Adams v. Com.

• Decision Date: 29 February 2008
• Docket Number: Record No. 062674.
• Parties: Germaine Delano ADAMS v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

657 S.E.2d 87

275 Va. 260

Germaine Delano ADAMS v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

Record No. 062674.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

February 29, 2008.

Joseph R. Winston, Special Appellate Counsel, for appellant.

Kathleen B. Martin, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen. (Robert F. McDonnell, Atty. Gen., on brief), for appellee.

Present: HASSELL, C.J., KEENAN, KOONTZ, KINSER, LEMONS, and AGEE, JJ., and RUSSELL, S.J.

OPINION BY Justice CYNTHIA D. KINSER.

A jury convicted Germaine Delano Adams of the second-degree murder of Christopher Junior Hairston and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The primary issue in this appeal concerns the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule as set forth in United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984), and whether it applies in this case. Because we conclude that a reasonably well trained police officer would not have known that a search of Adams' residence was illegal despite a magistrate's issuance of a search warrant, we will affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals of Virginia holding that the good-faith exception applies and that the trial court therefore did not err in admitting into evidence items seized during the search of Adams' residence.

I. RELEVANT FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS¹

In the early morning hours of June 18, 2004, James Vaught, a sergeant with the Henry County Sheriffs Office, responded to a call concerning a shooting at the Virginia Oaks Trailer Park. Upon arriving at the scene of the shooting, Vaught discovered the body of Hairston lying face down in the road to the trailer park. An autopsy of the body revealed that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to Hairston's neck. Vaught also discovered four shell casings near the body that were subsequently determined to have been fired from a 9mm Glock pistol.

Later that day, Scott Barker, an investigator with the Henry County Sheriffs Office, prepared and signed under oath a criminal complaint based on information received from other police officers who had investigated the shooting. In the complaint, Barker stated:

[T]he accused—Germaine Delano Adams shot the victim Christopher Junior Hairston in the neck which resulted in the death of the victim. The incident occurred at approximately 0137 hrs on Virginia Oaks Ct. in Henry County, Va. Just prior to the shooting Germaine Delano Adams and Christopher Junior Hairston were arguing over $20 that Christopher J. Hairston owed Germaine D. Adams.

The complaint also listed Adams' address as "101 Va. Oaks Ct., Ridgeway, Va. 24148."

About 19 minutes after executing the criminal complaint before a magistrate, Barker signed an affidavit for a search warrant before the same magistrate. In the affidavit, Barker stated that Hairston had received a fatal gunshot wound to his neck at approximately 1:37 a.m. on June 18, 2004, "while he was on Virginia Oaks Ct." Barker further stated in the affidavit that "[biased on witness statements, the victim Christopher Junior Hairston was in a[sic] arguement [sic] with Germaine Delano Adams at the time he was shot." Barker described the place to be searched by providing the following information:

Turn on to Virginia Oaks Ct. from Axton Rd.... The trailor [sic] to be searched will be the third trailor [sic] on the left on Virginia Oaks Ct. The residence is light grey [sic] with dark grey [sic] trim. The residence has a front wood stoop with three steps and two rails. The residence has a white front door and a satellite dish on the roof at the rear. There are no visible number markings on the residence. The residence has what appears to be a video camera on the outside.

Finally, Barker requested authorization to search for videotapes, digital recordings, audio recordings, weapons (including but not limited to a 9mm caliber weapon), ammunition, and "any and all evidence relating to the murder of Christopher Junior Hairston."

Based on the information in the affidavit, a magistrate issued a search warrant for "101 Virginia Oaks, Ridgeway, VA 24148," which the criminal complaint identified as Adams' address. The search warrant contained the same detailed information describing the place to be searched as that set forth in the affidavit and authorized a search for the items sought in the affidavit. The search warrant was executed about an hour after the magistrate issued it. The items seized during the search included a Hoppes pistol cleaning kit for various handguns including a 9mm pistol; an Uncle Mike's shoulder holster, size 15; an Uncle Mike's shoulder holster size 0; seven 9mm cartridges in a clear plastic boggle; a large gray Sentry safe; a Taurus handgun box; a Federal Hydra-shok ammunition box containing fifteen cartridges; and a packaging box for personal checks bearing the name of "Germaine D. Adams."

Prior to his jury trial in the Circuit Court of Henry County, Adams filed a motion to suppress the evidence seized at his residence pursuant to the search warrant. He asserted that the affidavit for the search warrant lacked probable cause because it failed to establish a nexus between the residence to be searched and either Adams or the shooting incident. At the hearing on the motion to suppress, the Commonwealth conceded that the affidavit was "lacking in probable cause." In fact, the Commonwealth admitted that "[title only nexus, reading this [affidavit] in the most favorable light to the Commonwealth, is that Christopher. Junior Hairston was shot to death on Virginia Oaks Court in Henry County" and "we don't know from this [affidavit] whose residence" was to be searched. The Commonwealth, however, relied on the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule set forth in Leon and urged the trial court to deny the motion to suppress.

Initially, the trial court sustained the motion to suppress, deciding that the good-faith exception did not apply because the "search warrant was based on an affidavit so lacking in indicia of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence as unreasonable." The court, however, subsequently granted the Commonwealth's motion to reconsider its ruling in light of the decision in Anzualda v. Commonwealth, 44 Va.App. 764 607 S.E.2d 749 (2005) (en banc).² Upon reconsideration, the trial court applied the good-faith exception because it found some indicia of probable cause in the affidavit for the search warrant. According to the trial court, "[t]he officer acted reasonably in believing the warrant to be valid." The circuit court thus denied Adams' motion to suppress the evidence seized during the search of his residence.

The Court of Appeals, in affirming the trial court's judgment denying the motion to suppress, held that "a reasonable officer, acting in objective good faith, reviewing the facts presented under oath to the magistrate, could have believed the magistrate had probable cause to issue the search warrant for Adams' [ ] residence and that he could, therefore, rely on the warrant." Adams v. Commonwealth, 48 Va.App. 737, 749, 635 S.E.2d 20, 26 (2006). The Court of Appeals concluded "the officer relied in good faith on evidence before the magistrate, as indicated in the written facts sworn to under oath contained in the complaint and affidavit." Id. at 750, 635 S.E.2d at 26 (emphasis added).

We awarded Adams this appeal. Adams challenges the holding of the Court of Appeals that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies in this case, its reliance on the criminal complaint in addition to the search warrant affidavit, and the fact that the Court of Appeals sua sponte considered the criminal complaint. Adams also challenges the Court of Appeals' additional holding that the admission of certain hearsay testimony concerning the contents of a gun and accessories catalogue was harmless error.³

II. ANALYSIS

"In reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress based on the alleged violation of an individual's Fourth Amendment rights, we consider the facts in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth." Ward v. Commonwealth, 273 Va. 211, 218, 639 S.E.2d 269, 272 (2007) (citing Fore v. Commonwealth, 220 Va. 1007, 1010, 265 S.E.2d 729, 731 (1980)). A defendant has the burden to show that a trial court committed reversible error. Ward, 273 Va. at 218, 639 S.E.2d at 272. Because there are no facts in dispute with regard to the motion to suppress, the applicability of the Leon exception in this case is purely a legal determination. See United States v. DeQuasie, 373 F.3d 509, 520 (4th Cir.2004). We review a trial court's application of the law de novo. Brown v. Commonwealth, 270 Va. 414, 419, 620 S.E.2d 760, 762 (2005).

In light of Adams' challenge to the Court of Appeals' reliance on the criminal complaint along with the search warrant affidavit, we will first address whether, when making the good-faith inquiry, a court may consider the totality of the circumstances surrounding the issuance and execution of a search warrant. We will then determine whether a reasonably well trained police officer would have known that the search of Adams' house was illegal despite the magistrate's issuance of the search warrant. Finally, we will address Adams' challenge to the admission of certain hearsay testimony.

A. Totality of the Circumstances

In Leon, the Supreme Court of the United States limited the application of the exclusionary rule "so as not to bar the admission of evidence seized in reasonable, good-faith reliance on a search warrant that is subsequently held to be defective." 468 U.S. at 905, 104 S.Ct. 3405. The "good-faith inquiry is confined to the objectively ascertainable question whether a reasonably well trained officer would have known that the search was illegal despite the magistrate's authorization." 468 U.S. at 922 n. 23, 104 S.Ct. 3405. Adams, however, argues that the Court of Appeals erred by relying on the criminal complaint in conjunction with the search warrant affidavit in making its good-faith determination. In other words, Adams...