Opinion ID: 403952
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: information omitted from the affidavit

Text: 11 Flores challenges the validity of the search warrant on the ground that the affiant intentionally or recklessly omitted from his affidavit the material facts that 1) the apartment superintendent had stated that he considered the storage area to be his, and 2) Bontempi had been in police custody from April 3-17, 1978. Flores argues that the former omission weakens the inference that the guns observed in the storage area were Bontempi's. He argues that the latter omission weakens the inferences that the gunshots heard in the neighborhood were connected to Bontempi or that Bontempi possessed the guns found in the apartment. Flores contends that these facts would vitiate a finding of probable cause to search the apartment, and that the district court erred by not holding an evidentiary hearing to permit a challenge to the truthfulness of the affidavit. 12 The Supreme Court has addressed this issue: 13 (W)here the defendant makes a substantial preliminary showing that a false statement knowingly and intentionally, or with reckless disregard for the truth, was included by the affiant in the warrant affidavit, and if the allegedly false statement is necessary to the finding of probable cause, the Fourth Amendment requires that a hearing be held at the defendant's request. In the event that at that hearing the allegation of perjury or reckless disregard is established by the defendant by a preponderance of the evidence, and, with the affidavit's false material set to one side, the affidavit's remaining content is insufficient to establish probable cause, the search warrant must be voided and the fruits of the search excluded to the same extent as if probable cause was lacking on the face of the affidavit. 14 Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 155-56, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 2676, 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978). See also United States v. Maher, 645 F.2d 780, 782 (9th Cir. 1981) (omissions). 15 Assuming these allegations constitute a sufficient preliminary showing that the affiant deliberately or recklessly omitted certain information from his affidavit, (e)ven a deliberate falsehood must be material in order to justify invalidating a warrant. Maher, 645 F.2d at 782. See United States v. Lefkowitz, 618 F.2d 1313, 1317 & n.3 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 824, 101 S.Ct. 86, 66 L.Ed.2d 27 (1980). 1 We have carefully reviewed the affidavit. The omissions were not material. The affidavit stated that the apartment superintendent had allowed the residents to use his storage area. Bontempi's custody on April 17, 1978, when the search warrant was executed, is a relevant but not controlling fact concerning his possession of the guns. Possession need not be actual, but can be constructive. United States v. Kalama, 549 F.2d 594, 596 (9th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1110, 97 S.Ct. 1147, 51 L.Ed.2d 564 (1977); United States v. LaGue, 472 F.2d 151, 152 (9th Cir. 1973). Further, Bontempi could have been indicted for possessing firearms prior to his arrest in the apartment on April 3. 16 Flores failed to establish a basis for an evidentiary hearing to challenge the affidavit's accuracy. 17