Search Warrant – Probable Cause

By: Derek Hawkins//March 18, 2019//

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Samuel J. Yarber

Case No.: 18-1469

Officials: MANION, BRENNAN, and SCUDDER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Search Warrant – Probable Cause

Police in Champaign, Illinois obtained warrants to search two apartments connected to Samuel Yarber. The searches turned up drugs and handguns and ultimately led to Yarber’s convictions for federal narcotics and firearms offenses. Along the way, Yarber challenged the warrant to search one of the apartments as unsupported by probable cause. While the warrant affidavit fell short in one respect—it did not establish that Yarber lived at the apartment and thus could not support an inference that evidence of his drug-dealing would be kept there—it nonetheless contained other facts sufficient to establish probable cause. And in any event the police relied in good faith upon the warrant. On this record, then, we affirm.

Affirmed

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Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.

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