ALASKA COURT OF APPEALS HOLDS STRONG ON 4TH AMENDMENT. **Appeals Judge draws the line on local police taking liberties with the Constitution**

---> http://fourthamendment.com/?p=22400

On June 9, 2011, acting on several informants' tips, two police officers stopped Ethan Ryan Moore at the Dillingham airport shortly after he retrieved his two pieces of luggage from baggage claim. The officers told Moore that they believed he was transporting marijuana, and they asked Moore for permission to search his luggage. Moore, who was on his way to Togiak, declined to consent to this search. The officers then seized both pieces of Moore's luggage, transported them to the Dillingham police station, and contacted the local magistrate to apply for a search warrant.

After hearing the warrant application, the magistrate concluded that there was no probable cause for the search, so he refused to issue the search warrant. More specifically, the magistrate concluded that the officers had failed to provide sufficient proof of their informants' credibility to satisfy the Aguilar-Spinelli test. **

When the magistrate issued this ruling, he invited the officers to present more information to corroborate their informants.

But the officers did not present more information to the magistrate and ask him to reconsider his decision. Nor did the officers acquiesce in the magistrate's decision and return Moore's luggage to him. Instead, the officers kept Moore's luggage overnight and then, the next morning, they shipped it to the Alaska State Troopers in Anchorage. After the luggage arrived in Anchorage, it was subjected to sniffing by a drug-detection dog. The dog alerted to the luggage, and the troopers then applied for a search warrant, this time in front of an Anchorage judge. The warrant was granted.

The ensuing search of Moore's luggage disclosed seven vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana totaling approximately seven ounces. Based on the discovery of this marijuana, Moore was charged with, and later convicted of, fourth-degree controlled substance misconduct.

In this appeal, Moore argues that, after the Dillingham magistrate refused to issue the search warrant, it was illegal for the Dillingham officers to retain his luggage overnight and then ship it to Anchorage -- and that all of the ensuing investigative efforts (the dog sniff and the second search warrant application) were tainted by this illegality.

For the reasons explained in this opinion, we agree with Moore, and we therefore reverse his conviction.


** Aguilar-Spinelli Test ---> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aguilar%E2%80%93Spinelli_test

United States v. Place ---> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Place


Comments


[24 Points] Ttrowway:

It's too bad they don't punish the officers for disregarding their duty (Enforcing what the judge told them).


[16 Points] meth_junkie800:

Good news for moore. I wish all judges were as reasonable as this.


[9 Points] None:

Too bad its just Alaska.


[4 Points] Tune-chi:

The shitty thing is if this guy even gets his legal fees reimbursed, which is a long shot, it is coming out of taxpayer monies. The police that violated the law get a slap on the wrist at most.


[2 Points] TJD269:

Fucked up Country we live in


[2 Points] JetLife710:

So... what happened to all that weed?


[1 Points] you-are-a-cop:

State court....no wonder.

In the federal system the magistrate would have rubber-stamped that warrant without even reading it.

I actually respect some state court judges.

<gasp> Did I just say that? (There are also a lot of shitbag state court judges, no doubt.)


[-4 Points] None:

I dont see a problem with the cops holding the baggage to have it sniffed to get a warrant. They obviously knew what was inside its no coincidence.

I give no sympathy to morons. I do support the police. I support punishing anyone that knowingly breaks the law and gets caught.