The Michigan Supreme Court, in People v. Franklin, No. 152840, granted mini-oral argument on the application of leave for appeal to consider whether the United States Supreme Court’s opinion in Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154 (1978), limited a trial court’s discretion to order a hearing on the sufficiency of an affidavit in support of a search warrant. The Court of Appeals held that, based on Franks, a trial court may not conduct a hearing on the sufficiency of an affidavit supporting a search warrant when a defendant failed to make a “substantial preliminary showing” that an affidavit contains a false statement that was necessary to a finding of probable cause. According to the Michigan Court of Appeals, for a defendant to get a hearing on the sufficiency of the affidavit, he or she must make a “substantial preliminary showing that a false statement knowingly and intentionally, or with reckless disregard for the truth, was included by the affiant in the warrant affidavit” and also show that the allegedly false statement was necessary to the finding of probable cause.
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