ID: Def was arrested twice without a complaint or probable cause for contempt; reversed

Defendant was arrested twice, both times without probable cause or a complaint being filed. For that and other reasons, defendant’s finding of contempt is reversed. State v. Juarez, 2015 Ida. LEXIS 235 (September 9, 2015):

Third, despite the lack of a complaint and without a finding of probable cause, the magistrate court twice issued warrants which resulted in Juarez’s arrest. The guarantee against unreasonable search and seizure in article I, § 17 of the Idaho Constitution is substantially the same as the parallel provisions of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provides: “no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” U.S. Const. amend. IV; see also I.C. § 19-4403. The Fourth Amendment and Article 1 section 17 of the Idaho constitution mandate that no warrant shall be issued for a search or arrest except upon a showing of probable cause. State v. Watson, 99 Idaho 694, 696, 587 P.2d 835, 837 (1978) (“a suspect’s arrest and pretrial detention, not based on the probable cause finding of a neutral and detached magistrate, is impermissible under the provisions of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article 1 § 17 of the Idaho Constitution ….”). The record before this Court reflects that Juarez’s constitutional rights were twice violated when arrest warrants were issued without a determination of probable cause.