Court Opinion

ID: 9471604
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:36:41.076356+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:29.454932
License: Public Domain

HEANEY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting, with whom McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge, joins.
I respectfully dissent. The search of Janice Fitzgerald’s home was unreasonable under the circumstances and not supported by probable cause. It in reality was nothing more than a fishing expedition. We should suppress the evidence seized without hesitation.
The interpretative case law today surrounding the fourth amendment tends to obscure the amendment’s simple prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. This reasonableness standard is not capable of precise definition or mechanical application, but depends upon the circumstances of each case. Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106, 109, 98 S.Ct. 330, 332, 54 L.Ed.2d 331 (1977) (per curiam); Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 765, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 2041, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1968); Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 19, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1878, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). In considering the circumstances, we must remember that the right to privacy is “basic to a free society.” Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523, 528, 87 S.Ct. 1727, 18 L.Ed.2d 930 (1967). We must examine “the scope of the particular intrusion, the manner in which it is conducted, the justification for initiating it, and the place in which it is conducted.” Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 559, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1884, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979).
Fourth amendment protection is strongest at the threshold of the private home. As the Supreme Court recently reaffirmed:
The Fourth Amendment protects the individual’s privacy in a variety of settings. In none is the zone of privacy more clearly defined than when bounded by the unambiguous physical dimensions of an individual’s home — a zone that finds its roots in clear and specific constitutional terms: “the right of people to be secure in their * * * houses * * * shall not be violated.” That language unequivocally establishes the proposition that “[a]t the very core [of the Fourth Amendment] stands the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable government intrusion.” Silverman v. United States, 365 U.S. 505, 511, 81 S.Ct. 679, 682, 5 L.Ed.2d 734.
Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 589-590, 100 S.Ct. 1373, 1381-1382, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980).
Undeniably, the “physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed.” United States v. United States District Court, 407 U.S. 297, 313, 92 S.Ct. 2125, 2134, 32 L.Ed.2d 752 (1972), quoted in Payton v. New York, supra, 445 U.S. at 585, 100 S.Ct. at 1379; Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 474, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 2042, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971).
The totality of the circumstances here compels the decision that the search of Fitzgerald’s home was unreasonable. First, the circumstances leading up to the search indicate the indicia warrant was a pretext for a general search. The affidavit for the search warrant did not contain any information indicating that drugs or weapons would be found in Fitzgerald’s home. Yet, the morning of the search, teams of law enforcement officers from the United States Attorney’s Office, the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the United States Drug Enforcement Agency, the Nebraska State Patrol, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and the Omaha Police Department met at the Omaha Police Department. There, various local and federal officers addressed them concerning the execution of the search and arrest warrants. Those present at the briefing were told they could look everywhere in the suspects’ residences and to be on the lookout for guns and drugs. In the event an officer observed these items, a magistrate, typist, and other law enforcement personnel were standing by ready to quickly issue state search warrants. The only basis for instructing the officers in this manner was *641the hope that the thorough search authorized by the indicia warrants would turn up guns and drugs which the courts would later rule admissible under the plain view exception.
Second, the law enforcement officers had little need for the indicia evidence they ostensibly sought. Indicia of membership in the Hell’s Angels could provide only circumstantial evidence of the association element of conspiracy.1 Moreover, the authorities already had some circumstantial evidence of Fitzgerald’s association with Hell’s Angels members. The affidavit for the search warrant recites that Fitzgerald is the widow of a Hell’s Angels member. Law enforcement officers observed her at her husband’s traditional Hell’s Angels funeral. In fact, Fitzgerald had gone to the police property unit of the Omaha Police Department after her husband’s death to retrieve his property, including a Hell’s Angels ring and belt buckle. The minimal probative value of the indicia evidence, together with the fact that the government already had evidence of Fitzgerald’s association with the Hell’s Angels, bolsters the. conclusion that the indicia warrant provided a pretext for a general search.
Finally, the affidavit for the search warrant recited no facts which would permit either the neutral magistrate who issued the warrant or any reviewing court to determine whether there was probable cause to believe Fitzgerald was involved in an illegal drug conspiracy. The affidavit incorporates the grand jury indictment which names ten defendants. The indictment states that nine of these defendants are members of the Hell’s Angels and that “Defendant Janice Fitzgerald was and is an Associate of the Hell’s Angels by reason of her marriage to Leslie Fitzgerald, a deceased member of the Hell’s Angels, and by reason of her participation in the activities of the Hell’s Angels during the period of this conspiracy.” According to the indictment, the Hell’s Angels organization, including the defendants, is attempting to monopolize methamphetamine distribution in the Omaha, Nebraska, vicinity. All of the acts alleged pertain to the entire organization; the indictment does not specify a single act by Fitzgerald in furtherance of the conspiracy. The only additional information the affidavit for the search warrant adds is the affiant’s reasons for believing indicia of membership in the Hell’s Angels would be found in the suspects’ homes. Since the minutes of the grand jury are secret, the magistrate and this Court must accept on faith the existence of evidence linking Fitzgerald to the drug conspiracy.2 The impossibility of reviewing the probable cause determination, added to the previously cited factors, makes this search unreasonable.
In sum, a review of the facts leads to the inescapable conclusion that the law enforcement officers were seeking an excuse to execute a general search of Fitzgerald’s home. A sealed grand jury indictment, an indicia warrant of doubtful necessity and a conscious resort to the plain view exception provided the excuse. While the outcome of Fitzgerald’s trial on the conspiracy count is *642not relevant to the probable cause determination, I cannot help but note that after months of preparation and weeks of trial, the government could not produce enough evidence to go to the jury on the conspiracy charge. The government could only prove firearm possession violations with evidence bootstrapped into the trial through the plain view exception. I do not think the government should be allowed to succeed in this conscious violation of the fourth amendment protection against the general search. I would therefore reverse Janice Fitzgerald’s conviction.

. As the majority panel notes, police can search for “mere evidence” of a crime if there is a nexus between the item to be seized and criminal behavior. United States v. Apker, 705 F.2d 293 (8th Cir.1983), citing with approval Warden v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294, 307, 87 S.Ct. 1642, 1650, 18 L.Ed.2d 782 (1967). In other words, there must be probable cause to believe the evidence sought will aid in the particular apprehension or conviction. Id. I do not agree that evidence of membership in a legal organization helps prove a particular defendant conspired with others to commit an illegal act. In Fitzgerald’s case, the Hell’s Angels indicia in her home could only prove what the police already knew: that she is the widow of a Hell’s Angel. I would strike down the search warrant because the police had no legitimate reason for searching Fitzgerald’s home for Hell’s Angels indicia.

. I do not agree with the majority panel opinion that the incorporation of the indictment into the affidavit for a search warrant provided probable cause to believe, for fourth amendment purposes, that Fitzgerald was engaged in criminal activity. While a grand jury indictment, without more, provides probable cause for an arrest warrant, this rule should not be extended to search warrants. See Thompson, C., The Fourth Amendment Function of the Grand Jury, 37 Ohio L.J. 727 (1976).