In sum, the amount of conflicting information in the documents reviewed by Valles indicates that Valles may have been, at most, negligent in the course of his investigation. But his effort to secure the second opinion of AUSA Jennings further undercuts any notion that Valles acted recklessly. The Supreme Court's holding in
Messerschmidt is instructive. In that case, the Court found it important to the objective reasonableness inquiry that the investigating officer sought the advice of a superior officer and the local deputy district attorney in determining whether the scope of the warrant was supported by probable cause.
132 S.Ct. at 1249–50. Acknowledging that review by another member of the prosecution team cannot be
dispositive as to whether the officer acted reasonably, the court nonetheless considered it
relevant to the officer's objective reasonableness.
Id. The Court held that the officer's probable cause determination was objectively reasonable and noted that “a contrary conclusion would mean not only that Messerschmidt and [his superior officer] were ‘plainly incompetent,’ but that their supervisor, the deputy district attorney, and the magistrate were as well.”
Id. at 1249 (internal citation omitted).