Shotts v. State Of Ind.

• Decision Date: 15 April 2010
• Docket Number: No. 71S03-0905-CR-253.,71S03-0905-CR-253.
• Citation: 925 N.E.2d 719
• Parties: David A. SHOTTS, Appellant (Defendant below),v.STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

925 N.E.2d 719

David A. SHOTTS, Appellant (Defendant below),v.STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).

No. 71S03-0905-CR-253.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

April 15, 2010.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Anthony V. Luber, South Bend, IN, Attorney for Appellant.

Gregory F. Zoeller, Attorney General of Indiana, Nicole M. Schuster, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.

On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 71A03-0808-CR-400

BOEHM, Justice.

David Shotts was arrested in Indiana by local law enforcement officers who had been advised of an outstanding Alabama warrant for his arrest. In the course of the arrest, Shotts was found in possession of an unlicensed handgun, which resulted in charges of violations of Indiana law. We hold that the Indiana arrest in reliance on information from Alabama law enforcement officers and the National Crime Information Computer did not violate either the Fourth Amendment or the Indiana Constitution. The evidence of his possession of a handgun is therefore admissible in this Indiana prosecution.

Facts and Procedural History

On the morning of August 16, 2007, Detective Randy Kaps of the St. Joseph County, Indiana, Police Department received a call from Detective Pete Hose of the Madison County, Alabama, Sherriff's Department in Huntsville. Hose told Kaps that the previous day the Huntsville Police Department had obtained a felony arrest warrant for David Shotts and that Shotts was believed to be in Mishawaka in St. Joseph County, Indiana. Kaps confirmed through the National Crime Information Computer (NCIC) that there was an active Alabama arrest warrant for Shotts. Kaps then contacted Corporal Daniel Wisniewski of the St. Joseph County Warrants Division and Indiana State Trooper Mike Robinson. Wisniewski and Robinson verified the Alabama warrant for Shotts's arrest in the NCIC, obtained his Mishawaka address from the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV), and established surveillance of his residence. Because Shotts was believed to be armed, Kaps arranged for a SWAT team to be on standby.

After meeting with Wisniewski and Robinson at the stakeout, Kaps returned to his office to prepare an Indiana warrant authorizing entry into Shotts's home. While Kaps was still in his office, Wisniewski and Robinson saw Shotts leave his apartment. Shotts was identified from a BMV photograph and arrested as he began to drive out of the parking lot of the apartment complex. As Shotts exited his car, the officers observed a revolver in a holster on his right hip. It was later determined that Shotts had no license for the handgun, and had been convicted of attempted theft in Alabama in 1999.

The Alabama warrant was based on a theft and a murder in Alabama. Because Shotts was found with an unlicensed firearm, he was also charged with two violations of Indiana law: class A misdemeanor possession of a handgun without a license and class C felony possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Ind.Code §§ 35-47-2-1, -23(c) (2004). Shotts filed a pretrial motion to suppress the evidence of his handgun possession, arguing that the Indiana officers arrested him without “any warrant or legal authority,” and that the subsequent search was the product of an arrest that violated both the Fourth Amendment and Article 1, § 11 of the Indiana Constitution. Specifically, Shotts argued that the affidavit supporting the Alabama warrant did not establish probable cause to arrest him and therefore the Alabama warrant was facially deficient under Kinnaird v. State, 251 Ind. 506, 242 N.E.2d 500 (1968). After a hearing, the trial court denied Shotts's motion, finding the officers acted in good faith in arresting Shotts on the basis of the NCIC information. In a bench trial, Shotts was convicted of violating Indiana firearm laws after the parties stipulated to the Alabama arrest warrant, Wisniewski's police report, the booking report, a lab fingerprint report, and Shotts's prior Alabama conviction.

Shotts appealed, contending that the Alabama warrant was defective and therefore the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress and admitting the evidence of his weapon possession. The Court of Appeals agreed, reasoning that the affidavit supporting the Alabama warrant “merely alleged that Shotts had committed a crime” and “did not provide any facts from which a neutral magistrate could have drawn his own conclusion as to the existence of probable cause.” Shotts, 907 N.E.2d at 137. Based on this shortcoming, the Court of Appeals reasoned that although the Indiana officers acted in good faith, the Alabama officer who obtained the warrant on the basis of a facially defective affidavit did not. Id. at 138-39. As a result, the good-faith exception was inapplicable. Id. We granted transfer.

Standard of Review

The standard of appellate review of a trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress is similar to other sufficiency issues. Litchfield v. State, 824 N.E.2d 356, 358 (Ind.2005). We determine whether substantial evidence of probative value exists to support the trial court's ruling. Id. We do not reweigh the evidence and consider conflicting evidence most favorably to the trial court's ruling. Id.

I. Full Faith and Credit

As a threshold issue, the State contends that the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Federal Constitution requires that Indiana courts honor the determination of the Alabama court that issued the warrant. We have found little authority directly addressing whether a probable cause determination on an application for an arrest warrant is a “judicial Proceeding” as that term is used in Article IV, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States. We do not address that issue because we conclude that neither the Fourth Amendment, the Indiana Constitution, nor any requirement of Indiana law requires exclusion of the evidence in dispute in this case.

II. The Fourth Amendment

The Fourth Amendment protects “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” U.S. Const., amend. IV. In general, the police must have probable cause or a warrant before making an arrest. Herring v. United States, ---U.S. ----, ----, 129 S.Ct. 695, 698, 172 L.Ed.2d 496 (2009). To encourage compliance with the Fourth Amendment, the evidence seized in violation of the Constitution must be excluded at trial unless an exception to this “exclusionary rule” applies. Id. at 699. But the amendment itself “contains no provision expressly precluding the use of evidence obtained in violation of its commands.” Arizona v. Evans, 514 U.S. 1, 10, 115 S.Ct. 1185, 131 L.Ed.2d 34 (1995). “The touchstone of the Fourth Amendment is reasonableness.” United States v. Knights, 534 U.S. 112, 118, 122 S.Ct. 587, 151 L.Ed.2d 497 (2001). Accordingly, even when a violation occurs, the exclusionary rule does not apply when the police acted in good faith or in an objectively reasonable manner. Herring, 129 S.Ct. at 701.

Shotts raises several Fourth Amendment challenges to his arrest. His principal contention is that the Alabama warrant was not supported by evidence establishing probable cause for his arrest, and therefore the Indiana arrest was unlawful. He also points to the trial court's finding that “there was conflicting testimony as to whether the ‘NCIC’ system sufficiently indicated that the warrant was active” on the date of his arrest, and suggests that there may be an issue whether the warrant was properly entered in the NCIC. Shotts also argues that the officers did not act in good faith because they did not have a physical copy of the Alabama warrant when they arrested him, and therefore could not determine the warrant's sufficiency and could not reasonably rely on it. Shotts also argues that the Indiana officers should have contacted the Huntsville Police Department rather than the Madison County Sheriff's Department.

A valid arrest warrant must be supported by probable cause. U.S. Const., amend. IV. Probable cause turns on a “practical, common-sense decision whether, given all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit ... there is a fair probability” that the subject has committed a crime or evidence of a crime will be found. Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983). To establish probable cause, an affidavit in support of the warrant must do more than state the conclusion of the affiant. Giordenello v. United States, 357 U.S. 480, 486, 78 S.Ct. 1245, 2 L.Ed.2d 1503 (1958). A neutral and detached magistrate must draw his or her own conclusion whether probable cause existed and cannot act as a “rubber stamp for the police.” Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 111, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964). In assessing the validity of an issued warrant, the reviewing court is “to determine whether the magistrate had a ‘substantial basis' for concluding that probable cause existed.” Figert v. State, 686 N.E.2d 827, 830 (Ind.1997) (quoting Gates, 462 U.S. at 238-39, 103 S.Ct. 2317). “[S]ubstantial basis requires the reviewing court, with significant deference to the magistrate's determination, to focus on whether reasonable inferences drawn from the totality of the evidence support the determination” of probable cause. Houser v. State, 678 N.E.2d 95, 99 (Ind.1997) (discussing Gates, 462 U.S. at 236, 103 S.Ct. 2317).

Here, Shotts relies primarily on Kinnaird v. State, 251 Ind. 506, 242 N.E.2d 500 (1968). He argues, and the Court of Appeals agreed, that “like the affiant in Kinnaird, the Alabama affiant merely alleged that Shotts had committed a crime” and failed to provide facts that would allow the magistrate to make a probable cause determination. Shotts, 907 N.E.2d at 137. The Court of Appeals found that a Fourth Amendment violation occurred “prior to the information being submitted to NCIC and the executing [Indiana] officers.” Id. at 138. In other words, both Shotts's principal argument and the...