Court Opinion

ID: 9740191
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:29:42.791931+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:16.735307
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE STOUDER, dissenting: I must respectfully dissent from the majority opinion. My initial point of disagreement is the distinction the majority draws between the admissibility of the cocaine and the inadmissibility of the marijuana as evidence. The search warrant permitted the police to search defendant’s residence for both marijuana and cocaine. The majority holds that the portion of the search warrant pertaining to the marijuana was invalid, and I agree with that holding. Therefore, the validity of the search warrant with respect to the cocaine must be determined by deleting those sections regarding the marijuana and looking solely at the remaining parts. The majority, in applying this test, holds that the search warrant for the cocaine was valid. The majority therefore concludes that the cocaine was admissible but that the marijuana was inadmissible because those sections of the search warrant were invalid. However, I believe that either the marijuana and cocaine must both be admissible or neither must be admissible. If the search warrant for the cocaine was valid, then the marijuana clearly was contraband discovered pursuant to a valid search warrant and is admissible as such. If the search warrant for the cocaine was invalid then the marijuana and cocaine are obviously inadmissible. The key issue, therefore, is whether or not the search warrant for the cocaine was valid. The majority holds the warrant was valid. I would hold it was invalid. The majority properly cites Aguilar v. Texas (1971), 378 U.S. 108, 12 L. Ed. 2d 723, 84 S. Ct. 1509, as determinative of the issue in this case. Aguilar established rules regarding what information must be contained by an affidavit for a search warrant based on that affidavit to properly issue. Aguilar contains a two-pronged test for determining the sufficiency of the affidavit. The first prong, the basis of knowledge prong, requires that facts must be revealed showing whether the informant had a basis for his allegations that a certain person had been, was, or would be involved in criminal conduct or that evidence of crime would be found at a certain place. Under the second prong, the veracity prong, facts must be revealed to show either the inherent credibility of the informant or the reliability of his information on this particular occasion. Looking at the facts pleaded in the affidavit, the judge must make a determination as to whether or not probable cause exists to issue a search warrant. Aguilar dealt with a paid informant. Because the informant was paid for his information, he had an incentive to give false information. Therefore, facts had to be presented to confirm the reliability of the information he gave. In contrast to paid informants, ordinary citizens are presumed to have no incentive to give false information. Therefore, when an ordinary citizen gives information to an officer which is used in the affidavit and the affidavit contains facts establishing the informant is not a paid informant but an ordinary citizen, then the informant is presumed to be credible. If the judge finds an adequate basis for the informant’s knowledge, then a search warrant will properly issue. The problem in the instant case is that, although the affidavit states that the informant is an ordinary citizen, no facts are pleaded to show that he is in fact an ordinary citizen and not a paid informant. This lack of proof means that the informant’s credibility has not been established, and the majority concedes this. However, the majority would circumvent this problem by saying that the test which showed the powdery substance was cocaine corroborated the facts given by the informant and that this demonstrates his reliability. Since the second prong of the Aguilar test can be satisfied by either proving the informant’s credibility or by proving that the information given is reliable, the majority holds that the Aguilar test was satisfied and the search warrant was properly issued. The problem with the majority’s reasoning is that the fact that the test showed the powdery substance was cocaine in no way proved the reliability of the informant’s statements. The fact that the test showed the substance was cocaine goes to the first prong of the Aguilar test, basis of knowledge. The majority concedes that if the test had not been given, then there would have been no basis for believing the powder was cocaine, and the search warrant could not have been issued. If the test was necessary as a means of proving probable cause that the powder was cocaine, then clearly the test refers to the basis of knowledge prong of Aguilar. There is no logical connection between the fact that the test showed the powder was cocaine and the reliability of the informant’s statement that it was taken from the defendant’s apartment. Nor are any other facts pleaded in the affidavit which show the reliability of the informant’s information. Since neither the informant’s credibility nor the reliability of his information can be proven by the facts contained in the affidavit, the Aguilar test was not satisfied and the search warrant should not have been issued. Therefore, I would affirm the trial court’s suppression of the cocaine and marijuana found during the search pursuant to the search warrant.