State v. Hoffman

• Decision Date: 04 November 2014
• Docket Number: No. 2013–0688.,2013–0688.
• Parties: The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. HOFFMAN, Appellant.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

141 Ohio St.3d 428

25 N.E.3d 993

2014 Ohio 4795

The STATE of Ohio, Appellee,

v.HOFFMAN, Appellant.

No. 2013–0688.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted April 8, 2014.

Decided Nov. 4, 2014.

Julia R. Bates, Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney, and Evy M. Jarrett and Frank H. Spryszak, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, for appellee.

David Klucas, Toledo, for appellant.

Michael DeWine, Attorney General, Eric E. Murphy, State Solicitor, and Samuel C. Peterson, Deputy Solicitor, urging affirmance for amicus curiae Ohio Attorney General.

Carol Hamilton O'Brien, Delaware County Prosecuting Attorney, and Douglas N. Dumolt, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, urging affirmance for amicus curiae Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association.

Timothy Young, Ohio Public Defender, Stephen P. Hardwick, Assistant Public Defender; Robert L. Tobik, Cuyahoga County Public Defender, and Jeff Gamso, Assistant Cuyahoga County Public Defender; and Matt Bangerter, urging reversal for amici curiae Office of the Ohio Public Defender, Cuyahoga County Public Defender's Office, Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and Maumee Valley Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.

LANZINGER, J.

{¶ 1} In this case, defendant-appellant, Brandon Hoffman, challenges the use of evidence obtained as the result of his arrest pursuant to three misdemeanor arrest warrants. We agree with the trial court and court of appeals that the arrest warrants were issued improperly because there was no determination of probable cause. However, we also agree that the remedy of suppression of the evidence obtained pursuant to these defective warrants is not available in this instance, because the officers relied in good faith upon a procedure that had been validated by the Sixth District Court of Appeals. We therefore affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.

Case Background

{¶ 2} On November 11, 2011, in Toledo Municipal Court, a Toledo police detective filed three criminal complaints and requests for warrants to arrest, charging Brandon Hoffman with theft, criminal damaging, and "house stripping prohibited," all first-degree misdemeanors. Each complaint cited the relevant statute, recited the statutory elements for the offense charged, and, in a brief narrative statement, identified the victim, the location of the offense, and the property taken or removed. Based on the statements in the complaint, the deputy clerk issued the warrants. Hoffman was notified by letter that he could avoid arrest by scheduling a court appearance before November 29.

{¶ 3} On November 26, 2011, Toledo police responded to a "call for service" to a residential address. Inside the residence, they found the dead body of Scott Holzhauer. A gun safe in an adjacent area was open. Neighbors stated that someone named Brandon had recently visited Holzhauer and had been interested in purchasing guns from him. When further information identified this Brandon as Brandon Hoffman, a computer check revealed that he had active misdemeanor arrest warrants.

{¶ 4} The police decided to execute the arrest warrants. At the address listed in the warrants, officers looked through a window and observed Hoffman lying on the floor inside, apparently sleeping. They knocked on the front door, and a man let them in. When they arrested Hoffman, they discovered a .45–caliber Ruger semi-automatic on the floor where Hoffman was lying. The gun was later identified as belonging to Holzhauer. Two cell phones were nearby, in plain view, and when an officer used her own phone to call Holzhauer's cell-phone number, one of the phones immediately rang. Based on this information, an affidavit for a search warrant was prepared and later executed, resulting in the collection of additional evidence.

{¶ 5} Hoffman was charged in a two-count indictment with aggravated murder in violation of R.C. 2903.01(B) and aggravated robbery in violation of R.C. 2911.01(A)(3), a felony of the first degree. Hoffman challenged the legality of his arrest and filed a motion to suppress all evidence collected as a result of that arrest. Specifically, he contended that officers lacked a valid warrant to arrest him. In a supplement to his motion to suppress, he clarified that the arrest warrants were invalid because no probable-cause determination was made by anyone before the warrants were issued and because the criminal complaints on which the warrants were based contained on their face no information that would support a finding of probable cause.

{¶ 6} A suppression hearing was held. The trial court found that the officer who had obtained the three misdemeanor arrest warrants, Detective Kim Violanti, failed to submit any information from which the deputy clerk could have found the existence of probable cause on the three misdemeanor charges. The court also found that the Toledo Municipal Court's internal guidelines for handling complaints and warrants violated the United States and Ohio Constitutions. Nevertheless, the court concluded that it was bound by the precedent established in State v. Overton, 6th Dist. Lucas No. L–99–1317, 2000 WL 1232422 (Sept. 1, 2000). In Overton, the Sixth District Court of Appeals had established that a warrant, almost identical in form and substance to the ones at issue, complied with the requirements of Crim.R. 4(A)(1) and the Fourth Amendment. Because the officers who arrested Hoffman could not reasonably be expected to question this authority, the trial court determined that they did not deliberately, recklessly, or with gross negligence violate Hoffman's rights and that suppression would have no deterrent effect in this instance. The motion to suppress was denied.

{¶ 7} Nine days later, Hoffman withdrew his not-guilty plea and entered a plea of no contest to the two felony offenses charged in the indictment. The trial court found him guilty and sentenced Hoffman to life without parole for the aggravated murder and to 11 years' imprisonment for the aggravated robbery, to be served concurrently.

{¶ 8} Hoffman appealed to the Sixth District Court of Appeals. He argued that the trial court committed reversible error when it denied his motion to suppress, despite recognizing the obvious Fourth Amendment violation. He urged the appellate court to overrule its decision in Overton .

{¶ 9} The Sixth District Court of Appeals agreed with Hoffman that the "mere recitation of the statutory elements of the crime is not sufficient to support a finding that probable cause exists."

2013-Ohio-1082, 989 N.E.2d 156, ¶ 17 (6th Dist.). It concluded that the misdemeanor arrest warrants were invalid due to the deputy clerk's admission that they were issued without any probable-cause determination. Id. at ¶ 16. The court of appeals recognized that its holding was inconsistent with Overton and overruled it to that extent. Id . at ¶ 19. Nevertheless, the Sixth District affirmed the trial court's decision to deny suppression because the officers acted in good-faith reliance on the validity of the warrants based on the information available to them at the time.

{¶ 10} Hoffman appealed to this court, and we accepted jurisdiction on the sole proposition of law: "There can be no good faith reliance on the validity of an arrest warrant issued without a magisterial finding of probable cause." 136 Ohio St.3d 1472, 2013-Ohio-3790, 993 N.E.2d 777.

Analysis

No warrant shall issue but upon probable cause

{¶ 11} Hoffman argues that his rights under the United States and Ohio Constitutions were violated. The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides:

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, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The language of Article I, Section 14 of the Ohio Constitution is virtually identical to the language in the Fourth Amendment, and we have interpreted Article I, Section 14 as affording the same protection as the Fourth Amendment. State v. Robinette, 80 Ohio St.3d 234, 238–239, 685 N.E.2d 762 (1997).

{¶ 12} The Fourth Amendment and Article I, Section 14 require probable cause to search or seize. And the Fourth Amendment has been interpreted to mean that probable cause must be determined by a neutral and detached magistrate rather than by an official of the executive branch whose duty is to enforce the law, to investigate, and to prosecute. See Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 450, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971). This requirement reflects "our basic constitutional doctrine that individual freedoms will best be preserved through a separation of powers and division of functions among the different branches and levels of Government." United States v. United States Dist. Court for E. Dist. of Michigan, S. Div., 407 U.S. 297, 317, 92 S.Ct. 2125, 32 L.Ed.2d 752 (1972), citing Harlan, Thoughts at a Dedication: Keeping the Judicial Function in Balance, 49 A.B.A. J. 943, 944 (1963).

{¶ 13} We have recently addressed the importance of a neutral and detached magistrate in a case in which a detective from the Summit County Sheriff's Department submitted a complaint, request for an arrest warrant, and affidavit to a deputy clerk at Barberton Municipal Court who was also employed by the sheriff's department. State v. Hobbs, 133 Ohio St.3d 43, 2012-Ohio-3886, 975 N.E.2d 965. The deputy clerk reviewed the documents, determined that probable cause existed, and issued an arrest warrant. The trial court denied the defendant's motion to suppress. The appellate court affirmed, finding that no evidence had been obtained as a result of the warrant while conceding that the warrant had been improperly issued. We agreed with the court of appeals that the warrant was invalid, stating:

[T]he deputy clerk's dual position as a sergeant in the sheriff's department located in the same county served by the

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