In Blight v. City of Manteca, published December 11, 2019, the 9th Circuit affirmed summary judgment for police officers who obtained and executed a search warrant for a multi-acre wooded property. The officers received reliable firsthand information from an informant that a suspect was growing and processing marijuana on the property. The informant explained that one suspect and his family lived in the main house, and that another who helped him lived in the mobile home on the property. In the opinion of the officer who obtained the warrant, based on his experience, the property resembled those where marijuana was grown, often in residences. The officer obtained a warrant from a judge and executed it. The 74-year-old plaintiff lived in the mobile home. After the officers ordered her to exit the home, they breached the entrance. The plaintiff initially hid, then exited the home. Officers told her that if she did not enter the police car she would be handcuffed. She complied. The officers drove her to the street for the duration of the search, less than an hour. She was not handcuffed or physically searched. She sued under 42 U.S.C. section 1983, alleging that the warrant was overbroad and the officers' execution of the warrant and detention of her was improper.
The court of appeals ruled the warrant was not overbroad. Where multiple residences are on a single property under a single suspect's control, a warrant covering all residences on the property is not overbroad. The judge had a substantial basis for issuing the warrant, based on the information provided him. The search is reasonable even if the officers have information that the suspect is not on the property at the time of the search. The officers had categorical authority to detain the plaintiff during the duration of the search, since she was a resident of the property searched. The circumstances of the detention were reasonable, despite the plaintiff's age.
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