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While one affidavit misstated quality of informant, SW was justified under second affidavit

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Affidavit for search warrant was supported by two affidavits, and one was defective for stating that a CI was actually a concerned citizen. While "troubling," it was not reversible error because the other affidavit provided probable cause, too. State v. Keener, 2008 UT App 288, 2008 Utah App. LEXIS 276 (July 25, 2008): [*P15] Because the two affidavits were considered together, Judge Atherton was not misled regarding Lambson being a concerned citizen with a presumption of reliability. Nonetheless, even considering that Lambson was afforded only the low level of reliability of a criminal informant, when we consider the other information presented in the affidavit under a totality-of-the-circumstances analysis, Judge Atherton had a substantial basis to conclude that evidence of wrongdoing would be found at Keener's residence...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 30, 2008 (boomark / email).