No corroborating evidence

Meryl Carver-Allmond notched her first ADO win in State v. Cibrian, No. 99,812 (Dec. 19, 2008)(unpublished), reversing a Saline County possession conviction on Fourth Amendment grounds. The issue involved whether the arrest was illegal:

in the present case, little evidence was presented concerning [informant's] and his girlfriends' veracity and reliability, as they clearly had motivation to place blame on others. [Informant] was an admitted participant in the crime of trying to sell the stolen goods. . . . Here, as in [State v. Hendricks, 31 Kan. App. 2d 138, 61 P.3d 722 (2003) and State v. Landis, 37 Kan. App. 2d 409, 156 P.3d 675 (2007)], the officers did not have enough information concerning the veracity or credibility of [informant] and his girlfriend--or corroborating evidence--to form a reasonable belief that Cibrian had committed the crimes of possession fo stolen property or burglary. Without probable cause to support the arrest, the search incident to the arrest was unlawful.

[Update: the state did not file a PR and the mandate issued on January 22, 2009.]