GA: No knock provision justified by defendant’s arrest record for firearms and violence, despite no convictions

The tip of defendant being a “man of violence” with guns in the house was sufficiently corroborated by defendant’s arrest (no convictions) record to support a no-knock provision in the warrant. Braun v. State, 324 Ga. App. 242, 747 S.E.2d 872 (2013):

… Blanket provisions based on the generalized experience of the officer seeking the warrant do not authorize no-knock provisions. Id. An affidavit based on the general ease of destroying drug evidence and the officer’s experience is also insufficient, as is the mere fact that the warrant is being issued in a felony drug investigation. Id. at 18-19. The magistrate must perform a neutral evaluation of each case’s particular facts and circumstances.

The trial court held that the GA(1)(1) probable cause from Braun’s prior arrests for battery and possession of a firearm “carrie[d] over to this case.” Because those arrests were supported by probable cause, the officer had “probable cause to suspect that [Braun] was a man of violence with firearms” who might harm officers if they knocked before entering his residence, and the magistrate could thus consider his arrest record. These facts provided a sufficient basis for the trial court’s holding that the inclusion of a no-knock provision in the warrant was reasonable under the circumstances, and the court did not err in denying Braun’s motion to suppress. Cook, 255 Ga. App. at 579-580.