Court Opinion

ID: 9531812
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:14:43.440127+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:35.424001
License: Public Domain

THOMAS, Justice,
specially concurring.
I am satisfied with the resolution of this case as reflected by the decision to affirm in the majority opinion. Because I have some difficulty with the discussion of the statement in the affidavit filed by Detective Wozniak reflecting that Detective Shina-konis had “reliable and independent reports” that the appellant was selling mari*1294juana to high school students, I have concluded to set forth my views on that particular matter.
The majority conclusion characterizes that statement as a bare conclusion unsupported by underlying facts. It does not seem that a report of hearsay information is a bare conclusion unsupported by underlying facts as exemplified by the statement in the affidavit in issue in Nathanson v. United States, 290 U.S. 41, 54 S.Ct. 11, 78 L.Ed. 159 (1933). In the context of the espoused “totality-of-the-circumstances” test this information has a significant role and certainly should not be eschewed. I concede that standing alone the statement would not pass muster under the two-pronged test found 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), because it does not set forth in the context of the hearsay information the underlying circumstances sufficiently to enable a magistrate to evaluate the validity of the informant’s statement and does not furnish the magistrate with information permitting him to evaluate the credibility of the informant. In this instance, however, the information does not stand alone, but is cumulative, although not repetitive, with respect to other information in the affidavit. For me that is the essence of the “totality-of-the-circumstances” test as articulated in Illinois v. Gates,-U.S. -, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983), which I regard as an effective restatement of prior Wyoming law.
Consequently, I would certainly permit the magistrate to consider such information under a “totality-of-the circumstances” test in much the same sense that similar information was found acceptable in Groker v. State, Wyo., 477 P.2d 122 (1970). It buttressed other information in the affidavit, and at this juncture I probably would simply eliminate the language from Croker indicating that it could be justified because it was not prejudicial to the defendant. I would afford such information an affirmative role under a “totality-of-the circumstances” test.