State v. Hutton, 503 P.3d 972

At ~4:00 a.m. on March 8, 2019, Owyhee County deputies executed a search warrant at Craig Hutton’s home and seized ~602.3 g methamphetamine, other drugs, scales, baggies, razors with residue, and $4,800; Hutton was arrested and charged with trafficking and related counts.
The warrant (signed March 5, 2019) authorized search “at any time of the day or night” and rested on Deputy Lindsey Fuquay’s affidavit recounting information from a "confidential informant" over several months.
The affidavit described four visits to Hutton’s residence, the informant’s purchase of meth on one visit, and detailed, specific personal observations about drug locations and paraphernalia in the house (e.g., meth in a Crown Royal bag, razor magnet on fridge, scales, pre-packaged baggies).
Hutton moved to suppress, arguing the affidavit failed to show the informant’s veracity/that the informant was known to police and that there was no reasonable cause for nighttime service in violation of I.C.R. 41(d)(4) and the Fourth/Idaho Constitutions.
The district court denied suppression, finding the affidavit showed strong basis of knowledge and sufficient indicia of reliability and that nighttime execution was justified to prevent removal of drugs and protect officer safety.
Hutton entered a conditional guilty plea preserving the suppression issue and appealed; the Idaho Supreme Court affirmed the denial of the suppression motion.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Probable cause based on informant hearsay	Informant’s statements and officer affidavit provided substantial basis to credit hearsay; totality of circumstances supports probable cause	Fuquay’s affidavit did not expressly state the informant was known to police; veracity insufficiently established	Court held magistrate had substantial basis for probable cause under Gates totality test; informant was confidential (not anonymous), had strong basis of knowledge and indicia of reliability, including admissions against penal interest
Authorization for nighttime service	Nighttime service was reasonably necessary to prevent removal of large quantity of drugs and to protect officers from potential altercations with meth users	Affidavit lacked specific facts justifying nighttime execution; no reasonable cause shown	Court held magistrate did not abuse discretion; affidavit read in common-sense whole supported reasonable cause for nighttime execution to serve interests of justice

Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213 (1983) (adopts totality-of-the-circumstances test for informant-based probable cause)
Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108 (1964) (two-prong test factors: basis of knowledge and veracity)
Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410 (1969) (two-prong test for informant reliability)
State v. Chandler, 140 Idaho 760 (2004) (informant known to police can reduce corroboration needed; personal observations support probable cause)
State v. Elison, 135 Idaho 546 (2001) (hearsay may support probable cause if substantial basis for crediting it)
State v. Lindner, 100 Idaho 37 (1979) (standard and deference for magistrate’s reasonable-cause finding for nighttime warrants)
United States v. May, 399 F.3d 817 (6th Cir. 2005) (totality approach; affidavit may support that an informant is "known" even without explicit identity disclosure)
State v. Turpin, 129 Idaho 748 (1997) (contrast with anonymous tips requiring greater corroboration)