CA9: When officers knew exact gun they should have been looking for, SW was too broad for other firearms and gang evidence

The victim of an assault with a short-barreled shotgun with a pistol grip reported it to the police, along with a picture of the gun, and they got a search warrant for generic firearms and gang-related evidence. Based on what they had probable cause for, the description in the warrant was overbroad without any justification. Millender v. County of Los Angeles, 620 F.3d 1016 (9th Cir. 2010):

We read the Fourth Amendment as requiring “specificity,” which has two aspects, “particularity and breadth.” United States v. SDI Future Health, Inc., 568 F.3d 684, 702 (9th Cir. 2009). “Particularity is the requirement that the warrant must clearly state what is sought. Breadth deals with the requirement that the scope of the warrant be limited by the probable cause on which the warrant is based.” Id. (quoting In re Grand Jury Subpoenas Dated Dec. 10, 1987, 926 F.2d 847, 856-57 (9th Cir. 1991)). In determining whether a warrant’s description is sufficiently specific to meet these Fourth Amendment requirements, we consider the following questions:

(1) whether probable cause exists to seize all items of a particular type described in the warrant; (2) whether the warrant sets out objective standards by which executing officers can differentiate items subject to seizure from those which are not; and (3) whether the government was able to describe the items more particularly in light of the information available to it at the time the warrant was issued.

Spilotro, 800 F.2d at 963 (citations omitted). The first consideration encapsulates the overarching Fourth Amendment principle that police must have probable cause to search for and seize “all the items of a particular type described in the warrant.” In re Grand Jury Subpoenas, 926 F.2d at 857; see also SDI Future Health, 568 F.3d at 702-03; VonderAhe v. Howland, 508 F.2d 364, 369-70 (9th Cir. 1974). The second and third factors are relevant to determining whether the warrant satisfies this general rule.

. . .

In short, the deputies had probable cause to search for a single, identified weapon, whether assembled or disassembled. They had no probable cause to search for the broad class of firearms and firearm-related materials described in the warrant. Although we have upheld warrants describing broad classes of items in certain cases, see Storage Spaces, 777 F.2d at 1370; Hillyard, 677 F.2d at 1340, the rationales adopted in those cases are inapplicable here given the information the deputies possessed.