Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
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State v. Brown, ___ N.C. App. ___, 787 S.E.2d 81 (Jun. 21, 2016)
Because an affidavit failed to specify when an informant witnessed the defendant’s allegedly criminal activities, there was insufficient evidence establishing probable cause to support issuance of the search warrant. In the affidavit, the officer stated that he received a counterfeit $100 bill from an informant who claimed it had been obtained from the defendant’s home. At the suppression hearing, the officer testified that what he meant to state in the affidavit was that the informant had obtained the bill within the last 48 hours. It was error for the trial court to consider this additional testimony from the officer that was outside of the facts recited in the affidavit. Considering the content of the affidavit, the court held that without any indication of when the informant received the bill, the affidavit failed on grounds of staleness.