United States v. Thomas R. Putney

Thomas Putney appeals from the denial of his motion for a Franks hearing, see Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154 , 98 S.Ct. 2674 , 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978), arguing that he was entitled to a hearing to determine whether the magistrate issuing the search warrant for his property was misled by the supporting affidavit. He also assigns error to the district court’s use of the capacity of his methamphetamine laboratory to determine the amount of methamphetamine involved in the crime for the purpose of fixing the base level offense under the sentencing guidelines.

We affirm.

We reject Putney’s appeal from the denial of his motion for a Franks hearing. We recognize that a defendant may challenge the accuracy of an affidavit supporting a search warrant under certain circumstances:

Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 155-56 , 98 S.Ct. 2674, 2676 , 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978) (emphasis added). Upon this record, we hold that the necessary preliminary showing was not made.

The district court did not err in its application of the sentencing guidelines.

The search of the laboratory produced only a small quantity of methamphetamine. Putney complains that the district court erred by using the amount of…