State v. Charles, No. COA03-821 (N.C. App. 5/4/2004)
| Decision Date | 04 May 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. COA03-821,COA03-821 |
| Court | North Carolina Court of Appeals |
| Parties | STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. ROBERT CHARLES SINAPI, Defendant. |
John T. Hall for defendant-appellee.
In this appeal, the State contends the trial court erred by allowing defendant Robert Charles Sinapi's pretrial motion to suppress evidence obtained from a search of defendant's home pursuant to a search warrant. The sole issue for our determination is whether the affidavit presented to the magistrate as part of the search warrant application provided a sufficient showing of probable cause to support the magistrate's finding of probable cause and issuance of the warrant. For the reasons stated herein, we conclude that it did not and therefore affirm the trial court's order allowing defendant's motion to suppress.
The record reveals that on 30 September 2002, during the course of investigating defendant for possible violations of the North Carolina Controlled Substances Act, Detective J.G. Hobby (Detective Hobby) of the Raleigh Police Department applied to a Wake County magistrate for a warrant to search a residence located at 3300 Pinecrest Drive in Raleigh, North Carolina for controlledsubstances and other evidence of illegal drug activities. As part of the search warrant application pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-244(3) (2003), Detective Hobby prepared an affidavit setting forth the facts which he contended established probable cause to believe that these items would be found on the premises. Detective Hobby's affidavit recounted his extensive training and experience in conducting narcotics investigations and further provided as follows:
On 9-05-02, I was assigned to follow-up on a drug case investigated by Raleigh Police Officer V.R. Debonis involving a heroin overdose. The investigation advised that the heroin was purchased from [defendant]. I was able to identify [defendant] through [the] NC Division of Motor Vehicles records and learned that he resides at 3300 Pinecrest Drive, Raleigh, NC 27609. A criminal records check reveals that [defendant] has had prior arrests for possession of marijuana and methaqualone. On 9-26-02 at approximately [8 a.m.], Detective J.D. Cherry and I performed a trash pick-up at 3300 Pinecrest Drive. This trash pick-up was made during the normal trash day and time. A single, white plastic garbage bag was recovered from the front yard/curb line area at 3300 Pinecrest Drive, beside of [sic] the driveway. Inside of [sic] the garbage bag I located eight marijuana plants. The plants appeared to be somewhat dried up and wilted. The marijuana weighed approximately 5 ½ ounces. The marijuana was field tested with a positive result for marijuana. Based on my training and experience, this activity is consistent with a possible marijuana grow [sic] operation and illegal drug sales.
Wake County Real Estate records indicate that [defendant] owns the residence at 3300 Pinecrest Drive. NC DMV records indicate that [defendant] resides at this address.
This investigation has included a recent drug investigation where [defendant] is believed to be involved in the sell/delivery [sic] of an illicit drug, heroin. Criminal records indicate that he has prior arrests for possession of marijuana and methaqualone. An abundance of marijuana was recovered as a result of the trash pick-up at the residence. Based on the facts described above and my training and experience, I believe that there is probable cause to believe that the items tobe seized, controlled substances in violation of G.S. 90-95 and other items herein, are in the premises and on the person to be searched, as described herein. I hereby request that a search warrant be issued directing a search for and seizure of the items in question.
The magistrate thereafter issued a search warrant for the premises at 3300 Pinecrest Drive, which was executed by Detective Hobby and other police officers on 1 October 2002. Defendant was present when the officers entered the residence. During the search, controlled substances, including heroin, cocaine, and marijuana, and drug paraphernalia were found in the residence. Defendant was arrested following the search and thereafter indicted on 6 January 2003 on one count each of manufacturing marijuana, trafficking in marijuana by possession, trafficking in heroin by possession, trafficking in cocaine by possession, and maintaining a dwelling for keeping and selling controlled substances.
On or about 27 January 2003, defendant filed a pretrial motion to suppress all evidence seized during the search of the residence. Defendant's motion was heard on 5 February 2003 by the Honorable Howard E. Manning, Jr. At the suppression hearing, the State introduced the search warrant and application for the warrant, including Detective Hobby's accompanying affidavit, into evidence. The State also offered additional evidence through the testimony of Detective Hobby. Defendant offered no evidence at the hearing.
Detective Hobby's testimony was consistent with the affidavit he prepared as part of the search warrant application for 3300 Pinecrest Drive, although his hearing testimony contained additional details regarding the trash bag pick-up he and Detective Cherry executed in front of the residence. Detective Hobbytestified that the trash bag was situated in the yard at 3300 Pinecrest Drive near the curb, "approximately three to four feet from the driveway at the corner of the lot, . . . approximately four to five feet off the roadway." Detective Hobby testified that at the time he picked up the trash bag, the garbage collection truck was in the neighborhood but had not yet reached Pinecrest Drive. On cross examination, Detective Hobby acknowledged that Raleigh has backyard garbage pick-up and that neither he nor Detective Cherry spoke to any of the sanitation workers who were then in the area or otherwise determined how the trash bag came to be situated where it was found. Detective Hobby testified that in addition to the marijuana, the trash bag contained "normal kitchen garbage" and that no documents connecting the trash bag to any person or address were found therein.
After hearing argument from the assistant district attorney and from defendant's counsel, Judge Manning orally granted defendant's motion to suppress all evidence obtained as a result of the search of the residence at 3300 Pinecrest Drive. On 13 March 2003, Judge Manning entered a written order allowing the motion to suppress, which contained extensive findings of fact and the following conclusions of law:
1. The discovery of marijuana in a garbage bag located near the curb of the street and adjacent to the driveway at 3300 Pinecrest Drive on a normal garbage pick up day without any documentation linking the bag to the residence or the defendant and without any showing as to how, when and by whom it was placed along the curb, does not implicate the residence located at 3300 Pinecrest Drive and provides no reasonable basis to believe that controlled substances would be found therein or on the defendant.
2. The affidavit portion of the search warrant herein did not provide sufficient facts and circumstances to establish probable cause to believe that the items sought were located upon the premises of 3300 Pinecrest Drive.
3. The resulting search violated the rights of the defendant afforded him under Chapter 15A of the North Carolina General Statutes, the Constitution of North Carolina and the Constitution of the United States.
4. The evidence obtained as a result of the search conducted on September 30, 2002 at 3300 Pinecrest Drive, together with the fruits of that search, are inadmissible in the trial of the defendant.
From this order granting defendant's motion to suppress, the State appeals, asserting that the trial court erred by concluding that Detective Hobby's affidavit supporting his search warrant application failed to establish probable cause.
"Our review of a ruling on a motion to suppress is limited to whether the trial court's findings are supported by competent evidence and whether those findings support its ultimate conclusions." State v. McHone, 158 N.C. App. 117, 120, 580 S.E.2d 80, 83 (2003). In the present case, the State has not challenged any of the trial court's findings of fact; as such, they are binding on appeal. State v. Pendleton, 339 N.C. 379, 389, 451 S.E.2d 274, 280 (1994), cert. denied, 515 U.S. 1121, 132 L. Ed. 2d 280 (1995). Accordingly, the sole issue for our determination is whether the trial court's conclusions of law are supported by these findings.
In McHone, this Court discussed the requirement that a search warrant application be supported by an affidavit establishing probable cause, stating in pertinent part as follows: A valid search warrant application must contain N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-244(2) (2001) (emphasis added). Although the affidavit is not required to contain all evidentiary details, it should contain those facts material and essential to the case to support the finding of probable cause. State v. Flowers, 12 N.C. App. 487, 183 S.E.2d 820, cert. denied, 279 N.C. 728, 184 S.E.2d 885 (1971). . . . The clear purpose of these requirements for affidavits supporting search warrants is to allow a magistrate or other judicial official to make an independent determination as to whether probable cause exists for the issuance of the warrant under N.C. Gen. Stat. §...
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