Court Opinion

ID: 9541143
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:23:00.7327+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:02:37.030668
License: Public Domain

BIVINS, Judge (specially concurring). I concur in the result and much of the discussion dealing with the staleness issue. I write separately to make clear my understanding of the basis for reversal. The only operative facts recited in the affidavit supporting issuance of the warrant are (1) the detailed description of the premises to be searched; (2) the fact that the affiant was contacted within 72 hours before obtaining the search warrant by a confidential informant (Cl) who stated “that heroin was being sold out of the [premises]” and that “a purchase of heroin could be made from [the premises],” a location which the Cl then showed to the affiant; and (3) that a controlled purchase was arranged and made through the Cl. What is not known are the following: (1) how much heroin the Cl observed when he made the controlled purchase or how much heroin the Cl turned over to the affiant after that purchase; (2) whether the Cl observed paraphernalia or other indicia of a continuing, ongoing drug operation as opposed to an isolated, one-time sale; and (3) any identification of the occupants of the premises, either by name or description, which would enable the issuing magistrate to determine that the contraband observed within a 72-hour time period earlier would still be on the premises at the time of issuance of the search warrant. I believe that, given the transient nature of a motel, as opposed to a residence, Defendants’ position is correct that the facts set forth in the affidavit were stale. “Staleness is not an issue unless time passage makes it doubtful the object sought in the warrant will still be in the place where it was observed.” State v. Roebuck, 530 So.2d 1242, 1251 (La.Ct.App.), units denied, 531 So.2d 764 (La.1988). Here, the affidavit states that the Cl- contacted the affiant “[wjithin the last 72 hours.” Although the time period actually might have been shorter and thus may have been a euphemism to protect the Cl, the issuing magistrate could not assume that the facts on which he relied occurred in less than 72 hours. The lapse of time, however, is not in and of itself fatal. See State v. Garcia, 90 N.M. 577, 578, 566 P.2d 426, 427 (Ct.App.) (lapse of one month did not require finding of staleness where informants provided information showing ongoing activities as well as identity of defendant), cert. denied, 90 N.M. 636, 567 P.2d 485 (1977). Instead, the problem is that facts from which the issuing magistrate could find that there was ongoing, continuous drug activity in the motel room searched are missing. Additionally, the information in the affidavit did not provide facts from which the magistrate could have ascertained that the persons occupying the room when the controlled buy was made were the same persons occupying the room when the warrant was issued. Unlike a residence, occupied by the owner or a tenant, motel and hotel rooms present a special problem. It is common knowledge that motel and hotel rooms change hands frequently. Understandably, the affiant here, according to his later testimony, did not want to check the identity of the occupants with the motel manager for fear that the manager might be involved with the drug activity and would warn the occupants. Notwithstanding, the affiant might have taken simple steps to ascertain whether or not the occupants of the targeted room had changed after the time the Cl made the controlled purchase. This could have been done perhaps by obtaining identification from the Cl of the occupants at the time of the controlled buy and ascertaining through surveillance that the same occupants were there at the time of the issuance and execution of the warrant. See Tart v. Virginia, 437 S.E.2d 219, 221 (Va.Ct.App.1993) (affidavit describing occupants of motel room stating that occupants were associated in ongoing criminal activity and a Cl had been in the rooms within the last 72 hours and had seen drugs was sufficient to justify magistrate’s determination of probable cause). Making certain the occupation of the room had not changed hands is important to the determination of a continuing, ongoing operation in the premises to be searched. It is possible that the motel that was the subject of the search warrant here was actually an establishment that tended to have guests that used the motel as a temporary apartment for an extended period of time and thus was not transient in nature. If that were the case then that was a fact that should have been included in the affidavit because in that situation it would have been less likely that the motel guest would have checked out, and consequently this information might have helped keep the affidavit from becoming stale. While the location to be searched, a motel room, is merely one factor to be considered in light of the totality of the circumstances, see id. at 222, that factor, coupled with the lack of any information as to the quantity of heroin observed or any other factors suggesting continuing, ongoing drug activity, compels a holding that the information contained in the affidavit was stale and would not have supported probable cause to issue the warrant. For those reasons I join the majority in reversing.