Justia Constitutional Law Opinion Summaries

Mullins lived in apartment 2 in the complex behind the BigFoot Lounge in Rockford, Illinois. Mullins and Washington (called “T”) used Mullins’s apartment as a stash house for their cocaine and marijuana distribution operation. Winnebago County Sheriff’s Deputy Boomer submitted an affidavit and obtained a search warrant for Mullins’s apartment. The affidavit stated that a confidential informant had told members of the Narcotics Unit that a black male known as T was selling cocaine and marijuana in the area, was storing the drugs in an apartment behind the BigFoot Lounge, and drove a black Cadillac Escalade with Minnesota registration 161EKT when he delivered drugs. Deputy Boomer reported that he had seen the Cadillac Escalade with Minnesota registration 161EKT in the parking lot of the apartment building behind the lounge. The affidavit also described surveillance by the Narcotics Unit and controlled drug buy. Deputies executed the warrant, recovering 626 grams of marijuana, 16 grams of powder cocaine, more than 150 grams of crack cocaine, drug packaging materials, digital scales, and mail addressed to Mullins. The Seventh Circuit affirmed his convictions under 21 U.S.C. 846 and 841(a)(1) and 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1), upholding denial of Mullins’s motion to suppress and his request for a Franks hearing. Factual inaccuracies in the warrant affidavit were immaterial to the probable cause determination. View "United States v. Mullins" on Justia Law