CA10: Franks doesn’t apply to private actors providing false information to LEOs

Even assuming private volunteer animal cruelty investigators provided false information that was used to get search warrants issued for plaintiffs’ property for evidence of cockfighting, qualified immunity applies because no case holds that the Franks doctrine applies to a private actor, not a state actor. [Indeed, Franks itself doesn’t apply to a CI’s false statement to the police.] Marin v. King, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 100 (10th Cir. Jan. 3, 2018).

Defendant’s Franks challenge fails. Even granting that there was material omissions (which the court doesn’t), the remainder is still probable cause for issuance of the search warrant. United States v. Walton, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 169 (E.D. Mich. Jan. 2, 2018).*