His training included a 12-week basic postal inspector course and a course at the Express Mail Narcotics School, at which he was trained in detecting the use of the Express Mail service for the interstate trafficking of controlled substances. He stated that he specifically targets Express Mail because it has a guaranteed 24-hour delivery and because the majority of contraband cases nationally in the postal inspection service have been in the Express Mail service. Vajgert stated that his knowledge of drugs and Express Mail was acquired through his training and experience. He testified that he has detained approximately 75 Express Mail packages, of which he searched 55 to 60. Vajgert stated that he detained the package addressed to Morrison because it fit the criteria for a suspicious package and that he then contacted Sanchelli and arranged for the package to be presented to Bush, the drug detection dog. In United States v. Van Leeuwen, 397 U.S. 249, 90 S.Ct. 1029, 25 L.Ed.2d 282 (1970), the sole issue on appeal was whether conditions were satisfied for detention and inspection of two packages deemed suspicious by a postal clerk who subsequently called police. The court found that the warrantless detention of the packages pending investigation was justified because of the nature and weight of the packages, the fictitious return address, and the defendant's foreign license plates. The court held that the detention of the packages did not fall within the Fourth Amendment proscription of unreasonable searches and seizures of `persons, houses, papers, and effects.' 397 U.S. at 252, 90 S.Ct. at 1032. Despite a 29-hour delay between mailing and service of the search warrant on the packages, the Court stated that [t]he significant Fourth Amendment interest was in the privacy of this first-class mail; and that privacy was not disturbed or invaded until the approval of the magistrate was obtained. 397 U.S. at 253, 90 S.Ct. at 1032. The package addressed to Morrison was sent via Express Mail and was contracted to be delivered by noon on March 26, 1991. Vajgert pulled the package from the mail stream between 8 and 10 a.m. on March 26. A federal search warrant was obtained and executed on the package by 3:15 p.m. that day. Prior to obtaining the federal search warrant, the package was taken to the police impound lot for presentation to the drug detection dog. Before the federal search warrant was executed, delivery of the package was delayed only 3 hours 15 minutes from the expected time of delivery. As in Van Leeuwen, the detention in this case was justified based upon Vajgert's reasonable suspicion that the package contained contraband. The privacy of the package was not invaded until a federal search warrant had been obtained. See, also, Garmon v. Foust, 741 F.2d 1069 (8th Cir.1984) (actions of police officer in detaining suspicious package which had been mailed to a university student and which package was in custody of the university was a seizure of the package, but did not violate Fourth Amendment). Morrison also questions the validity of the presentation of the package to Bush. He claims that the canine sniff in this case constituted a warrantless search. We disagree. In United States v. Place, 462 U.S. 696, 103 S.Ct. 2637, 77 L.Ed.2d 110 (1983), the Court examined police use of a drug detection dog in the context of a search of a traveler's luggage at an airport. The Court stated that while the Fourth Amendment protects a person's privacy interest in the contents of personal luggage, a canine sniff requires neither opening the luggage nor exposing noncontraband items. The court emphasized the nonintrusive nature of a canine sniff and the limited disclosure to officers of the contents of the luggage. In these respects, the canine sniff is sui generis. We are aware of no other investigative procedure that is so limited both in the manner in which the information is obtained and in the content of the information revealed by the procedure. Therefore, we conclude that the particular course of investigation that the agents intended to pursue hereexposure of respondent's luggage, which was located in a public place, to a trained caninedid not constitute a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. 462 U.S. at 707, 103 S.Ct. at 2644-45. See, also, U.S. v. Harvey, 961 F.2d 1361 (8th Cir.1992), cert. denied ___ U.S. ___, 113 S.Ct. 238, 121 L.Ed.2d 173. In Morrison's case, subjecting the package to a canine sniff was a nonintrusive method of verifying Vajgert's reasonable suspicion based upon articulable facts that the package contained contraband. It was not a search of the package within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Morrison's argument is without merit. Morrison objects to the placement of the package for presentation in a drawer in which other drugs had been placed for presentation 7 to 10 times previously. Morrison complains that Bush could have been alerting to scent residue from other drugs which had been placed in the drawer in the past. Sanchelli acknowledged that in the past he had hidden drugs from Bush in a number of drawers at that location. However, Sanchelli testified that in this instance, Bush didn't alert on those drawers. He went to the strongest odor, which was the LSD hidden in that one table drawer. Morrison also argues that Bush was not certified in the detection of LSD. Sanchelli testified at the suppression hearing that he had attended a 2-week course at the Rudy Drexler School for Dogs in Elkhart, Indiana, at which he learned to train drug detection dogs. He said that he was required to be recertified every year and that since his initial certification in 1988, he had been recertified three times. Sanchelli testified that he was a certified handler who knows how to train drug detection dogs and that he had certified Bush in detecting LSD. Nonetheless, Morrison complains that Bush was not certified in detecting LSD by the Drexler school, but only by Sanchelli himself, and that Vajgert's affidavit was therefore misleading in its statement that Bush was a certified drug detection canine from the Rudy Drexler School for Canines in Elkhart, IL [sic]. The record fails to disclose any evidence that a drug detection dog must be trained at the school or that Sanchelli was unqualified to certify Bush in detecting LSD. Furthermore, Bush had in fact been certified in a number of drugs at the Drexler school. At the time Vajgert prepared his affidavit for the federal search warrant, he suspected only that the package contained a controlled substance. That the substance later proved to be LSD, which evidence emerged after the warrant was issued, has no bearing on whether the warrant was validly issued. Considering the information and circumstances contained within the four corners of the affidavit, the trial judge was not clearly wrong in determining that the federal search warrant was properly issued.