Summary
The Supreme Court of Wyoming affirmed Mary J. Mueller’s conviction for felony possession of methamphetamine. The court held that the affidavit supporting the search warrant established probable cause, including a sufficient nexus between the suspected criminal activity, the evidence sought, and Mueller’s apartment, and that the citizen informants were sufficiently reliable.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the search-warrant affidavit established a sufficient factual nexus between the suspected criminal activity, the evidence sought, and Mueller's apartment.
- Whether the affidavit sufficiently established the reliability of the two unnamed citizen informants whose observations supported the warrant.
Holdings
- The affidavit provided a sufficient factual nexus because it described the theft of McKim's vehicle and property, placed Costalez and a matching vehicle at the apartment shortly after the theft, and identified the apartment as the location where items were being unloaded.
- The affidavit sufficiently established the reliability of the unnamed informants because they were identifiable citizen informants, provided firsthand and detailed observations, independently gave similar descriptions, identified Costalez, and described a vehicle matching the stolen vehicle.
Key quotations
“Ultimately, our duty on review simply is to ensure that the warrant-issuing judicial officer had a substantial basis for concluding probable cause existed.” (202 P.3d at 406)
“The "totality of circumstances" analysis requires the judicial officer simply "to make a practical, common sense decision whether, given all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit before him, including the `veracity' and `basis of knowledge' of persons supplying hearsay information, there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place."” (202 P.3d at 407)
“Simply put, we find that the affidavit provides a sufficient factual nexus between the criminal activity, the evidence to be seized, and the place to be searched.” (202 P.3d at 408)
Factual background
A white Mercury Sable was stolen from Jamie McKim, along with personal items inside the vehicle. Witnesses observed two Hispanic men, including Joey Costalez, unloading boxes of clothing from a similar white sedan into the north-side basement apartment at 809 N. 15th Street, which was leased to Mueller. Police later found the stolen vehicle abandoned nearby, and Alfred Martinez reported that Costalez had given him the vehicle. A search of the apartment produced methamphetamine and other drug-related items.
Procedural history
Police searched Mueller's leased basement apartment under a warrant and discovered methamphetamine and drug-related items. The district court denied Mueller's motion to suppress. Following a jury trial, Mueller was convicted and sentenced to four to five years of incarceration, suspended in favor of one year in county jail followed by four years of supervised probation. The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed.