State v. Missouri
| Decision Date | 12 November 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 3563.,3563. |
| Citation | 572 S.E.2d 467,352 S.C. 121 |
| Parties | The STATE, Appellant, v. Victor Wyatt MISSOURI, Respondent. |
| Court | South Carolina Court of Appeals |
Attorney General Charles M. Condon, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Charles H. Richardson and Senior Assistant Attorney General Norman Mark Rapoport, all of Columbia; and Solicitor Robert M. Ariail, of Greenville, for Appellant.
Assistant Appellate Defender Tara S. Taggart, of Columbia, for Respondent.
The Circuit Court found Victor Wyatt Missouri had "standing" to challenge the drug evidence introduced against him based on a violation of the Fourth Amendment. The State appeals, arguing Missouri did not have "standing" to challenge the drug evidence. We reverse.
In early 1995, Greenville detectives were investigating a crack cocaine ring. On February 3, 1995, the police obtained a warrant to search the apartment of Curtis Sibert for cocaine. When the police executed the search warrant, they found Missouri in the kitchen standing over a sink, facing a set of triple beam scales. The police discovered a quantity of cooked, crack cocaine inside the sink. Missouri was arrested and charged with trafficking in crack cocaine.
At trial, the lead detective admitted he lied in the affidavit issued in support of the search warrant. Further, according to Missouri, the affidavit omitted exculpatory information. The Circuit Court denied Missouri's motion to suppress the evidence obtained in the search. The Court of Appeals reversed the Circuit Court, ruling the omitted information was necessary for the magistrate's finding of probable cause. This Court remanded the matter for a hearing to determine whether Missouri had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the apartment. State v. Missouri, 97-UP-448 (S.C. Ct.App. filed September 15, 1997). The Supreme Court affirmed. State v. Missouri, 337 S.C. 548, 524 S.E.2d 394 (1999). A hearing was held before the Circuit Court on remand to determine whether Missouri had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the apartment. Sibert, Missouri's best friend, testified that in 1994 and 1995, Missouri was an occasional overnight guest at Sibert's apartment "whenever [Missouri] got to arguing with his wife," whenever Sibert's wife would leave for the weekend, and whenever Missouri and Sibert would sneak away to "go partying." Sibert stated that Missouri kept a change of clothing at Sibert's apartment so Missouri could "go partying" with Sibert without Missouri's "wife" finding out. Missouri would stay in Sibert's son's room whenever he spent the night.
On certain occasions, Sibert would give Missouri a key to the apartment. Sibert declared that Missouri had a key to the apartment at the time of Missouri's arrest. According to Sibert, Missouri went to the apartment as a friend, not as a business associate, when Sibert was not there. Sibert left Missouri in control of the apartment when he was gone, with the ability to let people come and go as Missouri saw fit. Because Sibert's wife was trying to "kick" her drug addiction, Sibert testified that he would not have left Missouri in his apartment the day the search warrant was executed if he had known Missouri intended to mix the drugs there.
Sibert admitted on cross-examination that he returned to his apartment at 1:00 a.m. the night before the search warrant was executed and Missouri was not staying there. He did not recall the exact date when Missouri last spent the night at his apartment. Sibert professed he was not in the drug business and that he had no idea what Missouri was planning to do in his apartment when he left Missouri there the day the search warrant was executed.
Sibert's wife testified Missouri had a key to the apartment, he left a change of clothing there, and he had control of the apartment when she and Sibert were gone.
At the hearing, Missouri stated he was close friends with Sibert and had known him for many years. He occasionally spent the night at Sibert's apartment. Missouri declared that he was free to come and go from Sibert's apartment and would sometimes use the key Sibert had given him. Although Missouri had his own residence a few miles from Sibert's apartment, Missouri would stay at the apartment whenever he was arguing with his fiancee or whenever he wanted to get out of the house. Missouri stayed in Sibert's son's room and he kept a change of clothes there. However, Missouri admitted that he did not spend the night at Sibert's apartment the night before the search warrant was executed. Missouri denied that he and Sibert had a business relationship regarding drug trafficking.
The State presented the testimony of Detective Eric Cureton, the officer responsible for the false statements in the affidavit supporting the search warrant. Cureton was conducting surveillance on Sibert's apartment the day the warrant was executed. On that day, he observed Missouri enter the apartment between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m. and did not see any other person enter or exit the apartment. The search warrant was executed between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m., after Sibert called the confidential informant to inform him that it was time to "come and get it."
Cureton monitored Sibert and his wife purchasing baking soda at different locations around town earlier that day. Baking soda is used to aid in the cooking process, which turns cocaine into crack cocaine. Upon executing the warrant, Cureton discovered Missouri in the kitchen standing over several dishes of cooling crack cocaine. Sibert and his wife were sitting on the couch with the television on. The police examined Missouri's key chain. It held three keys: one to Missouri's residence, and two keys to two cars. The key chain did not contain a key to Sibert's apartment. In the kitchen, Cureton recovered a black bag belonging to Missouri and containing scales and packaging paper. No other items belonging to Missouri were found in the apartment.
On cross-examination, Cureton professed he was "confused" and an inexperienced police officer when he drafted the original affidavit in support of the search warrant. Cureton admitted he was not familiar with Missouri's clothes and did not know whether Missouri's clothes were in Sibert's apartment. Although Cureton checked the keys on Missouri's key ring, he returned the keys to Missouri after he was booked. Cureton was not aware of the friendship between Missouri and the Siberts. Detective James Bradley testified that, upon executing the search warrant, he found Missouri in the kitchen with cooked crack cocaine. Bradley did not find any items in the apartment belonging to Missouri. When Missouri was searched, "some keys" were "taken off of him." The keys went to a van, another car, and Missouri's residence.
Missouri testified in reply regarding the keys. He stated he had more than three keys on his key chain.
The Circuit Court determined that Missouri and Sibert were close, long-time friends and Missouri visited Sibert frequently at Sibert's apartment. Missouri sometimes spent the night at Sibert's, but did not live with Sibert. The court found Missouri had access to the apartment, on some occasions had a key to the apartment, and was free to come and go as he pleased from the apartment. Further, the court noted the Siberts did not charge Missouri to stay at their apartment, he kept a change of clothes there, and Missouri used the apartment as a place to "`get away.'" The court specifically found Missouri did not spend the night at the apartment the evening prior to the execution of the search warrant. Finally, the court concluded that, on the day the search warrant was issued, the police began surveillance of the Siberts' apartment at 7:00 a.m.; Missouri arrived between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m.; the Siberts left Missouri at their apartment while they went shopping; the search warrant was executed between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m.; and the officers discovered Missouri in the kitchen with crack cocaine and the Siberts in another room.
Based on the factual findings, the Circuit Court held that Missouri had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the Siberts' apartment and he would therefore be able to challenge the search under the Fourth Amendment.1
In criminal cases, the appellate court sits to review errors of law only. State v. Wilson, 345 S.C. 1, 545 S.E.2d 827 (2001); State v. Cutter, 261 S.C. 140, 199 S.E.2d 61 (1973). This Court is bound by the trial court's factual findings unless they are clearly erroneous. State v. Quattlebaum, 338 S.C. 441, 527 S.E.2d 105 (2000).
Our Supreme Court articulated the proper standard of review in regard to a Fourth Amendment issue relating to search and seizure:
State v. Brockman, 339 S.C. 57, 65-66, 528 S.E.2d 661, 665-66 (2000). We find the Brockman standard of review is controlling.
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution elucidates:
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.
U.S. Const. amend. IV. The South Carolina Constitution provides similar protection against unlawful searches and seizures. See S.C. Const. art. I, § 10. Evidence obtained...
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