State v. Hidalgo, 296 Neb. 912

Omaha police received an anonymous Crime Stoppers tip that a Hispanic male called “Roberto” (nicknamed “Sporty”), age ~30–35 and an 18th Street gang member, lived at a specific Omaha address and possessed illegal firearms.
Officers surveilled the address, observed several tattooed Hispanic men on the porch, and checked a white Nissan Sentra registered to Robert Hidalgo and Jacqueline Linares; utility records listed Linares at the address.
A nighttime trash pull from the residence produced a piece of mail addressed to that location and marijuana stems/seeds/leaves.
Based on the tip and corroboration, officers obtained a warrant to search the residence for marijuana, records, weapons, and ammunition; the warrant described the house (including exterior details).
Execution of the warrant recovered firearms inside the house, a firearm in a neighboring yard, and a firearm from the Nissan Sentra in the driveway; Hidalgo later admitted the gun in the car was his.
Hidalgo (a convicted accessory to a felony) was charged, convicted after a stipulated bench trial of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, and appealed the denial of his motion to suppress.

Issue	Hidalgo's Argument	State's/Prosecution's Argument	Held
Probable cause for search warrant	Affidavit relied on an anonymous tip whose reliability wasn't established; corroboration was only "innocent details"; trash evidence (marijuana stems/seeds/leaves) alone insufficient	Independent police corroboration (names, vehicle registration, utility records, gang membership, porch occupants) and trash pull together supplied a fair probability contraband/weapons would be found	Warrant supported by probable cause under totality of circumstances; suppression denied
Scope of warrant: search of vehicle in driveway	Warrant described house but not vehicle; searching the Sentra exceeded warrant scope	Vehicle was on the described premises, parked ~10 feet from front steps, no fence, affidavit contemplated vehicles as places where weapons may be stored during narcotics/gang activity	Search of vehicle was within the scope of the warrant; evidence admissible

State v. Hill, 288 Neb. 767 (explains probable-cause, totality-of-circumstances review and appellate standard for suppression rulings)
Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213 (establishes flexible totality-of-the-circumstances test for informant tips)
State v. Lytle, 255 Neb. 738 (discusses informant reliability and corroboration by police investigation)
State v. Vermuele, 234 Neb. 973 (holds no requirement that alleged "crime" itself be fully corroborated to support probable cause)
U.S. v. Pennington, 287 F.3d 739 (8th Cir.) (supports that a vehicle on premises described in a warrant may fall within the warrant’s scope)