United States v. Carl Robert Carter

413 F.3d 712, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 13299, 2005 WL 1558127
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJuly 5, 2005
Docket04-2034
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 413 F.3d 712 (United States v. Carl Robert Carter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Carl Robert Carter, 413 F.3d 712, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 13299, 2005 WL 1558127 (8th Cir. 2005).

Opinion

WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge.

Carl Robert Carter appeals from the district court’s 1 denial of his motions to suppress evidence. He argues that the search warrants leading to his arrest and conviction were not based on probable cause and that the warrants did not particularly describe the place to be searched and the things to be seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment. We affirm.

I.

Trooper B.P. O’Sullivan of the Missouri State Highway Patrol arrested Darren Troxel on January 19, 2003. Troxel told O’Sullivan that Carter had a methamphetamine lab in his residence, that he had seen empty Coleman fuel and acetone cans in and around Carter’s house, and that inside the house he had seen flasks containing red phosphorous on a hot plate and mason jars containing some kind of liquid. That night, Troxel gave a sworn statement to Hickory County Investigator John Scott and signed an affidavit. He attested that he had been at Carter’s residence on Hickory Co. Road 41, HC 41, two nights earlier and recounted some of the items he had seen there. He further stated that one month earlier he had taken someone to Carter’s residence to purchase methamphetamine, that the person purchased fifty dollars of methamphetamine, and that he witnessed the person smoke it. Lastly, Troxel stated that Carter had told him that he kept his phosphorous locked in a safe and had asked Troxel to buy pills for him.

The Associate Circuit Judge of the Circuit Court of Hickory County issued a search warrant for Carter’s residence shortly after midnight on January 20, 2003. Attached to the application for the warrant were Troxel’s affidavit, as well as an affidavit of O’Sullivan giving the factual basis for probable cause. The application set out the following details: the property contained a “brown double wide mobile home with... detached two car garage with [a] metal shed next to garage;” the officers desired to search all of these structures; the residence is “located North of Weaubleau on HC 31;” and to reach the residence, one must “[t]urn right on HC 41, go one-half mile, [and] at first curve turn tight into Driveway.”

The search warrant was executed, items associated with methamphetamine and three firearms were found, and Carter was arrested. On June 10, 2003, while Carter *714 was on pretrial release, another search warrant was issued. It contained essentially the same description of Carter’s residence and the structures to be searched. In support of this second warrant application, the prosecuting attorney attached affidavits of Scott and Michael Barnett, whom Scott had interviewed at the county jail. The affidavits recounted facts similar to those stated in the affidavits submitted in support of the first search warrant. This warrant was executed the same day, and deputies found items associated with methamphetamine production, a firearm, and ammunition.

A jury returned a verdict against Carter on all six counts of an indictment alleging drug and fire-arm related offenses in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1), 924(a)(2), and 3147(1), and 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 841(c)(2), and 846. The district court sentenced Carter to 210 months’ imprisonment.

II.

Carter contends that the search warrants were issued without probable cause and that therefore the results of the searches should have been inadmissable at trial. “We examine the factual findings underlying the district court’s denial of the motion to suppress for clear error and review de novo the ultimate question of whether the Fourth Amendment has been violated.” United States v. Neumann, 183 F.3d 753, 755 (8th Cir.1999). The court issuing a search warrant must “make a practical, commonsense decision whether, given all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit before him, including the ‘veracity’ and ‘basis of knowledge’ of persons supplying hearsay information, there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.” Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983). Accordingly, we determine the existence of probable cause based on the totality of the circumstances and, rather than reviewing the issuance of the warrant in a hypertech-nical fashion, adopt a common-sense approach. United States v. Williams, 10 F.3d 590, 593 (8th Cir.1993).

Carter argues that Troxel’s statements to the police are insufficient to establish probable cause. We disagree. The facts that Troxel had been placed under arrest, had not served as an informant previously, and that his tip had not been independently corroborated prior to the issuance of the search warrant do not defeat a finding of probable cause in this instance. The Supreme Court has noted that “even if we entertain some doubt as to an informant’s motives, his explicit and detailed description of alleged wrongdoing, along with a statement that the event was observed firsthand, entitles his tip to greater weight than might otherwise be the case.” Gates, 462 U.S. at 234, 103 S.Ct. 2317. Troxel’s statements were, on their face, based on first-hand knowledge and were attested to under oath in the affidavit. The items Troxel claimed to have seen on Carter’s property are in fact associated with methamphetamine production, and Troxel described these items in detail.

A premium is indeed placed on corroboration of the tip by independent evidence and evidence of past reliability in cases where the statements of a confidential informant provide the basis for probable cause. See. e.g., Williams, 10 F.3d 590; United States v. Gabrio, 295 F.3d 880 (8th Cir.2002); United States v. Lucca, 377 F.3d 927 (8th Cir.2004). Troxel was not a confidential informant, however. The district court rightly considered that Troxel could have been prosecuted had he made false sworn statements to the officers and noted that this fact made him presumptively more reliable than an anonymous *715 source. Troxel would have received a personal benefit only if the information he provided was reliable, and he would likely have suffered a detriment if the information he provided proved unreliable. Additionally, O’Sullivan dealt with Troxel in person and therefore had an opportunity to assess his credibility.

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Bluebook (online)
413 F.3d 712, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 13299, 2005 WL 1558127, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-carl-robert-carter-ca8-2005.