United States v. Kevin Mendonsa

This case involves a conditional plea of guilty to drug offenses and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Mendonsa contests the order denying suppression of evidence obtained from his residence in the execution of a search warrant. He asserts that there was not probable cause for the issuance of the warrant, that there was not good faith in executing it, and that the officers violated the “knock and announce” requirement of 18 U.S.C. § 3109 (1988).

The issues in this appeal are: (1) whether there was sufficient probable cause for the search warrant based on an anonymous informant’s tip and certain confirming evidence; (2) if not, did the officers rely in good faith on the validity of the warrant when they initiated their search of Mendon-sa’s home; and (3) whether the officers violated 18 U.S.C. § 3109 when they forcibly entered Mendonsa’s home.

FACTS

On February 26, 1991, the Billings, Montana police department received an anonymous tip through the local “Crime Stoppers” system. The tipster stated that sometime around the twelfth of February, 1991, he or she had been at a house, later determined to belong to the appellant Kevin Mendonsa, where the tipster witnessed…