Opinion ID: 200671
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: False Information.

Text: 23 Capozzi identifies four pieces of information that he claims Irwin intentionally or recklessly omitted from or misstated in the affidavit: (1) the affidavit omitted that the informant claimed to have previously provided other tips to the Salem Police Department; (2) the affidavit misstated that the informant told the officer that a gun (rather than a gun and a knife) were in the room; (3) the affidavit misstated that the informant reported that the gun is hidden (rather than was hidden) in the hotel room; and (4) the affidavit misstated the point in time when the police locked Capozzi's hotel room door. 24 In its findings of fact after the evidentiary hearing, the district court found that Irwin had prepared his affidavit by collecting information from several officers under significant time pressure and in an unfamiliar search scenario. It found no evidence that Irwin had acted intentionally or recklessly in making any misstatements or omissions. These findings are not clearly erroneous. At most, Irwin's omissions and misstatements reflect negligence, mistake, or inattention to detail as he rushed to prepare an affidavit in the midst of a developing investigation. Mere negligence or inattention to detail in preparing an affidavit does not deprive the government of the benefits of the Leon exception. See Brunette, 256 F.3d at 20; Owens, 167 F.3d at 745. 25 Moreover, the omissions and mistakes identified by Capozzi were not material to the magistrate's decision to issue a warrant. See Owens, 167 F.3d at 745. Irwin's omission of the fact that the informant stated that she had provided prior tips to the police was an immaterial, indeed perhaps even a cautiously appropriate, omission from the affidavit. Irwin had no information to support the informant's claim of providing previous tips. If such information had been included in the affidavit, it may have influenced the magistrate to accord the informant unwarranted credibility. See United States v. Jordan, 999 F.2d 11, 14 (1st Cir.1993) (noting that proof that confidential informant had provided past reliable information may be sufficient by itself to establish reliability of informant's statement). 26 Irwin's omission of the informant's statement that a knife would also be found in the hotel room was also immaterial. The focus of the police's investigation had been on the search for two guns, and Irwin's inclusion of the fact that a knife might also be found in the room would not have changed the magistrate's evaluation of the possibility that a gun might be present. In any event, while it might have been preferable for Irwin to have transcribed the tip exactly as he received it, any error can only be regarded as an innocent mistake made under significant time pressure. See p. 332 above. 27 The alleged misstatement concerning verb tense is a criticism of the form rather than the substance of Irwin's affidavit. Such technical criticism of the form of the affidavit is insufficient to undermine its veracity. See Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 235, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983) (affidavits are normally drafted by nonlawyers in the midst and haste of a criminal investigation) (internal quotations omitted). Finally, the statement referring to the locked hotel room door was not a misstatement at all. The affidavit did not say, as Capozzi suggests, that the door was locked immediately after Capozzi's arrest. Rather, it stated accurately that the door was locked by the police on February 20, 1998. 28