United States v. Williams, No. 11-3129 (7th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseFederal agents and local police executed a search warrant at Williams’ residence and found five kilograms of marijuana, a handgun, and several scales. Williams moved to suppress, arguing that the warrant was invalid because officers presented the warrant judge with an affidavit that contained false statements and misleading omissions made with at least reckless disregard for the truth. The district court held a Franks hearing and found that the officers did not recklessly disregard the truth, and that even if they had, once the errors were removed and the omitted material included, probable cause would have remained for a search warrant to issue. Williams was convicted of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(5). The Seventh Circuit affirmed, stating that the police were rushing to draft an application and hastily omitted both favorable and unfavorable evidence from the affidavit. The court particularly noted omission of the information from monitored calls involving Williams that was “clearly sufficient to establish probable cause.” That omission provides a reasonable basis to believe that the police did not intend to mislead.
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