State v. Hidalgo, 296 Neb. 912

Omaha police received an anonymous Crime Stoppers tip that a Hispanic male called “Roberto” (nicknamed “Sporty”), an active member of the 18th Street gang in his early 30s, lived at a specified Omaha address and possessed illegal firearms.
Officers surveilled the address, observed several tattooed Hispanic men on the porch who appeared alarmed, and saw a white Nissan Sentra registered to Robert Hidalgo and Jacqueline Linares in the driveway.
Records showed Linares as the utility account holder for the address; a trash pull at the residence produced mail addressed to the residence and marijuana stems/seeds/leaves.
Officers, using gang unit knowledge, identified Robert Hidalgo as a known 18th Street gang member with a nickname similar to the tip’s; they obtained a warrant for the residence seeking marijuana, weapons, money, and records related to narcotics operations.
Execution of the warrant recovered firearms in the house, a firearm in the driveway vehicle (which Hidalgo later admitted owning), and another firearm in a neighboring yard; Hidalgo was charged as a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, convicted after a stipulated bench trial, and sentenced to 3–5 years.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Probable cause for search warrant	Warrant supported by tip, trash pull, and corroboration	Hidalgo: anonymous tip unreliable; corroboration only innocent details; trash marijuana insufficient	Court: Totality of circumstances established probable cause; tip corroborated by names, gang ID, demographics, trash; warrant valid
Sufficiency of corroboration of anonymous tip	Police investigation can establish informant reliability	Hidalgo: entire tip needed corroboration, which was lacking	Court: No requirement to corroborate every detail; independent police investigation supplemented tip reliability
Weight of trash-find marijuana in probable cause	Marijuana in trash supported suspicion of narcotics activity	Hidalgo: stems/leaves show only past use and are insufficient	Court: Marijuana was one of multiple corroborating facts; not dispositive alone but contributed to probable cause
Search of vehicle on premises described by warrant	Vehicle on property may be searched under warrant scope	Hidalgo: vehicle not listed in warrant so search exceeded scope	Held: Vehicle parked in driveway contiguous to house and affidavit envisioned weapons in vehicles; search valid under warrant scope

State v. Hill, 288 Neb. 767, 851 N.W.2d 670 (Neb. 2014) (standard for reviewing warrants; totality-of-the-circumstances test)
Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213 (1983) (informant-tip analysis; flexible totality-of-the-circumstances approach)
State v. Vermuele, 234 Neb. 973, 453 N.W.2d 441 (1990) (no requirement that the crime itself be fully corroborated to justify probable cause)
U.S. v. Pennington, 287 F.3d 739 (8th Cir. 2002) (vehicle on premises may be searched under warrant when affidavit connects vehicle to premises)
U.S. v. Briscoe, 317 F.3d 906 (8th Cir. 2003) (possession of marijuana may support probable cause in context)