Court Opinion

ID: 9481252
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:12:18.30406+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:10.616817
License: Public Domain

KEITH, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
Although I concur with the majority’s conclusion and its analysis on all but one issue, I separately concur to indicate my concerns with the majority’s argument in Section II addressing the scope of the warrant.
Defendant asserts that probable cause only existed for the seizure of the drugs contained in the controlled delivery package and not a search of the apartment for all evidence of drug dealing. The warrant was for a search for “controlled substances, record of narcotic activities, documents, paraphernalia and other evidence of drug dealing and importation.” Appel-lee brief at 26.
I find Defendant’s argument persuasive. The fourth amendment requires particularity in warrants. U.S. Const, amend. IV. The Second Circuit, in ruling that there was ample other evidence in the case before it to permit a search of the premises receiving a controlled delivery of drugs, cautioned against broad warrants where there is no evidence of drug dealing other than the controlled delivery. “Had the only evidence been that the duffel bags were being delivered to the apartment, the scope of the search, described in the warrant [for cocaine, traces of cocaine, currency, drug records, and narcotics paraphernalia], might have been overbroad. Here, however, additional facts in the supporting affidavit gave rise to probable cause to believe that the apartment was being used as a storage and distribution center for drugs.” United States v. Garcia, 882 F.2d 699, 704 (2d Cir.1989). Unlike the facts of Garcia, the agents in the instant case *1224knew nothing except that this package had been placed in the mails addressed to the apartment where defendant later signed for the package. The Garcia court also noted that .. magistrates must also carefully craft anticipatory warrants to limit the scope of the warrant authorized search to items which law enforcement officers have cause to believe are located on the premises.” Id. The officer here had no knowledge of Rey, Rey’s sister, or of any activity in the apartment.
The majority cites cases in support of the proposition that controlled delivery alone creates probable cause for the search of a residence. These cases, however, in my opinion do not support that proposition. The facts of two of these cases clearly indicate that there had been a greater investigation into the targeted premises and more information connecting the premises to drug trafficking.
In United States v. Malik, 680 F.2d 1162 (7th Cir.1982), the search warrant was issued after an investigation of both the defendant and the background of the drug transaction. Prior to the search, the agents contacted the addressee who said the shipment was for the defendant and told the agents about arrangements for the transfer of the drugs to the defendant. Id. at 1163. In United States v. Dubrofsky, 581 F.2d 208 (9th Cir.1978), the place of delivery was searched only upon valid oral consent. A subsequent search was conducted at the defendant’s residence, but was based upon an affidavit setting forth the details of the defendant’s arrest, including that soon after the controlled delivery, he had been found in a locked basement of the place of delivery with the opened parcel. Id. at 210, 212. It was in this context ■ that the court held that “a warrant may be upheld when the nexus between the items to be seized and the place to be searched rests not upon direct observation, but on the type of crime, nature of the items, and normal inferences where a criminal would likely hide contraband.” Id. at 213.
The majority does have support from United States v. Washington, 852 F.2d 803 (4th Cir.1988), where the only investigation mentioned in the opinion is one that revealed that the premises was occupied by the defendant and two others. Id. at 804 n. 2. The defendant, however, had not raised the issue presented here. Accordingly, there may have been more information available to the agents and the magistrate which was not detailed in the opinion. The opinion does contain a quote from the affidavit in support of the search warrant. An officer in Washington had sworn that he had developed probable cause in his investigation that drug paraphernalia, papers, notes, and bank records, and identification documents were secreted inside the premises. While the basis for this probable cause is not detailed in the section of the affidavit reproduced in the opinion, there is at least an indication that there had been an investigation which uncovered information that evidence other than just the package sent by controlled delivery would be in the apartment.
The law is unclear on the permissible scope of a search when no connection between the premises and drug dealing other than that drugs have been addressed to the premises has been revealed by an investigation. The cases cited by the majority indicate that when there is an investigation of the addressee disclosing information that amounts to probable cause when considered with the addressed package, a warrant to search the entire apartment for drug related material is appropriate. The Second Circuit’s caution would protect against searches of potential innocent receivers of drugs who have not been linked to the drug packages.
The government had probable cause to know the package of drugs was on the premises, and wishes to draw as a necessary conclusion from that alone that probable cause that other evidence of drug dealing would be present. The government, someone by mistake, or someone seeking to subject another to an investigation, could mail a controlled substance to a party and thereby provide probable cause for a search of an entire residence, including an examination of all papers to determine if they are drug records, for evidence of drug activity. I do not believe those hypotheti-cals or other possible explanations are so rare that it is probable that if an apartment is the addressee of a controlled substance, *1225it is reasonable for a government agent to conclude that there is probable cause to believe there will be other evidence of illegal drug activity at the location. This would be an expansion beyond what the cases cited to support the proposition have thus far held and a license for expansive searches of apartments, including all writings, on very limited evidence.
The case law is close enough, however, to make this particular search in good faith based upon a warrant approved by an impartial magistrate and therefore would not require reversal. United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 913, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 3415, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984). The agents were reasonable to rely on the warrant since the conclusion in this opinion that the warrant was not supported by probable cause was based on an issue not resolved by the circuits. The agent was not unreasonable in accepting the magistrate’s determination.
I therefore concur in the result, finding the evidence found in the search admissible under the good faith exception as to the breadth of the search warrant. I concur in the reasoning and conclusions as to all of the other issues addressed in the majority opinion.