United States v. Stephen Leonard
Opinion
Stephen Leonard pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, in violation of
I. Background
A confidential source alerted Rock Island, Illinois, police that Courtney Watson was selling illegal drugs from the home she shared with her husband, defendant Stephen Leonard. Based on the tip, officers on two occasions one week apart searched sealed trash bags left in a public alley outside the home. Both times the trash bags contained indicia of residency and tested positive for cannabis. Officers also discovered that Watson had been previously convicted of obstruction of justice and arrested (although not charged) for aggravated battery. Two days after the second positive test, officers presented this information to a state judge and obtained a warrant to search the residence.
Police executed the warrant the next day, but not without issue. The supervising officer who had a copy of the warrant had to leave the scene before Watson arrived home with her father to meet with the officers. So when Watson asked to see the warrant, one of the remaining officers had to run back to the police station to get another copy. Alas, the copy of the warrant eventually shown to Watson apparently was not the correct one. In any event, officers executed the warrant and, in addition to drugs, found a semi-automatic handgun. Leonard admitted he owned the gun. Because he had been previously convicted of a felony, he was charged with violating
Leonard moved to suppress the gun and to require the government to disclose the identity of the tipster. The district court denied both motions. On the suppression motion, the court held that (1) the mistake in warrant presentation did not affect the validity of the warrant; and (2) even though the informant was probably unreliable, the two positive cannabis tests were enough, standing alone, to support the warrant. The court then refused to require disclosure of the tipster's identity because his or her identity was irrelevant to Leonard's case. Having lost his motions, Leonard conditionally pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years' imprisonment. He timely appealed.
II. Analysis
Leonard argues that the district court erred in denying his motions to suppress *733 the gun and require the government to disclose the identity of its confidential source. We will take these arguments in turn.
A. Suppression Motion
In appealing the denial of his motion to suppress, Leonard argues both that the search was invalid because police did not present the proper warrant to Watson before the search and that the warrant that did exist was not supported by probable cause. We disagree on both counts.
1. Warrant Presentation
Leonard first suggests that the warrant was defective because the copy the police showed Watson failed to name him, his address, or anyone who lived in his house. As he puts it, "[i]f an actual warrant existed for the place and person to be searched and/or seized it needed to be presented before the agents forced entry into the house and began their search." Appellant's Opening Brief at 12. The government concedes some mix-up with the presentation of the warrant, but argues it should have no effect on the search's validity.
The government has the better of the argument. We have recognized that "nothing in the [Fourth Amendment] requires that the warrant be shown to the person whose premises are to be searched."
United States v. Sims
,
2. Probable Cause
The heart of Leonard's argument is that the warrant was not issued upon probable cause. He contends that the warrant's supporting affidavit was insufficient in several respects, including that it failed to explain why the tipster was a credible source and failed to connect Watson's criminal history with the accusation of drug dealing. Given those failings, Leonard submits that only the two positive trash tests can support the warrant. He says those tests are not enough, standing alone, to support probable cause.
"On the mixed question whether the facts add up to probable cause, we give no weight to the district judge's decision, but 'great deference' to the conclusion of the judge who initially issued the warrant."
United States v. Garcia
,
Assuming
arguendo
that the tipster was not credible and Watson's criminal history was irrelevant, we nevertheless
*734
agree with the district court that the warrant was issued upon probable cause. As a threshold matter, individuals lack a reasonable expectation of privacy in garbage placed in a public alley or on a curbside.
California v. Greenwood
,
That leaves the question whether the trash pulls standing alone were sufficient to establish probable cause. The closest we've come to these facts has been
Molina ex rel. Molina v. Cooper
,
Case law in other circuits, however, provides some helpful guidance. In
United States v. Briscoe
,
Both
Briscoe
and
Abernathy
support the assertion of probable cause in this case. While one search turning up marijuana in the trash might be a fluke, two indicate a trend. Whether it be a particularly large quantity of drugs, as in
Briscoe
, or multiple positive tests of different trash pulls within a fairly short time, both tend to "suggest[ ] repeated and ongoing drug activity in the residence,"
Abernathy
,
B. Motion to Require Disclosure of Tipster's Identity
Finally, Leonard argues that the district court should have required the government to disclose the identity of the tipster who alerted police that his wife was dealing drugs. The district court denied his motion. We review that denial for abuse of discretion and will "affirm if any reasonable person could agree with the district court's decision."
United States v. Harris
,
"The government has a limited privilege to withhold the identity of a confidential informant from a criminal defendant."
We agree with the district court that the identity of the informant is irrelevant to Leonard's case and not essential to the fair determination of any case. As we held in
Harris
, "[w]hen the confidential informant is a mere 'tipster'-someone whose only role was to provide the police with the relevant information that served as the foundation for obtaining a search warrant-rather than a 'transactional witness' who participated in the crime charged against the defendant or witnessed the event in question, disclosure will not be required."
III. Conclusion
We conclude that two searches, a week apart, of garbage in sealed containers with indicia of residency, both testing positive for the presence of cannabis, are sufficient standing alone to establish probable cause to search a residence. We further hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Stephen Leonard's motion to reveal the identity of the government's tipster. The judgment below is AFFIRMED.
Leonard emphasized, particularly at oral argument, that the amount of drugs found in the trash was insufficient to support an inference that Watson was
dealing drugs
. But that is irrelevant. "[P]robable cause requires only 'facts sufficient to induce a reasonably prudent person to believe that a search ... will uncover evidence of a crime.' "
United States v. Featherly
,
In his dissent in Abernathy , Judge Kethledge argued that even the one trash pull in that case should have been sufficient for probable cause. He wrote that the marijuana paraphernalia, combined with trash indicating the home's address, "is reason enough to think the roaches and baggies came from that same house" and thus "created a fair probability that the officers would find contraband or evidence of a drug crime in the house." Id. at 258 (Kethledge, J., dissenting). Because of the second search in our case, we need not resolve the question the panel disputed in Abernathy . We leave that for another day.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Stephen Onwarkial LEONARD, Defendant-Appellant.
- Cited By
- 9 cases
- Status
- Published