United States v. Michael Sakuma

NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT OCT 17 2014 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 13-10317 Plaintiff - Appellee, D.C. No. 1:12-cr-00055-JMS-1 v. MEMORANDUM* MICHAEL SAKUMA, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii J. Michael Seabright, District Judge, Presiding Submitted October 8, 2014** University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law Honolulu, Hawaii Before: TASHIMA, RAWLINSON, and CLIFTON, Circuit Judges. Appellant Michael Sakuma (Sakuma) entered a conditional guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine. He now appeals the * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3. ** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). district court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained pursuant to a state court search warrant. The district court did not err in finding that the good faith exception applied to any deficiency in the warrant because the police officers’ reliance on the warrant was not per se unreasonable. See United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 922-23 (1984). The issuing judge was not misled by information that was recklessly or knowingly omitted from the affidavit, nor did the issuing judge wholly abandon his judicial role. See id. at 923. Moreover, the affidavit was not “so lacking in indicia of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence entirely unreasonable[,]” or facially deficient. Id. AFFIRMED. 2