United States v. Kim Walker

MEMORANDUM

Kim Walker and Alphonso Foster (collectively “Defendants”) appeal their jury convictions of various charges relating to their participation in a conspiracy to manufacture and distribute PCP. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

Because the parties are familiar with the facts, we repeat them only as necessary to illuminate our decision.

Defendants argue that the evidence from the March 19, 2007 wiretap was invalid because the affidavit in support of the wiretap application contained material misrepresentations and omitted evidence regarding a confidential informant. We hold that any alleged misrepresentation in, or omission from, the wiretap application was not material because even if the affidavit had disclosed the full extent of the informant’s knowledge of the conspiracy and cooperation with law enforcement, the issuing judge could not have denied the application for lack of necessity. See United, States v. Aviles, 170 F.3d 863, 869 (9th Cir.1999), amended by 216 F.3d 881 (9th Cir.2000). The goal of the investigation was to discover the full extent of the large-scale criminal conspiracy, and “[a] coup de grace to the organization…