State v. Sherlock

• Decision Date: 14 February 1989
• Docket Number: No. 12800,12800
• Citation: 70 Haw. 271,768 P.2d 1290
• Parties: STATE of Hawaii, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jerome A. SHERLOCK, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: Hawaii Supreme Court

Page 1290

768 P.2d 1290

70 Haw. 271

STATE of Hawaii, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jerome A. SHERLOCK, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 12800

Supreme Court of Hawai'i.

Feb. 14, 1989.

Syllabus by the Court

1. An affidavit supporting an application for a search warrant can be based on hearsay and the name of the informant need not be revealed. In such case, the affidavit must reveal an adequate basis for the informant's conclusion regarding the location of the objects sought to be recovered and must further demonstrate that the affiant's trust in the informant's credibility was warranted.

2. While the history of prior dealings between an informant and the police can be an important element in establishing the reliability of the informant, the absence of such a history does not of itself prove the informant unreliable. The court is entitled to look to the underlying circumstances, including those portions of the information independently verified by police, and to other factors supporting the probable truthfulness of the information.

3. Corroboration by a law enforcement officer of various details in an informant's report could properly support a court's conclusion that the informant was truthful.

4. Where the informant did not have a history of reliability, but the police corroborated the information by conducting an adequately controlled purchase of contraband, the corroboration provided ample indicia of the informant's reliability.

5. This court has advocated a commonsense and realistic, and not hypertechnical, reading of affidavits in connection with probable cause. Great deference should be accorded to a district court's finding of probable cause.

6. An affidavit is support of a search warrant is not to be parsed and its severed components subjected to hypercritical analysis; rather, the affidavit is to be read as a whole.

Peter Van Name Esser, Deputy Pros. Atty. (Willard J. Peterson, with him on the briefs), Honolulu, for plaintiff-appellant.

Peter Wolff, (Anthony K. Bartholomew, with him on the brief of Hart & Wolff), Honolulu, for defendant-appellee.

Before LUM, C.J., and NAKAMURA, PADGETT, HAYASHI and WAKATSUKI, JJ.

WAKATSUKI, Justice.

In April, 1983 an unnamed informant told Officer Kaneta that he had previously purchased cocaine from Jerry Sherlock at Sherlock's residence at 3121 Pualei Circle, Apartment 32. Upon receiving this information, Kaneta arranged for the informant to conduct a controlled purchase of cocaine from Sherlock. The informant was searched prior to making the controlled purchase to ensure that he did not carry any contraband or any money other than the paper currency provided him by the police. Although the informant drove himself to 3121 Pualei Circle, Kaneta followed him. The informant was never out of Kaneta's sight except during the time that the informant was in Apartment 32. After the informant emerged from Apartment 32, he was again searched by Kaneta. The informant presented to Kaneta a clear heat-sealed packet containing white powder. Kaneta submitted the packet to the police department's crime laboratory for analysis where it was determined to be "possibly" cocaine.

Kaneta included all this information in an application for a warrant to search Apartment 32, 3121 Pualei Circle for drugs and other related items. A district court judge issued the requested search warrant. The results of the search contributed to Sherlock's indictment.

A motion to suppress evidence brought by Sherlock was granted by the circuit court. Upon reviewing the affidavit in support of the search warrant, the court held that the informant was not shown to be sufficiently reliable. Further, the court was concerned that the laboratory analysis revealed that the white substance was only "possibly" cocaine. These concerns led the court to conclude that the district court lacked sufficient information to support a judicial finding of probable cause for issuance of the search warrant. The warrant, therefore, was deemed invalid, and the fruits of the search were suppressed. The State appeals and we reverse.

A.

The fourth amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 7 of the Hawaii Constitution provide that search warrants shall not issue except upon a finding of probable cause.

An affidavit supporting an application for a search warrant can be based on hearsay and the name of the informant need not be revealed. In such case, however, this court has adhered to the two-prong test for sufficiency developed by the United States Supreme Court in 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). State v. Kanda, 63 Haw. 36, 41, 620 P.2d 1072, 1076 (1980). "[A]n affidavit in support of a search warrant where the affiant relies upon an informer 'must reveal an adequate basis for the informer's conclusion regarding the location of the objects sought to be recovered and must further demonstrate that the affiant's trust in the informer's credibility was warranted.' " Kanda, 63 Haw. at 42, 620 P.2d at 1076 (quoting State v. Yaw, 58 Haw. 485, 486, 572 P.2d 856, 858 (1977)). See Aguilar v. Texas, supra; State v. Davenport, 55 Haw. 90, 93, 516 P.2d 65, 68 (1973).

In the more usual case where an informant's hearsay is used in an affidavit supporting a search warrant, the informant has a history of providing information to the police. Therefore, in many cases the affiant is able to provide a track record of the informant's reliability. See, e.g., Kanda, supra (informant gave information regarding criminal activities on 15 occasions, all of which were corroborated); State v. Delaney, 58 Haw. 19, 563 P.2d 990 (1977) (informant provided accurate information in the past on at least 11 occasions); State v. Austria, 55 Haw. 565, 524 P.2d 290 (1974) (informant gave police information concerning law violations on at least four prior occasions which were proven correct on independent verification); State v. Davenport, supra (informant gave information 21 times, 11 of which affiant personally verified the same).

This was not the situation in this case. The trial court stated in its findings and conclusions, "[t]he affidavit is devoid of any information regarding the prior reliability of Officer Kaneta's informant. There is nothing in the affidavit relating to the informant's prior reliability, if any, in other investigations."

It has "never [been] suggested that an averment of previous reliability was necessary. Indeed, ... the inquiry is, as it always must be in determining probable cause, whether the informant's present information is truthful or reliable[.]" United States v. Harris, 403 U.S. 573, 581-582, 91 S.Ct. 2075, 2081, 29 L.Ed.2d 723 (1971) (original emphasis). "While the history of prior dealings between an informant and the police can be an important element in establishing the reliability of the informant, the absence of such a...