Court Opinion

ID: 9797792
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 04:29:29.390461+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:57:40.379097
License: Public Domain

ROBINSON, Judge (dissenting). {38} I respectfully dissent. {39} Defendant’s motion to suppress the fruits of the illegal search based upon an improper and invalid search warrant and affidavit should have been granted. I believe that the search warrant with accompanying affidavit was stale. {40} I am persuaded by the fact that the investigating officer who was called to the scene on the date of the alleged aggravated assault — the alleged pointing of a gun at the victim and the shooting of it by Defendant— found no evidence of any shooting. He did not find any empty casings or bullet marks in any structures. He also found no neighbor or witness who had heard any shots. He found no evidence of a crime and did not arrest Defendant, issue a criminal complaint or seek the issuance of a search warrant. {41} Six weeks later, the victim’s father called the police and dealt with a different police officer. The victim’s father told the new policeman that he wanted his son removed from his home because he was a “gangster” and allegedly, so was Defendant. The second policeman did not really learn anything further that would support or corroborate the probable cause determination. Nevertheless, he obtained a search warrant, after swearing out a Search Warrant Affidavit forty-four days after the alleged criminal activity took place. Under Whitley, 1999-NMCA-155, ¶ 8, the affidavit for the search warrant was stale. 2 LaFave, supra, § 3.7(a), at 342-343. {42} Our rule for search warrants requires probable cause. Rule 5-211. Probable cause ,must be based upon substantial evidence both that the informant is credible and that there is a factual basis for allegations of wrongdoing. When the only basis for a warrant is hearsay from individuals like the victim, who are not law enforcement officers, the supporting affidavit should establish (1) the informant’s veracity, (2) the informant’s motive to lie, and (3) information that the allegations of criminality had been sufficiently corroborated. State v. Therrien, 110 N.M. 261, 262-263, 794 P.2d 735, 736-37 (Ct.App.1990), overruled on other grounds by Barker, 114 N.M. at 594, 844 P.2d at 844. The report of the first investigating officer, who interviewed both Defendant and the victim on the day of the original report six weeks prior to the search, found that no evidence corroborated the victim’s complaint. Furthermore, the dispute between the family of the victim, who reported the shooting, and Defendant offered her a motive to lie and thus reduces her credibility as an informant. While we do not question whether there was probable cause to issue a warrant at the time of the alleged criminal activity, it is helpful to examine the strength of the evidence incorporated into the stale warrant. {43} The majority finds support in State v. Pargas, 1997-NMCA-110, ¶¶ 21-23, 124 N.M. 249, 948 P.2d 267. I find that case distinguishable from ours. Pargas dealt with eleven-day-old information to support a warrant, not forty-four-day-old information. Furthermore, unlike Pargas, this case had an officer who unsuccessfully attempted to corroborate evidence of a crime initially. The time period between the information and the warrant was significantly shorter. {44} The majority states “the police acted within a reasonable time after receiving information concerning Defendant’s ongoing dispute with the victim’s brother, which gave rise to an inference that Defendant still had the gun at his home.” I do not agree with either the characterization of these facts or the inference drawn therefrom. While there may have been ongoing bad feelings between the victim’s brother and Defendant, the victim’s father did not claim that Defendant had committed any additional offenses against anyone in his family whatsoever, since the incident reported by the victim over forty days earlier. {45} The question is whether it is likely that a person who has allegedly used a gun to shoot at someone or something will keep that gun in his house more than six weeks after the police investigate the alleged criminal activity. I think not. Without proof of ongoing criminal activity, probable cause diminishes over time. Lovato, 118 N.M. at 158, 879 P.2d at 790. {46} We sometimes forget that the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States does not protect its citizens against all searches and seizures. It only protects us, as citizens of a free and independent nation, to be secure, especially in our homes, against unreasonable searches and seizures. {47} This search and seizure was unreasonable. Therefore I dissent.