The Second Department determined Supreme Court should have held a Darden hearing because the detective observed the confidential informant (CI) enter the building but did not observe the CI go to the apartment where the drugs were allegedly purchased. Therefore probable cause for the search of the apartment depended upon the CI’s information. The appeal was held in abeyance and the matter was remitted for the hearing:
The Court of Appeals has held that a Darden hearing is necessary where there is insufficient evidence to establish probable cause without information provided by a confidential informant … . “[A] Darden rule is necessary in order to fulfill the underlying purpose of Darden: insuring that the confidential informant both exists and gave the police information sufficient to establish probable cause, while protecting the informant’s identity. The surest way to accomplish this task is to produce the informant for an in camera examination” … . This procedure is “designed to protect against the contingency, of legitimate concern to a defendant, that the informer might have been wholly imaginary and the communication from him [or her] entirely fabricated” … . “[T]he court should conduct an in camera inquiry outside the presence of defendant and his [or her] counsel, and make a summary report regarding the existence of the informer and communications made by the CI to the police, taking precautions to protect the anonymity of the CI to the maximum extent possible” … . People v Nettles, 2019 NY Slip Op 03816, Second Dept 5-15-19