United States v. Joseph Shelton Davis, III

This case returns to this court following remand to the district court. On the prior appeal appellant Davis’s judgment of conviction was vacated and his case was remanded for a limited evidentiary hearing. The district court was instructed to determine whether the affiant in an application for a search warrant “acted with deliberate falsehood or reckless disregard for the truth by incorrectly claiming that he ... had personal knowledge of the facts recited in the ... affidavit.” United States v. Davis, 663 F.2d 824, 830-31 (9th Cir.1981). Following an evidentiary hearing, the district court found no deliberate falsehood or disregard for the truth and reinstated the conviction. We reverse and remand for retrial.

The underlying facts were fully set out in our prior opinion and need only be briefly summarized here. Between 1976 and mid-1977 Davis was involved in a conspiracy to import large quantities of hashish oil into the United States. He used his share of the profits to invest in a variety of business ventures one of which was a food distribution company known as Preshadem Distributing International (“PDI”). In October 1977, Bovan, a former business associate of Davis, was shot…