Last week, the Court of Appeals of North Carolina decided State v. Frederick, a case about whether a controlled purchase of drugs provided probable cause to issue a search warrant. Before you say “the answer is yes, that fact pattern happens all the time,” be aware that Frederick presents a wrinkle. The wrinkle is that the controlled buy was conducted not by a confidential informant, but by an unknown “middleman” who the informant drove to the suspect’s home. Does the injection of an intermediary undermine probable cause? Read on to find out! Facts. A Raleigh detective sought a search warrant for the defendant’s home. The affidavit in support of the application stated that a “confidential source” had recently given the officer “information . . . regarding a [drug] dealer.” The detective considered the source reliable as he had provided accurate information in the past. The detective and the source attempted to corroborate the information by conducting two controlled buys in the week before the application was submitted. In both cases, the informant met with a “middle man,” who was apparently unknown to the detective, and took him to the suspect’s home. Officers watched the middleman enter the home and exit a few minutes later. The informant dropped the middleman off at his residence and then met with the detective. Each time, the informant had no drugs at the outset, and had drugs at the end of the expedition. A magistrate issued the warrant. When officers executed it, they found heroin and [...]
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