United States v. Richard Batiste

Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3731 , the government appeals the district court’s order granting Richard Batiste’s motion to suppress evidence. The government contends that the district court erred in ordering an evidentiary hearing on the issue of probable cause to arrest because (1) the government had made a prima facie showing of probable cause in its affidavit attached to the complaint filed against Batiste on November 2, 1987, and (2) in his motion to suppress Batiste had failed to dispute the government’s version of the facts contained in that affidavit.

I

The following facts are drawn from the government’s affidavit attached to the complaint. On October 31, 1987, at approximately 11:30 p.m., two San Diego police officers responded to a silent alarm at a local bank. The officers located a hole broken into an exterior wall of the bank large enough for a person to crawl through. The officers then heard a banging noise and saw someone inside the bank apparently trying to break into the vault. After reinforcements arrived, an officer announced through a bullhorn that the bank was surrounded. The person inside the bank was instructed to come out. Batiste then crawled out of the hole…