Renato Mariotti's analysis of Manafort's challenge to the locker's search warrant

[pnwmom]

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/982617209808801792.html

THREAD: What should we make of Paul Manafort’s motion to suppress the evidence obtained by Mueller from his storage unit?

1/ Late last night, Manafort’s attorneys filed a motion to suppress evidence obtained by the FBI from a search of his storage unit. Here is the full motion:


2/ A motion to suppress is a motion filed by a defendant to prevent the government from using evidence obtained in an unconstitutional manner. Manafort is challenging an FBI agent’s search of his storage unit without a search warrant.

3/ Generally the government needs a warrant to search private areas. One exception is when someone who appears to have authority over the area consents to the search. One problem for Manafort is a person who is on the lease consented to the search.

SNIP

[magicarpet]

1. Funny .... Manafort's quest to conceal and keep hidden....

....beyond the reach of investigatory authorities - became his down fall and ultimately put the noose around his neck.

Manafort put the files so far away they were placed beyond Manafort's own direct custodial care - then the government just swooped in and seized the secret files, documents, and records. To now be used by Mueller against him.

[marble falls]

2. The voluntary and the on the lease things are the the sinking of that motion. Why is Manafort....

wasting so much money on bad motions? I don't think he's as smart as he's given credit for. I think he always had a good protector/client and the next gig laid out. Its just that his next gig is in the slammer.

[pnwmom]

3. Maybe they're hoping that some DT-appointed judge will reverse on appeal. n/t

[marble falls]

4. There's no fudging on this one. I think a conservative judge would allow the search but force...

the government and Monafort to motion over each and every single piece used in court.

[Jarqui]

5. Or they uncover some unforced error

It reeks of desperation

[CanonRay]

6. His lawyers are charging him a freaking fortune

and they have to show something. Pro forma legal BS in my opinion.

[Mr. Ected]

7. He's throwing thumbtacks on the racetrack but Penelope Pitstop will have none of it

Desperate measures, indeed.

Paul Manafort is toast. Stick a fork in it. Soon it will be Trump's time in the barrel.

[Gothmog]

8. Great article in OP

I read the article and I agree that Manafort will lose. I love the inevitable discovery doctrine.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

9. Here's My Analysis As A Defense Attorney Who's Filed Hundreds Of These

First, let me just preface this by saying that I have to divorce myself from my own personal desire to see this guy go down in flames. Purely as a defense attorney, here's how I would argue this motion. The law says that a person "with authority" can consent to a search, and that is true of a search of the RESIDENCE. However, there is case law out there that says personal property, and more specifically, LOCKED personal storage items, are not considered part of the residence. Therefore, the person who is on the lease cannot consent to a search of Manafort's PERSONAL PROPERTY WITHIN the residence.

Here's a different example. If you were a passenger in a car that the police wanted to search, and you had a suitcase or briefcase with you in the car, the driver CAN consent to the search of his/her own vehicle, but he/she CANNOT consent to a search of YOUR personal suitcase/briefcase just because it was in the car.

Let me just say that even under the BEST of circumstances, that argument may not hold water. And Judges, who are usually former Prosecutors, tend to bend over backwards to side with the State and find for valid searches. So for us, that's good news. However, if Manafort happens to win on this one issue, it also wouldn't surprise me, because there IS a colorable argument to be made there.

What the authorities could, and probably should, have done is seize the locker, take it back to their headquarters, and then either get a separate warrant for the locker, or do what they do in the case of impounded cars, and search it under the guise of an "inventory."

Either way, if Manafort is THAT concerned about the search of that locker, now I REALLY want to know exactly what was found in there.