On June 27, 2001, upon receiving a tip from a confidential informant, Forsyth County Sheriff’s Department detectives executed a search warrant at the home of Jeffrey Lynn Land. During their search, the detectives found two bags of methamphetamine weighing a total of less than one gram, corners of plastic bags, digital scales, and two recipes for making methamphetamine. Land was arrested and handcuffed, and as he was being taken to the patrol car, he struggled with the detectives and attempted to kick them. A jury subsequently found Land guilty of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute and obstructing a law enforcement officer. Land appeals, asserting that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the evidence found inside his home and that the evidence produced at trial was insufficient to sustain his convictions.1 We agree with both assertions and, therefore, reverse. 1. In his motion to suppress, Land argued that the search warrant was not supported by probable cause because it was issued based upon information provided by an informant, and neither the informant nor his information were shown to be reliable.
Under Georgia law, a defendant may seek to suppress evidence seized during a warrant search if the warrant was not supported by probable cause. Where the State seeks to establish probable cause through information provided by unidentified informants, the informants’ veracity and basis of knowledge are major considerations in the probable cause analysis. An affidavit submitted in support of a search warrant must set forth sufficient facts from which the magistrate or judge can independently determine the reliability of both the information and the informant. In determining whether an affidavit provided sufficient probable cause, the issuing magistrate or judge must make a practical, common-sense decision whether, given all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit before him, including the veracity and basis of knowledge of persons supplying hearsay information, there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place. And the duty of a reviewing court is simply to ensure that the magistrate had a substantial basis for concluding that probable cause existed.2 In this case, the record discloses that the warrant application rested entirely on the affidavit of Detective John Thompson. Thompson stated in his affidavit “that within the past five 5 days of June 27, 2001, he met with a Confidential Informant ‘CI’.” According to Thompson the “CI advised him that . . . while present at Land’s residence, CI observed Land with a quantity of off white material identified to CI as being methamphetamine by Land. CI advised that while present at the residence, CI did observe Land sale sic methamphetamine.” The informant described Land’s home to Thompson, provided Land’s address and telephone number, and stated that Land lived with his mother. Thompson verified that the described house was located at the address the informant provided. Thompson also reported that on November 14, 1996, and May 30, 1997, Land was arrested for possessing methamphetamine. Finally, Thompson stated that the informant had provided information in the past, which “led to the arrest of at least one 1 individual, to the execution of at least one 1 search warrant, and to the seizure of a quantity of methamphetamine and U.S. Currency.” Based on this information, Thompson believed that Land’s residence contained “a quantity of methamphetamine, U.S. Currency being the proceeds from the sale of methamphetamine, records depicting the sale of methamphetamine, and items/equipment used in the packaging and distribution of methamphetamine.”
