Court Opinion

ID: 9536459
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:00:09.566179+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:54:31.185796
License: Public Domain

Justice LOHR
specially concurring:
I agree with the majority that Detective Lancendorfer's affidavit established probable cause when analyzed under the “totality of circumstances” test of Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983), which we adopted for determining probable cause under article II, section 7, of the Colorado Constitution in People v. Pannebaker, 714 P.2d 904 (Colo.1986). I write separately to emphasize the continued importance of the considerations embodied in the Aguilar-Spinelli two-prong test. See Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964); Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969); see also People v. Pannebaker, 714 P.2d 904, 908-09 (Colo.1986) (Lohr, J., specially concurring).
The Aguilar-Spinelli test required that an affidavit contain sufficient information to allow the judge to determine that the informant had an adequate basis of knowledge for the information reported and that the informant was credible or that the information was reliable. Spinelli, 393 U.S. at 412-13, 89 S.Ct. at 586-87. In Gates, the Supreme Court abandoned this two-prong approach and held that these two requirements “are better understood as relevant considerations in the totality-of-the-circumstances analysis that traditionally has guided probable-cause determinations: a deficiency in one may be compensated for, in determining the overall reliability of a tip, by a strong showing as to the other, or by some other indicia of reliability.” 462 U.S. at 233, 103 S.Ct. at 2329.
Although in Gates the Supreme Court rejected the rigid basis of knowledge and reliability requirements of Aguilar-Spinelli, it stressed that “an informant’s ‘veracity,’ ‘reliability,’ and ‘basis of knowledge’ are all highly relevant.” 462 U.S. at 230, 103 S.Ct. at 2328. I concur in the majority's judgment because I believe the detail provided by the informant indicated an adequate basis of knowledge and the electric usage records strongly tended to confirm the informant’s report of the use of high-energy “grow-lights” and thereby provided sufficient indicia of the informant’s reliability.
ERICKSON, J., joins in this special concurrence.