Commonwealth v. Clagon
465 Mass. 1004
Pursuant
to a search warrant, police searched Anthony Gerald’s premises. The warrant was
issued based on the affidavit of Patrick Byrne, a Boston police officer with
experience in drug investigations and arrests. Most of the information in
Byrne’s affidavit came from a confidential informant, “Z.” Z made three
controlled purchases from Gerald in the thirty days before the warrant was
issued. On all three occasions, Gerald sold Z what appeared to be heroin.
The defendants questioned whether
the affidavit submitted in support of the search warrant established the
required connection between the alleged criminal activity and the premises to
be searched. Consequently, Gerald and Reginald Clagon filed motions to suppress
evidence obtained pursuant to the search warrant. The superior court allowed
the defendants’ motions to be suppressed and the Appellate Court affirmed the trial
court’s allowance. However, the Supreme Judicial Court disagreed and reversed the
decision.
The SJC reasoned that the affidavit,
viewed in the context of the totality of the circumstances, included enough
evidence to establish probable cause to believe that evidence connected to the
alleged drug offenses would be found at the premises. The information provided
by Z, coupled with Officer Byrne’s expertise in drug investigations and
arrests, compelled the SJC to determine that the probable cause threshold for
search warrants had been met. Nevertheless, the SJC acknowledged that this was
a close case while listing a few details that would have made the affidavit at
issue stronger. Here, however, such details were not necessary because the SJC
determined that the affidavit as presented was sufficient.
Written 7/8/2013
