United States v. Charles Whitney

Following a jury trial, Charles E. Whitney was pronounced guilty of possession of heroin with intent to distribute and distribution of heroin in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1).

Much of the government’s case rested on evidence acquired during searches conducted pursuant to two warrants issued by The Honorable Joseph Ceniceros, District Judge for Multnomah County, Oregon. Both warrants were issued upon the affidavits of Portland police officer William E. Johnston, whose allegations of criminal activity were based upon information relayed to him by an undisclosed informant. Whitney contends on appeal that the convictions should be reversed because (1) the affidavits in support of the search warrants lacked sufficient indicia of the informant’s reliability; (2) one of the warrants failed to describe the place to be searched with sufficient particularity; (3) the execution of both warrants violated 18 U.S.C. § 3109 ; and (4) the district court erred in denying his motion to reveal the identity of the informant. After carefully considering the underlying facts and the arguments presented by counsel, we conclude that the convictions must stand.

Before analyzing appellant’s…