State v. Lewis
| Decision Date | 16 August 2019 |
| Docket Number | No. 140PA18,140PA18 |
| Citation | 372 N.C. 576,831 S.E.2d 37 |
| Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. Robert Dwayne LEWIS |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Joshua H. Stein, Attorney General, by Milind Dongre, Assistant Attorney General, for the State-appellant/appellee.
Glenn Gerding, Appellate Defender, by Kathryn L. VandenBerg, Assistant Appellate Defender, for defendant-appellant/appellee.
This case presents the unique circumstances of an officer possessing information that would suffice to establish probable cause for the issuance of a search warrant but failing to include pertinent portions of this information in his affidavit in support of the warrant. Because we conclude that the omission of key facts in the search warrant application in this case resulted in a lack of probable cause for the issuance of the search warrant for either defendant's residence or vehicle, we affirm in part and reverse in part the decision of the Court of Appeals.
On 21 September 2014, a man armed with a handgun and wearing dark clothing and a blue piece of cloth covering his face entered a Family Dollar store in Hoke County. The man told a store employee to take the money from the store's safe, place the money in a bag, and give the bag to him. After the employee complied with his demand, the man told her to go into the bathroom and stay there until he had exited the store. A witness outside the store saw the man flee the scene in a dark blue Nissan Titan pickup truck.
A similar robbery occurred at a Dollar General store in Hoke County on 26 September 2014. On that occasion, as two employees were closing the store, a man holding a handgun and wearing dark clothing and a blue face covering approached them. He directed the employees to empty the money from the safe and cash registers into a bag and give it to him. The suspect then ordered the employees to enter the bathroom and remain there until he left the store.
Two days later, on 28 September, a third robbery took place at another Dollar General store in Hoke County. A man armed with a handgun and wearing dark clothing and a blue face covering ordered store employees to give him the money in the store's safe. Upon obtaining the money, the man ordered the employees to go into the bathroom and then fled the premises. Law enforcement officers did not receive a description of the vehicle driven by the suspect for either the 26 September or 28 September robberies.
A fourth robbery took place during the early morning hours of 19 October 2014 at a Sweepstakes store in Smithfield in nearby Johnston County. A man armed with a handgun wearing dark clothing and a blue face covering forced an employee to retrieve money from the store's safe. As he exited the store, the man was recognized and identified as defendant Robert Dwayne Lewis by a Smithfield police officer who was familiar with him from a previous encounter. Defendant fled the scene in a dark gray Kia Optima. Law enforcement officers subsequently engaged in a high-speed pursuit but were unable to apprehend defendant during the chase.
That same day, officers from the Smithfield Police Department notified the Hoke County Sheriff's Office of the Sweepstakes store robbery and asked that deputies be on the lookout for a dark gray Kia Optima being driven by defendant. The officers also provided the license plate number of the Kia Optima and informed the Sheriff's Office that the address associated with the Kia Optima's registration was 7085 Laurinburg Road in Raeford, North Carolina.
Shortly after beginning his shift at 7:00 a.m. on 19 October 2014, Deputy Tim Kavanaugh of the Hoke County Sheriff's Office drove past the residence located at 7085 Laurinburg Road. He observed a blue Nissan Titan truck parked in the yard in front of the home. Deputy Kavanaugh did not, however, see a Kia Optima matching the description of the vehicle observed in connection with the Smithfield robbery earlier that morning.
Deputy Kavanaugh then continued with his normal patrol duties. He drove back by the home at 7085 Laurinburg Road at approximately 1:00 p.m. on that same day. At that time, Deputy Kavanaugh saw a dark gray Kia Optima parked in the yard in front of the house in addition to the Nissan Titan that he had previously observed. He then parked across the street from the home "[t]o see if [he] could possibly identify anybody coming from the residence ... or ... one of the vehicles leaving from the residence."
Shortly thereafter, a man matching the suspect's description exited the house and walked to the residence's mailbox across the street. Deputy Kavanaugh approached the man and asked him for his name. The man identified himself as Robert Lewis, after which Deputy Kavanaugh immediately placed him under arrest.
After arresting defendant, Deputy Kavanaugh approached the residence and spoke to Waddell McCollum, defendant's stepfather, on the front doorstep of the home. McCollum informed Deputy Kavanaugh that defendant lived at the residence. He further stated that defendant owned the Kia Optima and that, although McCollum owned the Nissan Titan, defendant also drove that vehicle on occasion.
When he finished speaking to McCollum, Deputy Kavanaugh walked over to the Kia Optima parked in the front yard "and looked inside of the passenger area, the rear of the vehicle, and observ[ed] in plain sight a BB&T money bag on the passenger floor of the vehicle." Deputy Kavanaugh also saw dark clothing in the back seat of the Kia.
Following defendant's arrest, Detective William Tart of the Hoke County Sheriff's Office—who had been investigating the three Hoke County robberies—prepared a search warrant application seeking permission to search the residence at 7085 Laurinburg Road as well as the Nissan Titan and Kia Optima parked in front of the home. The sworn affidavit accompanying Detective Tart's search warrant application described in detail the 21 September, 26 September, and 28 September 2014 Hoke County robberies as well as the 19 October 2014 Johnston County robbery. The affidavit noted the similarities between the four robberies as to both the clothing worn by the robber and the manner in which the crimes were carried out. The affidavit also stated that Smithfield police officers had identified defendant as the perpetrator of the 19 October 2014 robbery and that he had been arrested at the 7085 Laurinburg Road residence. The affidavit, however, failed to (1) disclose that defendant lived at 7085 Laurinburg Road, (2) contain any other information linking defendant to that address, (3) describe the circumstances surrounding his arrest at that address, or (4) mention Deputy Kavanaugh's interactions with defendant or his stepfather.
With regard to the vehicles, the affidavit stated that defendant had driven away from the 21 September Hoke County robbery in a dark blue Nissan Titan and that he had fled the scene of the 19 October Johnston County robbery in a Kia Optima. The affidavit further related that a dark blue Nissan Titan "was observed at the residence of 7085 Laurinburg Road ... on October 19, 2014 by Hoke County Patrol Deputies when serving a felony arrest warrant on [defendant]." The affidavit did not mention the fact that Deputy Kavanaugh had also seen a Kia Optima parked in front of the residence. Nor did it relate that the deputy had seen potentially incriminating evidence upon looking into the window of the Kia Optima.
An unsworn attachment to the search warrant application listed a "dark blue Nissan Titan pick-up truck" and a "gray 2013 Kia Optima EX four door car" among the property to be searched by law enforcement officers if the warrant was issued. This attachment also contained registration information and a VIN number for each vehicle. Based upon the information provided in Detective Tart's affidavit, a magistrate issued a search warrant for the 7085 Laurinburg Road residence, the Nissan Titan, and the Kia Optima.
Detective Tart executed the search warrant on 19 October 2014. He seized various items of evidence that were located inside the Kia Optima. These items included the BB&T bank bag that Deputy Kavanaugh had previously viewed through the window of the vehicle, which contained receipts and other documents connected to the Smithfield robbery. Detective Tart also seized a blue helmet liner that was consistent with the face covering worn by the suspect and a rusty handgun from the Kia.1
On 21 September 2015, defendant was indicted by a Hoke County grand jury on three counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, five counts of second-degree kidnapping, and one count of attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon.2 He was indicted on 5 October 2015 by a Johnston County grand jury on charges of robbery with a dangerous weapon and two counts of second-degree kidnapping. A second Johnston County grand jury subsequently indicted him on 2 November 2015 for common law robbery.3
On 2 March 2016, defendant filed motions to suppress in both the Superior Court, Hoke County and the Superior Court, Johnston County in which he sought to exclude evidence obtained during the execution of the search warrant by Detective Tart. In his motion, he argued that the evidence should be suppressed on the grounds that (1) an "insufficient connection" existed "between the items sought and property to be searched," and (2) the search of the Kia Optima was not permissible under the plain view doctrine.
Defendant's motion to suppress was heard on 7 April 2016 in Superior Court, Hoke County before the Honorable Tanya T. Wallace. Both Deputy Kavanaugh and Detective Tart testified at the hearing. During his testimony, Deputy Kavanaugh related that he traveled to the Laurinburg Road residence on 19 October 2014 in response to a report from Johnston County law enforcement officers that a possible suspect living at that location had been seen fleeing the scene of the Smithfield robbery in a Kia Optima. He further testified that the report provided a...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Gallion
...determination of probable cause and ... after-the-fact scrutiny should not take the form of a de novo review." State v. Lewis , 372 N.C. 576, 584, 831 S.E.2d 37, 43 (2019) (citation omitted). "Instead, a reviewing court is responsible for ensuring that the issuing magistrate had a substanti......
-
State v. Gallion
... ... 394, 399, 610 S.E.2d 362, 365 (2005) ... ¶ ... 34 It is well-established that "great deference should ... be paid a magistrate's determination of probable cause ... and ... after-the-fact scrutiny should not take the form of ... a de novo review." State v. Lewis , 372 ... N.C. 576, 584, 831 S.E.2d 37, 43 (2019) (citation omitted) ... "Instead, a reviewing court is responsible for ensuring ... issuing magistrate had a substantial basis for ... conclud[ing] that probable cause existed." ... McKinney , 368 N.C. at 165, 775 S.E.2d at 825 ... ...
- State v. Terrell
-
State v. Eddings
...the search warrant affidavit at issue established probable cause," we are guided by our Supreme Court's decision in State v. Lewis , 372 N.C. 576, 831 S.E.2d 37 (2019). In Lewis , the affidavit requested a search of a residence where a robber was arrested. Id. at 588, 831 S.E.2d at 45. Howe......