State v. Delker

552 P.2d 1313, 26 Or. App. 497, 1976 Ore. App. LEXIS 1738
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedAugust 16, 1976
DocketC 75-10-3461 Cr, CA 5555
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 552 P.2d 1313 (State v. Delker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Delker, 552 P.2d 1313, 26 Or. App. 497, 1976 Ore. App. LEXIS 1738 (Or. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

*499 THORNTON, J.

The state appeals from an order suppressing evidence and dismissing the indictment of defendant, a postal employe, for possession of gambling records. ORS 167.137.

The crucial issue is the sufficiency of the affidavit on which the warrant for the search of defendant’s apartment was issued. The search resulted in the seizure of the gambling records involved.

The trial court found that the affidavit was defective "in that the confidential informant was not reliable,” and that therefore the magistrate erred in issuing the search warrant.

The challenged affidavit purported to he based on the following: (1) knowledge that the affiant, Officer Pahlke, had gained in previous bookmaking investigations, (2) FBI reports and discussions with other law enforcement officers concerning the manner in which sports bookmaking operations are conducted, (3) information given Officer Pahlke by a confidential informant, and (4) information given Pahlke by postal inspectors who had been observing defendant’s actions at the post office where defendant worked.

In the interest of conserving space we will not set out the lengthy and detailed affidavit. Instead we will summarize it.

Officer Pahlke begins his affidavit by describing in considerable detail how a bookmaking operation is conducted and the extensive use of the telephone therein. He then details the information given him by the anonymous informant, including: where defendant lived, his working hours at the post office and his days off; that defendant had been working for Al Kay, a bookie well known to Portland police; that defendant had approximately 14 people working for him at the post office picking up and turning in bets; defendant’s "take” per bet; that as recently as 10 days before the challenged search defendant was still taking bets on *500 baseball and football; and that defendant keeps his betting records on his person, in his automobile and at his residence.

Next, Officer Pahlke details his discussions with the postal inspectors to verify the information previously received from the anonymous informant, averring that

"* * * all 0f the above information concerning the activities, employment, days off, etc. were verified one hundred per cent. It is even noted that past supervisors of * * * [defendant] had suspected him of taking book. * * * [Defendant] had been told at work that he could no longer answer the telephone because he was receiving so many phone calls and taking time to write down notations on pieces of paper while receiving these same phone calls * *

Pahlke relates further information given to him by postal inspectors who had defendant under surveillance at work:

"* * * [They] noticed * * * [defendant] exchange U. S. Currency with one white male * * * approximately 10 pm in the evening on 7/8/75. * * * [D]ue to * * * [defendant’s] job it would be very difficult for him to do any hand to hand exchanges, etc. while sitting at his letter-sorting machine. * * * [Defendant] in fact does most of his bookmaking activities before and after the work shift begins and ends * *

The affiant describes the informant as: (1) over 21; (2) an Oregon resident "for years”; (3) "gainfully employed in Multnomah County for the past ten years, two years * * * [with] the same employer”; (4) having paid his taxes and having "voted in recent local and state elections”; (5) "has no indictments or arrest warrants pending against” him; (6) having provided reliable information "on at least” four prior occasions; and (7) desirous of remaining anonymous because of fear of possible "physical or mental pressure, humiliation or ridicule.”

The methodology tobe employed in determining the sufficiency of an affidavit based on information the *501 affiant received from an informant was set out in Aguilar v. Texas, 378 US 108, 84 S Ct 1509, 12 L Ed 2d 723 (1964), and further explained in Spinelli v. United States, 393 US 410, 89 S Ct 584, 21 L Ed 2d 637 (1969). These cases hold that the affidavit must establish (1) the credibility of the informant and (2) that the informant obtained his information in a reliable way.

Where the person supplying the information to the affiant is a named police officer or a named citizen such as thé victim of the crime under investigation, the credibility of the informant is essentially assumed. State v. Poteet, 9 Or App 231, 495 P2d 783, Sup Ct review denied (1972). The rationale of this assumption is this: that by revealing his name, the informant opens himself up to the possibility of being called as a witness, State v. Poteet, supra.

Where the informant is anonymous his credibility must be established in the affidavit itself. This is often done by the affiant stating that this informant has given information in the past which has led to arrests and convictions.

Here the affidavit of Officer Pahlke states that the informant is a "reliable citizen informant” but does not disclose his identity. In such a situation we believe that the credibility of the informant must be established just as if the informant were a paid informer. The crucial factor is that the informant has chosen to remain anonymous. State v. Poteet, supra. A naked assertion by the affiant that the informant is a "reliable citizen” is of no help in evaluating his credibility. Neither are the statements of the affiant regarding the informant’s employment, voting and taxpaying status, etc., sufficient.

The affidavit does state that the informant gave "information on at least four prior occasions which information proved to be reliable in all respects,” but it does not indicate what type of information the informant gave in the past or whether it led to arrests and convictions.

*502 The affidavit in question here does, however, meet the credibility prong of Aguilar because of the highly detailed information contained and because many of the facts supplied by the informant were substantiated by other sources. For instance, the affidavit states that the affiant checked with postal authorities and that the information the informant gave regarding defendant’s hours of employment, days off, address and suspicious actions while at work, were all verified. While these details concern mostly nonincriminating facts, this alone does not render them worthless for the purpose of establishing the informant’s reliability. See, Draper v. United States, 358 US 307, 79 S Ct 329, 3 L Ed 2d 327 (1959). Further, as noted earlier, other incriminating evidence was received from postal authorities from which a magistrate could properly infer that the informant had related the truth to the affiant.

As to the other prong of Aguilar, defendant contends that the affidavit is insufficient in that it does not reveal how the informant obtained his information.

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Related

State v. Lillard
754 P.2d 595 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1988)
State v. McKee
747 P.2d 395 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1987)
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State v. Gatzke
720 P.2d 1313 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1986)
State v. Panichello
692 P.2d 720 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1984)
State v. Green
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State v. Smith
627 P.2d 26 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1981)
State v. Moreno
608 P.2d 611 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1980)
State v. Carlile
43 Or. App. 692 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1979)
State v. Reiter
598 P.2d 699 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1979)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
552 P.2d 1313, 26 Or. App. 497, 1976 Ore. App. LEXIS 1738, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-delker-orctapp-1976.