United States v. Landaw

Order Edward E. Landaw, Jr. was convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), and
sentenced to 33 months imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Landaw now appeals his conviction,
and we affirm. Landaw first contends that the affidavit supporting the search warrant for his house failed to establish probable cause because
it did not state that particularized contraband items were located in the house. "Probable cause is established whenever there
is a reasonable probability of finding the desired items in a particular location." United States v. Pritchard, 745 F.2d 1112,
1120 (7th Cir. 1984) (quoting United States v. Rambis, 686 F.2d 620, 622 (7th Cir. 1982)). The Supreme Court, in Illinois
v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213 (1983), adopted a "totality of the circumstances" approach that emphasizes the practical, nontechnical
nature of the probable cause determination. Under this approach, a judge "need not determine that the evidence sought is in
fact on the premises to be searched . . . or that the evidence is more likely than not to be found where the search takes
place. . . . He need only conclude that it would be reasonable to seek the evidence in the place indicated in the affidavit."
United States v. Malin, 908 F.2d 163, 166 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 111 S. Ct. 534 (1990) (quoting United States v. Peacock,
761 F.2d 1313, 1315 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 847 (1985)) (emphasis in original).