Court Opinion

ID: 9599626
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:20:08.64213+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:04:40.439173
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE ERICKSON
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion. In my view, the majority opinion summarily bypasses the critical issue relating to the validity of the search warrant which supported the search of the defendant’s car.
The majority opinion asserts that the affidavit submitted in this case meets both the first and second prongs of the requirements set out in Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969); and Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964). I cannot agree. My disagreement centers upon the majority’s reasoning that “there can be no question that . . . the first prong of the Aguilar-Spinelli test . . .” is met.
In Giordenello v. United States, 357 U.S. 480, 78 S.Ct. 1245, 2 L.Ed.2d 1503 (1958), the Supreme Court of the United States articulated the concept which has become the first prong of the Aguilar-Spinelli test:
“[T] he inferences from the facts which lead to the complaint ‘[must] be drawn by a neutral and detached magistrate instead of being judged by the officer engaged in the often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime.’ .... The purpose of the complaint, then, is to enable the appropriate magistrate ... to determine whether the ‘probable cause’ required to support a warrant exists. The Commissioner must judge for himself the persuasiveness of the facts relied on by a complaining officer to show probable cause. He should not accept without question the complainant’s mere conclusion . . . .” [Emphasis added.]
*71Thus, under the facts of this case, the first prong of the Aguilar-Spinelli test requires that the affidavit set forth sufficient “underlying circumstances” to enable the judge independently to determine the validity of the informant’s conclusion concerning the location of the stolen air conditioner.
The only alleged circumstance contained in the affidavit before us which is directed to the first prong of the Aguilar-Spinelli test is the recital that “. . . Asst. Chief Carl E. Petry of the Colorado Springs Police Department received an anonymous phone call from a male party advising that the air conditioning unit from a drug store burglary was located in the trunk of a yellow Chevelle . . . .” That fact alone is nothing more than a “mere conclusion” that the air conditioner could be found in the car’s trunk. Moreover, the conclusory statement is not that of the affiant himself, but the conclusion of an anonymous phone caller. Nothing before us establishes whether the informant spoke from personal knowledge or relied upon another person’s personal knowledge. The affidavit does not reveal the actual source of the information or whether the anonymous phone caller or another person suspected, believed, or concluded that the air conditioner could be found in the trunk. As a result, the judge who issued the search warrant could not determine for himself the persuasiveness of the facts relied upon by the anonymous informer to show probable cause. He necessarily accepted without question the informant’s “suspicion,” “belief,” or mere “conclusion” that the air conditioner was in the car’s trunk. In condemning the use of similar untrustworthy sources, the Supreme Court said:
“In the absence of a statement detailing the manner in which the information was gathered, it is especially important that the tip describe the accused’s criminal activity in sufficient detail so that the magistrate may know that he is relying on something more substantial than a casual rumor circulating in the underworld or an accusation based merely on an individual’s general reputation.” Spinelli v. United States, supra.
The unsupported, conclusory statement contained in the *72affidavit is insufficient, in my view, to meet the first prong of the Aguilar-Spinelli test. As a result, the search warrant is invalid and the evidence seized under the invalid warrant should have been suppressed.
Accordingly, I would reverse.