In United States v. King, --- F.3 ---, No. 20-10007 (9th Cir. 2020), the Court affirmed the district court’s denial of Mr. King's motion to suppress firearms, and dismissed the remainder of his appeal as waived, based on his conditional guilty plea to being a felon in possession.
This appeal covers a lot of ground. Mr. King challenged the validity of a search warrant for his home. He argued the warrant was overbroad—that there was only probable cause for a particular revolver, and no other firearms.
The Court disagreed. It found that the warrant application, which alerted a judge that the defendant took the revolver to hide it from law enforcement for a domestic-abuse suspect, raised the inference that the defendant possessed other firearms; and that the facts, taken together, provided the judge with a substantial basis to authorize the search for “any firearm.”
Here's an example of the Court's reasoning: "The affidavit demonstrated that King took the revolver to hide it from law enforcement for the domestic abuse suspect. By concealing the “silver & gold” firearm, it raised the fair inference that King possessed other firearms. After all, the suspect wouldn’t have entrusted the revolver to King if the suspect didn’t believe King was willing and able to covertly store firearms. That King seemingly served as a “safe deposit box” for the suspect’s firearm made it likely that King did the same for other firearms. Plus, King’s criminal history meant that 'any firearm' in his possession was contraband and evidence of a crime. Considering all of this, we see no violation of the Fourth Amendment in the search and seizure here."
The Court further held that the good faith exception would apply.
In addition, the Court held that Mr. King's conditional plea did not preserve his sentencing claim and that the district court did not improperly engage in plea negotiations.
