State v. Knowlton
| Citation | 489 A.2d 529 |
| Parties | STATE of Maine v. Thomas F. KNOWLTON and Debbie Knowlton. |
| Decision Date | 26 March 1985 |
| Court | Maine Supreme Court |
Janet T. Mills, Dist. Atty. (orally), Auburn, for plaintiff.
Marshall, Raymond, Beliveau, Dionne & Bonneau, Paul Dionne (orally), Lewiston, for Thomas F. Knowlton.
Linnell, Choate & Webber, Robert Mullen (orally), Auburn, for Debbie Knowlton.
Before McKUSICK, C.J., and NICHOLS, ROBERTS, WATHEN, GLASSMAN, and SCOLNIK, JJ.
Based on the tip of a confidential informant and on a "controlled buy" conducted by the informant on December 19, 1983, the police on the same day obtained a search warrant and carried out a search of the New Auburn apartment of defendants Thomas F. Knowlton and Debbie Knowlton. The seizure of certain evidence in the course of that search led to the indictment of defendants on charges of trafficking in scheduled drugs (Class B), 17-A M.R.S.A. § 1103 (1983); of furnishing scheduled drugs (Class D), 17-A M.R.S.A. § 1106 (1983); and of furnishing imitation scheduled drugs (Class E), 17-A M.R.S.A. § 1116 (1983). The State brings this appeal from an order of the Superior Court (Androscoggin County) granting defendants' motions to suppress the fruits of the police search, on the ground that it was based on an invalid search warrant. We reverse, holding that the search warrant was properly issued under the "totality of the circumstances" test of Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983).
Detective Delano of the Auburn police department on December 19, 1983, requested a search warrant from a complaint justice for Androscoggin County, supporting that request with his affidavit setting out the basic facts of the case as follows:
A confidential informant informed this department that he knew there was a lot of drug dealing going on at the above location. The confidential informant stated that he was in the apartment on Thanksgiving Day. At that time, Tom Knowlton took him up to the bedroom and they used some cocaine. He also stated that he has been in the apartment when people come to the door and buy cocaine from Tom and his wife. He has bought cocaine from Tom. The drugs are usually kept in Tom's bedroom.
On December 19, 1983, the confidential informant agreed to make a buy at the above location. I checked the confidential informant to insure that he wasn't carrying any drugs on his person. I then gave him a twenty and a ten in United States Currency to make the purchase. I dropped the informant off on Broad St. so he could walk to the location. Detective Warner walked into the woods. Det. Warner stated that he saw the confidential informant come out of the house and walk towards town on Broad St. I picked up the confidential [informant] on Broad St. and he handed me a small packet which contained white powder. He stated that the purchase was made from Tom's wife as he was out Christmas shopping. She had to go upstairs when he wanted to buy the cocaine. She came down with the cocaine. The white powder tested a positive when tested by a field test as cocaine.
This is the first time that the informant has been used by this department but checking with Lower Township Police Department N.J. they state that they have used this informant before and he is very reliable.
The complaint justice issued the requested search warrant and the police executed the warrant later that very day.
Mr. and Mrs. Knowlton thereafter moved to suppress the fruits of the search as evidence illegally obtained under an invalid warrant. They based their motions on an assertion that Detective Delano's affidavit neither alleged substantive facts sufficient to support a finding of probable cause, nor adequately established the reliability of the confidential informant. The Superior Court on June 14, 1984, granted the motion to suppress, holding that the substantive facts as stated in the affidavit were sufficient, assuming the informant was reliable, to justify issuing a warrant, but that the affidavit failed to establish the reliability of the informant to a probability.
In Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. at 230, 103 S.Ct. at 2327-2328, 76 L.Ed.2d at 543, the United States Supreme Court held "that an informant's 'veracity,' 'reliability,' and 'basis of knowledge' are all highly relevant in determining the value of his report." The Court went on to say, however, that those
elements should [not] be understood as entirely separate and independent requirements to be rigidly exacted in every case.... Rather, as detailed below, they should be understood simply as closely intertwined issues that may usefully illuminate the commonsense, practical question whether there is "probable cause" to believe that contraband or evidence is located in a particular place.
In Massachusetts v. Upton, 466 U.S. ----, ----, 104 S.Ct. 2085, 2085, 80 L.Ed.2d 721, 724 (1984) (per curiam), the Court reaffirmed "that the Fourth Amendment's requirement of probable cause for the issuance of a warrant is to be applied, not according to a fixed and rigid formula, but rather in the light of the 'totality of the circumstances' made known to the magistrate." Upton made absolutely clear that Gates completely abolished the two-prong test of Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964), and Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969). Upton was also emphatic that a reviewing court is not to make a de novo determination of probable cause, but rather must accord deference to the magistrate's decision and must limit its inquiry to the question whether there was a "substantial basis" for the magistrate's single required finding of probable cause.
The suppression justice in the case at bar failed to take Gates adequately into account in reviewing the validity of the warrant to search defendants' apartment. The justice viewed Gates as having merely relaxed the old two-prong test in favor of a more flexible approach, and so proceeded to look separately at the affidavit's showing of the informant's "basis of knowledge" and at the affidavit's showing of the reliability of that informant. The suppression justice found that the affidavit failed the second prong involving the informant's reliability because the affiant did not explicitly provide...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Dupree
...buy, was kept in sight until he entered defendant's residence, and immediately upon exit turned drugs over to police); State v. Knowlton, 489 A.2d 529 (Me.1985) (noting that controlled buy was sufficient corroboration under Gates even though affidavit failed to describe in explicit detail t......
-
State v. Rabon, Docket: Oxf-05-518.
...question whether there is "probable cause" to believe that contraband or evidence is located in a particular place. State v. Knowlton, 489 A.2d 529, 531 (Me. 1985) (quoting Gates, 462 U.S. at 230, 103 S.Ct. 2317). Gates emphasized that the totality-of-the-circumstances approach "permits a b......
-
State v. Tuttle
...(1984) ; Beemer v. Commonwealth , 665 S.W.2d 912, 915 (Ky. 1984) ; State v. Ruffin , 448 So.2d 1274, 1278 (La. 1984) ; State v. Knowlton , 489 A.2d 529, 533 (Me. 1985) ; Potts v. State , 300 Md. 567, 479 A.2d 1335, 1340 (1984) ; People v. Levine , 461 Mich. 172, 600 N.W.2d 622, 626, 629 (19......
-
State v. Candage
...that may be drawn to support the magistrate's determination.' " State v. Gallant, 531 A.2d 1282, 1284 (Me.1987) (quoting State v. Knowlton, 489 A.2d 529, 532 (Me.1985)). The affidavit in this case, relating most of the essential facts set forth previously, 2 provides a substantial basis to ......