State v. Brown

• Decision Date: 06 September 2013
• Docket Number: No. 38347.,38347.
• Citation: 155 Idaho 423,313 P.3d 751
• Court: Idaho Court of Appeals
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. Keith Allan BROWN, Defendant–Appellant.

155 Idaho 423

313 P.3d 751

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff–Respondent,

v.Keith Allan BROWN, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 38347.

Court of Appeals of Idaho.

Sept. 6, 2013.

Review Denied Dec. 9, 2013.

Sara B. Thomas, State Appellate Public Defender; Spencer J. Hahn, Deputy Appellate Public Defender, Boise, for appellant.

Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General; Nicole L. Schafer, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for respondent.

LANSING, Judge.

Keith Allan Brown appeals from a judgment of conviction for voluntary manslaughter and accessory to grand theft entered following a conditional guilty plea. Brown challenges the district court's denial of his motions to suppress evidence on the grounds that probable cause for issuance of the warrant for Brown's arrest had dissipated before he was arrested, that his confession to police was involuntary, and that Brown's mail was impermissibly searched while he was incarcerated. Brown also appeals the district court's denial of his motion for reduction of his sentence. We affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand the case.

I.BACKGROUND

This case began in February 2007, when Bonner County sheriff's officers were alerted to an abandoned truck.¹ The keys were with the truck, which was registered to Les Breaw, along with Breaw's wallet, checkbook, legal papers, and several pieces of mail. There were no debit or credit cards in the wallet. When officers checked at Breaw's home, it looked as though he had stepped out and planned to return, but the snow-covered driveway showed no signs of recent traffic. Concerned for Breaw's safety, the officers began investigating to determine when he was last seen. They were told by a neighbor that one of Breaw's other neighbors, Keith Brown, was last seen hurriedly packing for a trip around the time Breaw was last seen, and that Brown had not been seen since. Officers also learned that neither Brown, who worked for Breaw, nor Brown's wife, Tyrah Brown, had picked up their most recent paychecks. While investigating Breaw's recent bank card activity, officers also discovered a security video from a local store which appeared to show Brown using Breaw's debit card. When the store clerk was later asked about the incident, the clerk remembered it clearly because Brown did not know how to use the debit card and did not know the debit card's pin number.

Because of the suspicious circumstances surrounding Breaw's and Brown's disappearance and the possibly illegal debit card activity, an officer applied to a magistrate for a search warrant and a warrant to arrest Brown for theft of the debit card. The officer testified in support of the warrant, and gave the magistrate the details of the suspicious use of the debit card and the circumstances surrounding Breaw's and Brown's disappearance. He also reported to the magistrate that both Brown and Tyrah had extensive criminal records, including arrests for identity theft. After considering the evidence, the magistrate found probable cause, and both a search warrant for the Brown residence and a warrant authorizing Brown's arrest for grand theft were issued on February 7, 2007.

Although the arrest warrant was issued on suspicion of only theft of the bank card, over the next few weeks officers uncovered more incriminating information about Brown and Tyrah, including information that an escrow check for $50,000 payable to Breaw had been deposited into a bank account held by Tyrah. Tyrah had opened the account on January 22, 2007, and deposited the check two days later. Within a week, all of the $50,000 had been withdrawn from the account. Officers also learned that around the time of the suspicious debit card transaction, a man and woman had gone to some of Breaw's renters to collect rent, allegedly on behalf of Breaw. One renter who had paid in cash remembered the incident because Breaw called the next day claiming that he had never received the rent money. Officers learned from Tyrah's co-workers that she had made inconsistent statements about Breaw having travel plans. She told one individual that the Browns were going to take Breaw to the airport in Seattle, from which he would fly to Thailand to pick up a sailboat, and told another person that the Browns were going to drive Breaw to Oregon.

As part of the investigation, an officer contacted Tyrah's mother, Rebekah Harding. Harding said that she had left with the Browns in late January, but Brown purchased a new car in Montana and left Harding with Brown's old car at a hotel. During Harding's initial conversation with an officer on February 8, she was reluctant to believe that anything illegal had occurred. She said that Breaw was not missing because he had gone to California to "dig clams" and visit his mother. She also said that Brown had permission to use Breaw's debit card, and explained that Breaw was a poor bookkeeper, so the incident with missing rent money had been a misunderstanding. The next day, however, Harding called the officer because of a phone call that she received from Tyrah earlier that morning. Harding reported that although the conversation started off casually, when Harding told Tyrah that she had been questioned by a law enforcement officer the preceding day, the phone line went dead. Harding then suspected that Brown had done something to Breaw. Harding eventually admitted that Brown had given her $7,000 before leaving her in Montana.

On March 19, a body was found hidden under a pile of brush and snow a short distance from the location where Brown's truck had been left. Although officers suspected that the body was Breaw, they were not able to confirm the identity until an autopsy on March 21. During the autopsy the missing debit card was found in the decedent's pocket.

On March 20, the day after the body was found, Brown was arrested in Florida on a fugitive warrant from Idaho. Before he was extradited to Idaho on the grand theft charge, Brown and Tyrah were interviewed by Florida law enforcement officials. In these interviews, the Browns made a number of incriminating statements. When asked about Breaw's $50,000 escrow check, Brown claimed that the money was owed to him because of services he had rendered Breaw, but eventually Tyrah confessed to forging Breaw's name on the escrow check. Tyrah also confessed to shooting Breaw and hiding his body. According to Tyrah, she had done it because Breaw had raped her. When Brown was told that his wife had confessed, he also confessed to killing Breaw and told officers that Tyrah was not there. According to Brown, he and Breaw had gone shooting that day, and during the outing Breaw offered Brown the escrow check so that Brown would forgive Breaw for Breaw's sexual misconduct with Tyrah. Breaw continued, however, to make disparaging remarks about Tyrah, which ultimately prompted Brown to shoot Breaw. Brown said that he buried Breaw in the snow and hid the murder weapon nearby. Brown even drew a map to the gun's location to persuade officers that Tyrah was not involved. By the next day, however, Brown's story had changed. He recanted his story about killing Breaw and instead told the Florida officers that shooting Breaw had been an accident. He claimed that Breaw had first shot Brown in the leg, which then caused Brown to accidentally shoot Breaw in the head.

Brown was eventually charged with first degree murder, Idaho Code §§ 18–4001, 18–4003(a), being a felon in possession of a firearm, I.C. § 18–3316, and grand theft, I.C. §§ 18–2403, 18–2407(1)(b). Brown filed a number of motions to suppress evidence, including his statements made to Florida police officers and evidence gained from inspection of his mail while he was incarcerated awaiting trial. These motions were denied. Pursuant to a mediated plea agreement, Brown ultimately entered a conditional Alford² plea to voluntary manslaughter, I.C. § 18–4006(1) and accessory to grand theft, I.C. §§ 18–205, 18–2403(1), and 18–2407(1), retaining the right to appeal any prior adverse rulings of the district court. On appeal, Brown principally challenges the denial of his suppression motions.

II.ANALYSIS

A. Validity of Arrest Warrant

Brown first asserts that all evidence obtained as a result of his arrest should have been suppressed because probable cause for the arrest warrant had dissipated before he was arrested. Brown argues that although the evidence presented in support of the warrant application initially demonstrated probable cause to arrest Brown for theft of Breaw's debit card, officers later gained exculpatory information that destroyed that probable cause and failed to disclose it to the magistrate. Brown contends that such disclosure would have led to a determination that there was no longer probable cause for the warrant.

In Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978), the United States Supreme Court held that a defendant may challenge the validity of a warrant by making "a substantial preliminary showing that a false statement knowingly and intentionally, or with reckless disregard for the truth, was included by the affiant in the warrant affidavit." Id. at 155–56, 98 S.Ct. at 2676–77, 57 L.Ed.2d at 672. When such a showing is made, the Fourth Amendment requires a hearing to determine, by a preponderance of the evidence, whether the statements are indeed false or made in reckless disregard for the truth. Id. The Franks doctrine applies not only to affirmative falsehoods in a warrant application, but also to a deliberate or reckless omission of material exculpatory information. State v. Guzman, 122 Idaho 981, 983–84, 842 P.2d 660, 662–63 (1992) ; State v. Rounsville, 136 Idaho 869, 871, 42 P.3d 100, 103 (Ct.App.2002). For the defendant to prevail in such a hearing, he or she must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the false statement was made, or the exculpatory information was omitted intentionally or in reckless disregard for the truth, and that the information in question was material. Franks, 438 U.S. at 155–56, ...