United States v. Arthur Theodore Towne Dane Joseph Treiber

We confront the metaphysical question, what is a search warrant? In more prosaic terms, we must decide whether a search warrant may be comprised of pieces of paper that are not physically attached to each other.

I

On May 27, 1990, Sutter County Municipal State Court Judge Robert Damron issued a search warrant for the residence of Dane Treiber (“Treiber”). The warrant was executed by California state law enforcement personnel, who discovered evidence of drug manufacturing and trafficking on the premises, including a working methamphetamine. laboratory and marijuana grow room. A federal grand jury indicted Treiber and Arthur Towne (“Towne”) on charges related to the, manufacture, possession, and distribution of methamphetamine. The grand jury also indicted Treiber for manufacturing marijuana.

Treiber and Towne moved to suppress the fruits of the search of Treiber’s residence on the ground that the search warrant was insufficiently particular because it contained no description of what the executing officers were to search for and seize. In the space reserved for such a description on the search warrant application, Officer John Buckland had typed: “See Attachment B.” However,…