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D.Idaho: SW to corroborate a witness was overbroad and invalid

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The search warrant for weapons here was overbroad because evidence cannot be seized just to corroborate witnesses. United States v. Barnes, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115924 (D. Idaho October 28, 2010): Here, Barnes challenges the specificity of the description of the items to be seized along with the probable cause to make the seizure. Barnes argues that there was insufficient probable cause to seize “knives or any other instrumentality of injury” as described in the search warrant. The Government concedes that there is merit to this argument. The Government acknowledges that Officer Vargas’ explanation that other weapons were to be seized “in order to corroborate [Atchinson’s] statements” has been recently rejected by the Ninth Circuit...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on November 03, 2010 (boomark / email).