Court Opinion

ID: 9759032
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:00:49.488636+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:13:11.534944
License: Public Domain

FLAHERTY, Justice,
dissenting.
Because I cannot condone the conduct of ex parte judicial proceedings, I wholeheartedly approve the majority’s rejection of such an approach. However, because, in my view, a reasonable accommodation of the competing interests at stake is available without completely foreclosing cross-examination regarding the unnamed informant’s reliability, I dissent.
A warrant to search premises occupied by appellant was issued on the basis of information supplied by an unnamed informant. That information, standing alone, could not supply probable cause; however, the informant’s reliability was also asserted. It was alleged that, only five days earlier, the informant had supplied “information leading to the arrest of two males involved in a burglary and an auto *136theft. This information also led to the recovery of the stolen motor vehicle.” It was further alleged that the same informant had supplied information that “led to two arrests in the [preceding] four weeks and in one of the cases property was recovered.” Probable cause to issue the warrant existed only if the allegations as to the informant’s reliability were true.
The focus of the suppression hearing is to test whether the magistrate had probable cause to issue the warrant. It is true that the veracity of the affiant will be tested at the suppression hearing. However, the majority ignores the plain fact that, in order to accurately test whether the affiant is credible, the accuracy of his assertions regarding the informant’s reliability must be ascertained. Thus, the veracity of facts recited in an affidavit supporting a warrant must be testable in a suppression hearing. Were the recitals untestable, the constitutional provisions protecting against searches without probable cause would be meaningless. As we noted in Commonwealth v. Hall, 451 Pa. 201, 207, 302 A.2d 342, 345 (1973):
Here the pivotal issue at the suppression hearing was the reliability of the information attributed to the unnamed informer. If the informer was reliable, the search warrant was issued with probable cause. If the informant was proven to be Without reliability, the warrant was improperly issued.
(Footnote omitted).
The problem in this case is to balance the Commonwealth’s privilege to preserve an informant’s anonymity against the defendant’s right of confrontation. Cross-examination of the police officer-affiant regarding the informant’s reliability was rebuffed on grounds disclosure of the names of all the cases where the informant had supplied information would enable unscrupulous persons to identify the informant to his detriment.
In view of the perceived threat to the informant inherent in disclosure of his identity, the Commonwealth offered to supply the names of some but less than all of the cases *137where the informant had supplied reliable information. Given the necessity for informants in law enforcement and the good faith assertion that the informant’s safety was in jeopardy if his identity was revealed, I would hold that disclosure of some, but not all, of the cases enumerated in the affidavit would be sufficient to test the reliability of the informant on this record, at least. This position allows reasonable cross-examination to test the police officer-affiant’s credibility and the informant’s reliability without jeopardizing the informant. I am satisfied that this solution provides more satisfactory protection for the competing interests involved in this case than complete foreclosure of cross-examination.
PAPADAKOS, J., joins this dissenting opinion.