Probable Cause, Search Warrants, and Confidential Informants
Information provided by confidential informants might have to be corroborated before they are used to support a valid search warrant.
Search Warrants and Confidential Informants
Search Warrant and Informants use in CA – In the 2013 case of United States v Buffer, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals (covering Michigan) released an opinion relative to probable cause, search warrants, and confidential informants. Memphis police received an anonymous call about suspected drug dealing from a particular home. An officer observed several visits to the house that lasted one to two minutes. He stopped a vehicle leaving the home and found a small amount of marijuana. He sought and was given a search warrant for the house based on that. For a search warrant, probable cause to believe a crime is or was committed is required.
Probable Cause for a Search Warrant is Invalid Wwithout Corroboration
The search warrant was declared invalid because there was no information relative to the informant’s reliability, and the police officer needed to have corroborated the information. A few visits to a home and a small amount of marijuana without information that the marijuana came from that particular house was not enough to corroborate.
Evidence suppressed – good faith exception invalid.
The court admonished that a reasonably well-trained officer would know the information was insufficient to provide probable cause, so it was not savable by arguing the mistake was made in good faith. A wrongful decision by a judge regarding the required probable cause for a search warrant is reviewable on appeal.
Michigan criminal defense attorney with expertise in search and seizure matters.
It is vital that you have expert legal representation when your freedom is at stake. The attorneys at LEWIS & DICKSTEIN, P.L.L.C. are experts in criminal defense. Criminal defense is all we do. We have decades of experience representing people in both state and federal courts. If you have questions about a judge or magistrate’s finding that the required probable cause for a search warrant was sufficient, we can review your case to determine if there was a 4th Amendment Violation of your rights.
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