State v. Houseal

667 S.W.2d 108, 1983 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 421
Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee·Decided September 8, 1983·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

OPINION

O’BRIEN, Judge.

This case originated in the Criminal Court for Shelby County. In Indictment No. B-78900 both defendants were charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell and deliver. Under Indictments No. 82546-547-554, Dale Foster Houseal was charged with various possessory offenses. In Case No. 78900 each of them entered a guilty plea to an attempt to commit a felo[109] ny. Dale Houseal was sentenced to serve not less than two (2) years nor more than five (5) years in the penitentiary. Daphne Houseal was sentenced to serve not less than one (1) year nor more than one (1) year in the County Jail, and fined One Thousand Dollars ($1,000). Her sentence of confinement was suspended and she was placed on probation for a period of five (5) years. In Cause No. 82546 Dale Houseal was also sentenced to serve not less than two (2) years nor more than five (5) years. In 82547 his sentence was not less than one (1) year nor more than one (1) year. All of these sentences were fixed to be served consecutively. In Case No. 82554 he was sentenced to serve a period of six months, concurrent with his other sentences. The trial judge entered an order certifying the cases to this Court on two questions of law pursuant to the provisions of Rule 37(b)(2)(i) of the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure. The issues stated in the court order are: (1) did the trial court rule correctly on the procedural aspects of the suppression motion? (2) was it error to deny the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence?

Defendants do not specify the manner in which the trial court purportedly erred in its rulings on the procedural aspects of the motion to suppress. They seem to imply that the evidence supplied by them at the hearings on their motions to suppress establish, by a preponderance of the evidence, the absence of probable cause, and thus rendered the search warrants void. It is insisted they have proved that either there was no reliable informant who provided the information to the affiant on the search warrant, or that they established by their evidence that the actual informant was a man named Hollis Rick Maupin, who was legally blind, and could not have provided the information ascribed to him in the affidavit to the warrant. It is also said they were limited by the court in their cross-examination of the affiant to the search warrant in their effort to prove the falsity of his statements in the affidavit to the warrant. Defense counsel has filed an excellent brief in support of these arguments, and has correctly cited the law and the cases which sustain the argument. However, after having carefully studied this record we have concluded the facts in this case do not comport with those in the cases cited on defendants’ behalf.

A defendant must initially show by affidavit of persons having personal knowledge of the facts, or other evidence, that the search warrant was procured by the officers either through perjury or collusion before one can delve below the surface of a facially sufficient affidavit. The mere unsupported allegation of fraud is insufficient. In United States v. Luna, 525 F.2d 4 (6th Cir.1975), it was held that evidence should not be suppressed unless the trial court finds that the warrant is obtained by actual fraud or collusion. An innocent or mere negligent misrepresentation is not sufficient to invalidate a warrant or nullify a search.

There were two search warrants issued in these cases, on separate dates, addressed to different locations. Defendants’ motion to suppress sets forth that affidavits upon which the search warrants were based were materially false, containing willful or reckless misrepresentations of the applicant to the issuing magistrate. The motion was supplemented by affidavits of nine (9) persons who say they were on the searched premises during the critical time when the affiant to the search warrant stated his informant saw drugs sold and stored at that location, and that they had not seen any such activity. There were also affidavits from the defendants deposing that they were aware of the identity of all persons who had given affidavits, and that they were all of the persons who were lawfully on the premises during the time in question, other than defendants themselves. Under the authority of Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure No. 41(f), defendants were entitled to present evidence in support of their motion to suppress the evidence obtained under the warrant. They were afforded this right. In Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. [110]*110154, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 57 L.Ed.2d 667, (1978), the United States Supreme Court said:

“... where the defendant makes a substantial preliminary showing that a false statement knowingly and intentionally, or with reckless disregard for the truth, was included by the affiant in the warrant affidavit, and if the allegedly false statement is necessary to the finding of probable cause, the Fourth Amendment requires that a hearing be held at defendant’s request. In the event that at that hearing the allegation of perjury or reckless disregard is established by the defendant by a preponderance of the evidence, and with the affidavit’s false material set to one side, the affidavit’s remaining content is insufficient to establish probable cause, the search warrant must be voided and the fruits of the search excluded to the same extent as if probable cause was lacking on the face of the affidavit.”

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State v. Houseal, 667 S.W.2d 108, 1983 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 421 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1983).

667 S.W.2d 108 (State v. Houseal) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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