Opinion ID: 739906
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Illegal Search and Probable Cause

Text: 44 Trzaska argues that the warrants issued to search his apartment and garage were not supported by probable cause, as the warrant affidavit contained evidence obtained in the illegal plain view search and seizure. 45 Evidence seized during an illegal search should not be included in a warrant affidavit. See Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 484-85, 83 S.Ct. 407, 415-16, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963); United States v. Vasey, 834 F.2d 782, 788 (9th Cir.1987). However,  '[t]he mere inclusion of tainted evidence in an affidavit does not, by itself, taint the warrant or the evidence seized pursuant to the warrant.'  United States v. Reilly, 76 F.3d 1271, 1282 n. 2 (2d Cir.1996) (quoting Vasey, 834 F.2d at 788).  '[A] reviewing court should excise the tainted evidence and determine whether the remaining, untainted evidence would provide a neutral magistrate with probable cause to issue a warrant.'  Id. (quoting Vasey, 834 F.2d at 788). 46 We have no problem concluding that the warrant affidavit, excised of the tainted evidence, provided probable cause to issue a warrant to search Trzaska's apartment. The warrant affidavit accurately recounted that Trzaska had received shipments from eighteen weapon supply companies, and that several of the companies confirmed sending firearm and ammunition accessories to Trzaska's apartment. Further, while probation officers O'Keefe and Kelly were legally conducting a home visit at Trzaska's apartment, they observed ammunition openly visible within the apartment. Based on this evidence, the warrant affidavit, excised of the illegally seized evidence, provided probable cause to search Trzaska's apartment. 47 Whether there was probable cause to issue a warrant to search Trzaska's garage is a more difficult question. The warrant to search Trzaska's garage was issued because, shortly after the illegal plain view search, Trzaska allegedly was seen loading bags from his apartment into his car, driving his car to his nearby garage and unloading the bags into the garage. Trzaska contends that the illegal plain view search caused him to remove the guns from his apartment, and that therefore his movements were the fruit of the poisonous tree and should also have been excluded from the warrant affidavit. Evidence obtained as a result of the defendant's intervening independent act of free will serves to purge the primary taint of the unlawful invasion. Wong Sun, 371 U.S. at 486, 83 S.Ct. at 416. The government contends that Trzaska's movements were properly included in the warrant affidavit because they were a product of Trzaska's free will. 48 To determine whether a defendant's actions are a product of free will, a court should consider how close in time the illegal search occurred to the defendant's actions, the presence of intervening circumstances and the purpose and flagrancy of the official misconduct. See Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590, 603-04, 95 S.Ct. 2254, 2261-62, 45 L.Ed.2d 416 (1975); United States v. Oguns 921 F.2d 442, 447 (2d Cir.1990); see also Wong Sun, 371 U.S. at 488, 83 S.Ct. at 417 (to determine whether evidence is a fruit of a poisonous tree, a court must determine whether the government acquired the evidence by exploiting the illegal search or rather by a means sufficiently distinguishable from that search). The burden of showing admissibility rests on the prosecution. Brown, 422 U.S. at 604, 95 S.Ct. at 2262. 49 Here, Trzaska moved the guns between one and four hours after the government's illegal entry. That interval provided Trzaska sufficient time to decide whether he should move the guns. Further, the officers left Trzaska alone in his apartment during this time. This constituted an intervening circumstance that allowed Trzaska to decide independently whether or not to move the guns. Cf. Oguns, 921 F.2d at 447-48 (advising defendant of his rights so that he could independently make decision constitutes intervening circumstance). Finally, the probation officers were aware that their initial home visit was proper, and believed that their return to conduct a plain view search was also proper. While the search was illegal, the probation officers did not act with a bad purpose or engage in flagrant misconduct. See id. (initially, the government was legally present on defendant's property, but it illegally returned to question defendant, and the court said [t]he appropriateness of the first [legal] entry ... had the effect of mitigating the egregiousness of the second illegal entry). Based on the foregoing, we conclude that Trzaska moved the guns from his apartment to his garage of his own free will and the evidence was not a fruit of the illegal government search. Cf. Segura v. United States, 468 U.S. 796, 816, 104 S.Ct. 3380, 3391, 82 L.Ed.2d 599 (1984) (holding that evidence was not a fruit of an illegal government entry even though the illegal entry prevented defendant from removing the evidence, and stating [t]he essence of the [argument] is that there is some 'constitutional right' to destroy evidence. This concept defies both logic and common sense). 50 Therefore, that evidence was properly included in the warrant affidavit, and the affidavit, excised of the illegally seized evidence, provided probable cause to search Trzaska's garage. Having reached this conclusion we need not address the government's argument that it should have the benefit of the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule. See United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 922-23, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 3420-21, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984). 51