N.D.Ga.: PC to arrest isn’t a high burden, and the govt can’t meet it here

“Here, the Government has adduced no testimony or other evidence explaining the basis of Defendant’s arrest or even identifying the officers who arrested her. The Government has also not introduced any evidence of the circumstances of Defendant’s arrest, including when and where she was arrested. The closest thing that the Government points to is a statement from a Detective that encountered Defendant at the station, that ‘[a]s far as I understand, she was arrested on the scene.’ … This Detective had no personal knowledge of the arrest, however, and provided no facts to show a reliable foundation to support his unexplained ‘understanding].’ [¶] Obviously, unexplained suspicions or conclusions do not amount to probable cause. Thus, the Government appears to mainly focus on the conversation overheard by EMT Reese. Oddly, instead of calling the officers who actually investigated and arrested Defendant, or the officer who actually interviewed the shooting victim, the Government only called an EMT who overheard that interview. [¶] The Government’s burden to prove probable cause is not a high one. And, while unusual, the Court is aware of no legal barrier preventing the Government from relying on indirect, circumstantial evidence of the facts surrounding an arrest and reasons for it. But there are simply too many holes in the evidence presented here for the Court to find that the arresting officers had probable cause to arrest Defendant.” United States v. Jackson, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103275 (N.D.Ga. June 16, 2016),* adopted 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 102916 (N.D. Ga. Aug. 4, 2016).*