Opinion ID: 682739
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Procurement of the Search Warrants

Text: 11 The Velardis allege that Walsh and Boek deliberately or recklessly misled the magistrates who issued the search warrants. Where an officer knows, or has reason to know, that he has materially misled a magistrate on the basis for a finding of probable cause, ... the shield of qualified immunity is lost. Golino v. City of New Haven, 950 F.2d 864, 871 (2d Cir.1991), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 3032, 120 L.Ed.2d 902 (1992) (citations omitted). A section 1983 plaintiff challenging a warrant on this basis must make the same showing that is required at a suppression hearing under Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 155-56, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 2676-77, 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978): the plaintiff must show that the affiant knowingly and deliberately, or with a reckless disregard of the truth, made false statements or material omissions in his application for a warrant, and that such statements or omissions were necessary to the finding of probable cause. Golino, 950 F.2d at 870-71; see Franks, 438 U.S. at 171-72, 98 S.Ct. at 2684-85. Unsupported conclusory allegations of falsehood or material omission cannot support a Franks challenge; to mandate a hearing, the plaintiff must make specific allegations accompanied by an offer of proof. See Franks, 438 U.S. at 171, 98 S.Ct. at 2684. Moreover, when police officers move for summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity, [p]laintiffs may not unwrap a public officer's cloak of immunity from suit simply by alleging even meritorious factual disputes relating to probable cause, when those controversies are nevertheless not material to the ultimate resolution of the immunity issue. Cartier v. Lussier, 955 F.2d 841, 845 (2d Cir.1992). Disputed issues are not material if, after crossing out any allegedly false information and supplying any omitted facts, the corrected affidavit would have supported a finding of probable cause. Soares v. State of Connecticut, 8 F.3d 917, 920 (2d Cir.1993); Cartier, 955 F.2d at 845. 12 The materiality of a misrepresentation or an omission in this context is a mixed question of law and fact. Golino, 950 F.2d at 871. The legal component depends on whether the information is relevant to the probable cause determination under controlling substantive law. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). But the weight that a neutral magistrate would likely have given such information is a question for the finder of fact, so that summary judgment is inappropriate in doubtful cases. 1 See Golino, 950 F.2d at 871-72; see also TSC Industries, Inc. v. Northway, Inc., 426 U.S. 438, 450, 96 S.Ct. 2126, 2132-33, 48 L.Ed.2d 757 (1976). Nonetheless, if the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, discloses no genuine dispute that a magistrate would have issued the warrant on the basis of the corrected affidavits, then under the ordinary standard for summary judgment, see Turtur v. Rothschild Registry International, Inc., 26 F.3d 304, 309 (2d Cir.1994), a qualified immunity defense must be upheld. 13 In sum, to survive the defendants' motion for summary judgment on this issue, the plaintiffs must satisfy three conditions: they must have made an offer of proof supporting specific allegations of deliberate or reckless misrepresentation, as required by Franks; the alleged misrepresentations must be legally relevant to the probable cause determination; and there must be a genuine issue of fact about whether the magistrate would have issued the warrant on the basis of corrected affidavits. 14 The Velardis have not sustained this burden here. There can be no genuine dispute that the magistrates would have found probable cause sufficient for both warrants even after correction for whatever factual errors were reported. In the affidavit for the warrant for the Velardi residence, Walsh incorrectly implied that all relevant information relating to Crispino Velardi's cocaine dealing came from Walsh's personal observation, whereas much of it was based on the observations of other members of the investigative team. The affidavit also stated that Walsh had information from a reliable informant (i.e., Richard Clair) that an individual last name Velardi is selling cocaine through Kevin Narbone and other individuals in the Utica/Marcy area and living at the above described address, whereas Clair did not know the name, the identity, or the address of Narbone's supplier. Rather, the investigative team itself had identified the name and residence of the supplier by tracing the registration of the supplier's car to Frances Velardi, by learning from utility company records that a customer named Velardi lived in the front apartment in a house supplied by a particular utility pole, and finally by observing the supplier leave from and return to a driveway serving the identified apartment. 15 Walsh's factual errors, even if deliberate, could not possibly have affected the magistrate's decision to issue the warrant. The observations of fellow officers are a reliable basis upon which to determine probable cause, United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 111, 85 S.Ct. 741, 747, 13 L.Ed.2d 684 (1965), and the circumstantial evidence linking Narbone's supplier to the residence described in the warrant provided probable cause to believe that evidence of the supplier's narcotics business would be found at the apartment described, see United States v. Travisano, 724 F.2d 341, 346-47 (2d Cir.1983) (holding that articulable connection or nexus between residence and car used in crime provided probable cause to search residence for evidence). 16 The alleged omissions, such as that Crispino Velardi had not been seen armed or that no alleged drug transactions had taken place at the residence to be searched, were simply not material. The affidavits did not imply that Velardi was armed or was dealing narcotics in his home. No omitted circumstances were critical to the evaluation of probable cause. Brown v. D'Amico, 35 F.3d 97, 99 (2d Cir.1994). 2 17 There is also no genuine issue of material fact concerning the warrant for the safe-deposit boxes. It is not disputed that Mary and Frances Velardi both accessed their safe-deposit boxes when the bank opened on Monday. A memorandum from a bank employee also confirms that a prosecutor was informed that morning that both Chris Velardi and his mother Mary had already accessed their safe-deposit boxes at 9:00 that morning. When combined with indisputable evidence of narcotics activity by Crispino Velardi and Walsh's expert averments that narcotics dealers frequently store contraband and other evidence in their safe-deposit boxes, this information from the bank employee indisputably provided probable cause to search both boxes. Mary and Frances Velardi have not shown that there is any genuine dispute about these material facts. Walsh's error in reporting that information concerning the banks came from his personal observations was again immaterial, because the actual source of the information, the bank employee, would be deemed a sufficiently reliable source of information for a probable cause finding under the circumstances. Most of the plaintiffs' other allegations of deception concern superfluous information in Walsh's affidavit relating to the Velardis' conduct at the two banks. Moreover, most of these allegations have not been supported by the offers of proof required under Franks. The defendants were therefore entitled to summary judgment on their qualified immunity defense in relation to their conduct in procuring both warrants. 18