State v. Lee

509 P.3d 689, 319 Or. App. 191
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedApril 20, 2022
DocketA171927
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 509 P.3d 689 (State v. Lee) 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. Lee, 509 P.3d 689, 319 Or. App. 191 (Or. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

Argued and submitted June 15, 2021, affirmed April 20, 2022

STATE OF OREGON, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. AARON CHRISTOPHER LEE, Defendant-Appellant. Linn County Circuit Court 18CR62116; A171927 509 P3d 689

In this criminal appeal, defendant contests his conviction for felon in pos- session of a firearm. Defendant argues that the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained under a search warrant. At trial and on appeal, defendant contends that the Oregon Constitution prohibits the use of anticipatory search warrants. Held: Anticipatory search warrants require, like regular search warrants, that at the time of issuance it is probable that evidence will be found when the warrant is executed. Anticipatory warrants differ only in that they contain some factual condition that must occur prior to execution of the warrant. Neither the text nor the historical context of Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution prohibit the use of anticipatory search warrants. Provided that anticipatory search warrants must adhere to all requirements applicable to all search warrants, including particularity, specificity, and lack of staleness, the use of anticipatory search warrants does not contravene case law. In this case, the affidavit supporting the search warrant provided probable cause that the triggering condition would occur and that evidence would probably be found upon execution of the warrant. Affirmed.

David E. Delsman, Judge. Erik Blumenthal, Deputy Public Defender, argued the cause for appellant. Also on the brief was Ernest G. Lannet, Chief Defender, Criminal Appellate Section, Office of Public Defense Services. Leigh A. Salmon, Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent. Also on the brief were Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, and Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General. Before Mooney, Presiding Judge, and Kamins, Judge, and Pagán, Judge.* ______________ * Kamins, J., vice DeVore, S. J.; Pagán, J., vice DeHoog, J. pro tempore. 192 State v. Lee

KAMINS, J. Affirmed. Mooney, P. J., dissenting. Cite as 319 Or App 191 (2022) 193

KAMINS, J. In this criminal appeal, defendant contests the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress, which pred- icated his guilty plea to felon in possession of a firearm, ORS 166.270(1). On appeal, defendant reiterates his argu- ment that Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution prohibits the use of “anticipatory” search warrants—that is, where probable cause is based on the fulfillment of certain conditions to happen after the issuance, but before execu- tion, of the warrant. Because we conclude that such war- rants are not categorically impermissible under the Oregon Constitution and that the evidence in the warrant affidavit established probable cause to search the home, we affirm. I. BACKGROUND In early December 2016, Albany Police Detective Davis obtained information about suspected drug distribu- tion from an informant, Controlled Buy Informant (CBI), who sought leniency on a pending criminal matter. The CBI identified an Albany man, Alleged Drug Dealer (ADD), from a DMV photo and explained that he had purchased heroin from ADD at ADD’s house twice a week for the past four months. The CBI said that he had purchased heroin in quarter-ounce increments for $325, and he agreed to do a controlled buy from ADD. Another confidential informant who had previously provided accurate information to the police regarding drug distribution identified ADD as a “major heroin dealer” in the area. Other informants had also referenced ADD by name as a person from whom heroin could be purchased and had provided an address consistent with the one provided by the CBI as where he had purchased heroin from ADD. At that address, Davis located a truck registered to ADD. From a business advertisement on the truck, Davis obtained a phone number that had been discovered during searches of three cellular telephones associated with people who had been arrested for heroin offenses. Davis also found that, as a victim, ADD had provided the same phone num- ber to Albany police in connection with a report of menacing in 2015. 194 State v. Lee

Using that information and his training and expe- rience during 22 years in law enforcement, Davis obtained a search warrant for the Albany house identified by the CBI. The warrant included a condition—that the CBI would com- plete a purchase with police surveillance—to corroborate the validity of the information from the multiple informants, two of whom sought leniency in other matters. The warrant provided several requirements to ensure that the condition was met: “[The CBI] is searched and found not to possess any money other than narcotics investigative buy monies fur- nished by the Albany Police Department. “[The CBI] is continuously surveilled to go directly to [the subject residence] by law enforcement officers. “Surveillance on [the subject residence] is constant until [the CBI] emerges from [the subject residence] and is taken back into custody by law enforcement officers. “[The CBI] is searched by law enforcement officers and found in possession of field tested presumptive positive heroin, and found to no longer be in possession of narcot- ics investigative buy monies previously furnished by the Albany Police Department.” The CBI completed the controlled buy under the specified requirements. Police executed the search war- rant and found defendant at the house. Several other people there identified defendant as a party to the drug deal. Police searched defendant’s backpack and found methamphet- amine and a firearm.1 Defendant acknowledged that he was at the residence when the drug deal happened but claimed that he was in the garage and had nothing to do with the sale. Before trial, defendant moved to suppress the evi- dence seized from his backpack. He argued that “anticipa- tory warrants”—warrants containing a condition prior to their ability to be executed—are prohibited by the provision of Article I, section 9, that “no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause.” In defendant’s view, that clause requires

1 The record does not indicate that defendant contested the search of his backpack on any basis other than the validity of the search warrant. Cite as 319 Or App 191 (2022) 195

that probable cause exist at the time the warrant is issued, not upon the occurrence of a set of conditions. II. ANTICIPATORY WARRANTS In Oregon, a search warrant is issued upon a show- ing before a “neutral and detached magistrate” that there is reason to believe that the facts stated in the affidavit are true and that those facts are sufficient to establish probable cause to justify the search requested. State v. Castilleja, 345 Or 255, 264, 192 P3d 1283, adh’d to on recons, 345 Or 473, 198 P3d 937 (2008). Probable cause exists when the facts in the affidavit would “lead a reasonable person to believe that seizable things will probably be found in the location to be searched.” Id. Anticipatory warrants are similar in that they require probable cause that evidence will be found at the specified location at the time of the warrant’s execution, but different in that they also contain a condition (such as the arrival of a package) that must occur before the warrant can be executed—meaning that “at some future time (but not presently) certain evidence of crime will be located at a specific place.” United States v. Grubbs, 547 US 90, 94, 126 S Ct 1494, 164 L Ed 2d 195 (2006) (internal quotation marks omitted). Like ordinary warrants, anticipatory war- rants “require the magistrate to determine (1) that it is now probable that (2) contraband, evidence of a crime, or a fugi- tive will be on the described premises (3) when the warrant is executed.” Id. at 96 (emphasis in original).

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Related

State v. Lee
532 P.3d 894 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2023)

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Bluebook (online)
509 P.3d 689, 319 Or. App. 191, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lee-orctapp-2022.