Thursday, August 8, 2013

Tenth Circuit US v. Sanchez 12-2084

Decision here.

   I hate reading decisions based on federal drug investigations.  The facts are always so convoluted, and while some of what's being addressed is important to this blog, a lot of it really isn't.

   In this case, Sanchez was not the target of a DEA investigation.  His daughter was.  The DEA got a warrant for what they thought was his daughter's house (based on some faulty information that made it into the search warrant affidavit).  Turned out that it was Sanchez's house, and they found evidence tying him to the drug trafficking conspiracy.  Sanchez was convicted by a jury, we'll fast forward to the appeal.

   Sanchez argued that the evidence should have been suppressed because the warrant contained faulty information.  In order to get a search warrant tossed out for something like that, the defendant has to satisfy both parts of a two prong test: 1- he has to show that the affiant made a false statement knowingly and intentionally, or with reckless disregard for the truth.  2- He has to show that absent the false information, the affidavit would not establish probable cause.  

   In this case, the false information in the warrant was apparently just some minor mistakes of fact as to the height of a fence, the number of security cameras on a residence, and exactly how much of the ongoing surveillance was directed at Sanchez's residence.  And the affidavit supported probable cause even without the mistaken info.  So the warrant was good (enough).

   The court also pointed out that there's no rule that says that properly seized evidence can only be used against someone who was the target of the investigation at the time the search was initiated.  And finally, the decision contains some information about when phone calls can be admitted as evidence, but it's pretty fact-specific and more important to prosecutors than it is to cops, so I'm leaving that alone.

   Sanchez's conviction was upheld.

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