Judge denies Paul Manafort's motion to suppress evidence from the self-storage unit. The opinion is here, and let me add a few thoughts on the opinion. assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4550…
This was not a close decision. Fourth Amendment law sometimes requires defendants to win a string of consecutive arguments before they get any relief. If they lose any one argument along the way, they lose the motion. In this case, Manafort loses *every* argument along the way.
In particular, Manafort argued that the warrant search was invalid because it was based on an illegal warrantless search without the permission of someone who could grant that permission. The court says, in effect, no all around. The warrantless search was legal, as it was based
on the permission of someone who had every right to give permission; & even if that person had lacked permission, the warrantless search would still be reasonable; & even if the warrantless search had been unreasonable, warrant search would still be valid. Govt wins every arg.
Same pattern w/the challenge to the warrant. The court says the warrant was proper, and even if it had been improper, the evidence still wouldn't be suppressed. Again, it's a ruling for the govt on every issue even though the govt only had to win on one issue to win the motion.
