Summary
The Appellate Division, Fourth Department affirmed the defendant's convictions for various drug and weapon offenses, holding that the confidential informant's tip satisfied the Aguilar-Spinelli test for probable cause to support the search warrant. The court also rejected the defendant's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel regarding the failure to request a Darden hearing. Two justices dissented, arguing that the warrant application lacked sufficient particularity and corroborating details to establish probable cause for one of the searched addresses, and would have modified the judgment accordingly.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the search warrant was supported by probable cause under the Aguilar‑Spinelli test
- Whether Berry was denied effective assistance of counsel
- Whether a Darden hearing was required
- Whether the conviction should be affirmed or reversed
Holdings
- The warrant satisfied both prongs of the Aguilar‑Spinelli test and was therefore supported by probable cause.
- Berry was not denied effective assistance of counsel because counsel’s challenge to the warrant was reasonable and did not constitute ineffective assistance.
- A Darden hearing was not required because the informant was not wholly imaginary nor entirely fabricated, and Berry failed to show entitlement to relief.
- The judgment is affirmed.
Key quotations
“"the hearsay information supplied in the search warrant application satisfied the two prongs of the Aguilar‑Spinelli test and that the search warrant[ in question was] issued upon probable cause"” (at 215)
“"the basis of knowledge component . . . requires that the information provided by the informant be corroborated or confirmed through details sufficient in number and suggestive of, or directly related to, the criminal activity informed about"”
Factual background
Berry was convicted on six counts of drug possession, two counts of weapon possession, and three counts of criminal use of drug paraphernalia. The convictions were based in part on evidence seized pursuant to a search warrant issued on the basis of a confidential informant’s tip.
Procedural history
The trial court convicted Berry after a jury trial on six counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, weapon possession, and drug paraphernalia. Berry appealed alleging lack of probable cause for the search warrant and ineffective assistance of counsel.