Smith v. State
| Decision Date | 15 September 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 1068,1068 |
| Citation | 857 A.2d 1224,159 Md. App. 1 |
| Parties | Robert SMITH v. STATE of Maryland. |
| Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
Amy E. Brennan (Nancy S. Forster, Public Defender, on brief), for appellant.
Shannon E. Avery (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., on brief), for appellee.
Panel SALMON, JAMES R. EYLER and THEODORE G. BLOOM (Ret., specially assigned), JJ.
Robert Smith, appellant, was charged in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City with (1) distribution of heroin; (2) possession of heroin with intent to distribute; (3) possession of heroin; and (4) possession of marijuana. On June 4, 2003, the circuit court held a hearing on appellant's motion to suppress the heroin and marijuana that was seized from his home without a warrant. Following the court's denial of appellant's motion, appellant was tried by a jury, on June 5-6, 2003, and convicted on all four counts. On July 11, 2003, appellant was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment for the distribution of heroin conviction.1 The two possession of heroin convictions were merged for sentencing purposes, and the court imposed a one year concurrent sentence for the possession of marijuana conviction.
On appeal, appellant claims that the circuit court erred in denying his motion to suppress the heroin and marijuana seized from his home. In addition, appellant claims that the docket entries and the commitment order should be corrected to reflect the sentence commencement date as determined by the circuit court.
We hold that the circuit court erred in denying appellant's motion to suppress and, therefore, reverse and remand for further proceedings. Thus, we need not address appellant's second issue.
The following testimony was adduced at appellant's suppression hearing. Detective Jornee Barnes of the Baltimore City Police Drug Enforcement Unit testified for the State. On October 11, 2002, Detective Barnes was working undercover, posing as a drug user. At about 1:45 p.m., she was in the 100 block of South Monroe Street and approached a black male, later identified as appellant, standing on the corner. She asked if "dope was out." Appellant responded, "Yeah." Detective Barnes walked with him to 114 South Monroe Street, a residence, where he used a key to open the door, and the two entered the house. Detective Barnes testified that she did not see anyone else in the home at that time. Appellant went to the basement door, opened it, reached down on the floor, and retrieved a plastic bag that contained gelatin capsules. He handed her two gel caps, she paid him with departmental currency (i.e., the serial numbers were pre-recorded), and they both left the house. Detective Barnes left the area in a car driven by her partner.
Detective Barnes testified that, when she got into the car driven by her partner, she notified other officers acting as an arrest team as to what had just transpired. She provided the arrest team with a description of appellant and told them where she had last seen him. Thereafter, the arrest team stopped appellant on the sidewalk near his home, and Detective Barnes drove by to confirm his identity. While outside, the arrest team searched appellant and recovered the departmental currency from appellant's person. They then entered appellant's home and seized a plastic bag from the basement steps, which contained 32 gel caps of suspected heroin, and marijuana, which was laying on a table.
Detective Barnes testified that, although she did not witness it firsthand, based on her knowledge from discussions with the arresting officers, the officers used a key obtained from appellant to gain entry into his home after they arrested him. The police had no search warrant for this address, and Detective Barnes conceded that she had no information that appellant verbally consented to a search of his home by any member of the arrest team.
Detective Matthew Walker, a member of the Narcotics Department for the Baltimore City Police Department and a member of the arrest team, testified that appellant was stopped and arrested on the sidewalk in front of 114 South Monroe Street. Detective Walker spoke to Detective Barnes by cellular phone, and she informed him that she had purchased drugs inside the home and had observed a stash of drugs in the house.
Detective Walker relayed the information to Sergeant Mancuso and then observed Mancuso and Detectives Derek Ostrow and Edgar Allen approach the door to 114 South Monroe Street and enter the house. Detective Walker did not know how the door was opened.2 Prior to approaching the door, the police were informed by appellant that there was a hearing-impaired woman inside the residence.
After the first officers secured the premises, Detective Walker and Detective David Classing entered the house with appellant. Detective Walker went to the basement steps, where he retrieved two bags containing 32 gel caps of suspected heroin. According to Detective Walker, other detectives located some marijuana on a table in plain view.
At the close of all the evidence, the circuit court denied appellant's motion to suppress.
On June 5-6, 2003, appellant was tried by a jury. Detective Barnes and Detective Walker both testified in a manner consistent with their testimony at appellant's suppression hearing. In addition, several other police officers involved in appellant's arrest testified for the State.3
Criminalist Anthony Rumber of the Baltimore City Police Department testified that he chemically analyzed the substances confiscated from appellant's home and determined that they were heroin and marijuana.
Appellant testified in his own defense, denying that he sold heroin to Detective Barnes or that she had ever been inside his home. He testified further with regard to the heroin Detective Walker found in his basement that he had "never seen it a day in [his] life."
Felicia Griffin testified that, on October 11, 2002, she lived at the residence with appellant, that she was hearing-impaired, and that, in addition to appellant and herself, her 24-year old cousin and five children lived in this house.
Following his conviction and sentencing, appellant filed a timely appeal to this Court.
Appellant contends that the circuit court erred in denying his motion to suppress the evidence seized from his home without a warrant, which consisted of heroin and marijuana. He further argues that the docket entries and commitment order must be corrected in order to reflect the sentence commitment date as determined by the circuit court.
In response, the State contends that the circuit court properly denied appellant's motion to suppress evidence, arguing that both Baith v. State, 89 Md.App. 385, 598 A.2d 762 (1991), and the "consent once removed" doctrine support the circuit court's findings. Moreover, the State argues that the commitment records accurately reflect appellant's sentence, and as a result, for all practical purposes, appellant's sentence is correctly recorded. To the extent that the docket entries are incorrect, the State does not object to an order of correction.
In reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, this Court must analyze the evidence in a light most favorable to the prevailing party, in this case, the State. See, e.g., White v. State, 374 Md. 232, 250, 821 A.2d 459 (2003); Wilkes v. State, 364 Md. 554, 569, 774 A.2d 420 (2001). The factual findings of the circuit court must be accepted unless they are clearly erroneous. Wilkes, 364 Md. at 569,774 A.2d 420. Important, however, as to the ultimate question of whether the search was valid, this Court must make its own independent de novo appraisal by reviewing the law and applying it to the facts of the instant case. Id.; Handy v. State, 126 Md.App. 548, 552, 730 A.2d 710 (1999),aff'd,357 Md. 685, 745 A.2d 1107 (2000). When we do so, our review of the trial court's denial of appellant's motion to suppress is limited to the record of the suppression hearing, and thus, we will not consider any extraneous evidence presented at trial but not presented during the suppression hearing. Nathan v. State, 370 Md. 648, 659, 805 A.2d 1086 (2002).
Appellant contends that the circuit court erroneously denied his motion to suppress the heroin and marijuana seized from his home during the warrantless search. Specifically, appellant claims that the State's argument that the warrantless search was justified by the "consent once removed doctrine" is unpersuasive. Because the police searched his home without a warrant and no relevant exception applies, appellant argues, the evidence obtained during this search should be suppressed.
The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution provides, in pertinent part, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause...." By its plain language, this Amendment protects the public from unreasonable searches and seizures. See Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 809-10, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996).
Under the Fourth Amendment, absent a few limited circumstances such as exigent circumstances or consent, warrantless entries into a person's home are considered patently unreasonable. Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980). See also Baith v. State, 89 Md.App. 385, 387, 598 A.2d 762 (1991)("When a citizen withdraws into the sanctuary of the home, a governmental intrusion into that sanctuary, either to search for evidence or to arrest the homeowner, requires a high level of justification.") (citations omitted).
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Search Incident To A Lawful Arrest and Protective Sweep
...offense. See generally Donaldson v. State, 416 Md. 467, 480-81 (2010); State v. Rowlett, 159 Md. App. 386, 402 (2004); Smith v. State, 159 Md. App. 1, 11 (2004); Howard v. State, 112 Md. App. 148 (1996), cert. denied, 344 Md. 718 (1997); Watkins v. State, 42 Md. App. 442, 447 (1979), aff'd,......
-
Fourth Amendment Applicability—Waiver Through Consent Search
...left to retrieve money to buy the drugs. The Court held that the subsequent entry by back-up officers was permissible. In Smith v. State, 159 Md. App. 1, 15 (2004), the Court of Special Appeals held that a warrantless second entry into the defendant's home did not qualify as "consent once r......
-
Katz Reasonable Expectation of Privacy (Rep)
...come near a rule that the use of undercover agents in any manner is virtually unconstitutional per se. Id. at 210-11. In Smith v. State, 159 Md. App. 1 (2004), the Court of Special Appeals held: [O]nce the home is converted into a commercial center to which outsiders are invited for the pur......