E.D.Cal.: Def satisfies Franks burden to get a hearing because nexus in affidavit for SW is weak

Defendant satisfies the Franks preliminary showing of false or misleading statements about alleged victims to get a Franks hearing. The nexus requirement of the affidavit is just barely met, and the hearing could undermine the probable cause showing. United States v. Kastis, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38150 (E.D. Cal. March 16, 2017):

Here, the court concludes that a substantial preliminary showing has been made by the defendant. This is particularly true given the questionable showing of probable cause made within the four corners of the three page search warrant affidavit and the breadth of the warrant that may have been issued based upon that showing. As required by Franks, defendant has alleged that the statements of C/V #1, C/V #1’s mother and C/V #2 were not accurately reported in Detective Alvarado’s affidavit. Defendant bolsters this contention with copies of the reports of those interviews as well as transcripts of some of them reflecting both the inaccurate statements in the search warrant affidavit as well as the fact that it appears Detective Alvarado was aware of what the witnesses actually said. A similar showing has been made with the various omissions alleged by defendant. That showing is “substantial” in that if the alleged inaccurate statements are corrected and the alleged omitted facts added to the search warrant affidavit, a significant doubt would be cast on the existence of probable cause justifying the issuance of this warrant. This is especially true in light of the weak nexus between the probable cause showing, the location to be searched, and the items apparently to be seized pursuant to the warrant as originally presented.

This entry was posted in Burden of pleading, Franks doctrine. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.