Court Opinion

ID: 9492257
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:36:25.516491+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:55:12.690596
License: Public Domain

KEITH, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I wholeheartedly agree with my colleagues that the search warrant at issue was supported by adequate probable cause. The sworn affidavit was amply supported by the eyewitness account of a reliable confidential informant, contained sufficient richness of detail, and was adequately corroborated by the investigating agent. I further agree that, in this case, where a possessory offense is at issue, there were no additional, reasonable steps which the investigating officer could have pursued to establish probable cause, other than observing Defendant firsthand with firearms. Although the result reached by the panel in this case is, in my opinion, accurate and consistent with the law of this Circuit, I write separately to emphasize that our determination is limited to the particular and specific circumstances of this case.
In United States v. Weaver, 99 F.3d 1372 (6th Cir.1996), this Circuit appropriately decided that the affidavit in question did not support issuance of a search warrant, in part, because there were additional investigative actions which could have reasonably been taken to corroborate the informant’s claims. In Weaver, where the affidavit at issue alleged that defendant kept marijuana “with the intention of unlawful possession, sale or transportation thereof,” id. at 1375, the officers relied solely on the informant’s claim that the narcotics were held expressly for the purpose of unlawful distribution. Id. at 1375-76, 1378-79. The affidavit lacked specific details which would have had supported the informant’s belief that the marijuana was intended for distribution. Id. at 1378. Moreover, the officers made no attempts to independently confirm the informant’s distribution claim, even though this information could have reasonably and easily been corroborated either by surveilling the location for undue traffic or conducting a controlled purchase. Id. at 1379.
Because of the possessory nature of the offense at issue in the present matter, *485unlike the situation in Weaver, there was simply nothing more the agents could have done to establish probable cause. While this panel upholds the validity of the search warrant in this case, this disposition should in no way be interpreted as a relaxation of the rigors with which police officers must comply in obtaining a warrant. This decision should neither be construed as signaling an erosion of the rights and guarantees of the Fourth Amendment, nor should it be applied broadly. We will remain ever vigilant in protecting citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights; the specifics of this case, however, dictate that sufficient probable cause existed for a warrant to issue.