The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals recently overturned jury convictions of a felony cocaine charge and a misdemeanor for the simple possession of marijuana on the basis of an invalid search warrant. The trial court had sentenced the defendant to six years for the felony facilitation of intent to deliver cocaine and 11 months and 29 days for marijuana possession.
In reversing the trial court, the Court of Appeals first determined that the defendant had standing, or the legal right to challenge a search warrant issued for his girlfriend’s home. The only evidence on this issue was the testimony of the state’s witness that the defendant was a regular overnight guest (“off or on”) and kept clothing “next to the bed” at the time of search. Based on this testimony, the court found that the defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his girlfriend’s home.
The search warrant was issued based upon an affidavit and information from a confidential informant. In these situations, the affidavit accompanying the warrant must establish: (1) the informant’s basis of knowledge and (2) their credibility. In this case, the basis of knowledge was not at issue but It is essential to the validity of the warrant that the magistrate reviewing it has enough information to make an independent determination regarding the informant’s credibility.
The affidavit stated that the informant had “provided Reliable & Credible information in the past concerning crack cocaine and the trafficking of crack cocaine.” However, the court of appeals held that this was “simply not specific enough” corroborating information of the informant’s credibility to support the search warrant. The court indicated that either a statement in the affidavit that the informant’s past information led to convictions or a statement that the informant’s prior tips led to the seizure of evidence would have been sufficient. Because the seizure of drugs and cash were the entirety of the state’s case, the court of appeals ordered that the convictions be reversed and the charges dismissed.
State of Tennessee v. Anthony Woods, No. W2012-01871-CCA-R3-CD, July 3, 2013.
