State v. Tuttle
| Decision Date | 08 September 2015 |
| Docket Number | No. M2014-00566-CCA-R3-CD,M2014-00566-CCA-R3-CD |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JERRY LEWIS TUTTLE |
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Maury County
Following the execution of a search warrant for his property and residence, the Defendant-Appellant, Jerry Lewis Tuttle, was indicted by the Maury County Grand Jury in case number 21695 for possession of .5 grams or more of cocaine with intent to sell, possession of not less than one-half ounce nor more than ten pounds of marijuana with intent to sell, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was also indicted by the Maury County Grand Jury in case number 22091 for conspiracy to possess marijuana in an amount over 300 pounds with intent to sell or deliver within 1000 feet of a school, conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering, possession of a firearm with the intent to go armed during the commission of a dangerous felony, and acquiring or receiving property subject to judicial forfeiture pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 39-11-703. The Defendant-Appellant filed motions to suppress the evidence seized and to dismiss the forfeiture count, which were denied by the trial court following a hearing.1 At trial, the Defendant-Appellant was convicted in case number 21695 of the lesser included offense of simple possession of cocaine and the charged offense of possession of marijuana with intent to sell; the count charging him with being a felon in possession of a firearm was dismissed. In case number 22091, the Defendant-Appellant was convicted of the lesser included offense of conspiracy to possess marijuana in an amount over 300 pounds with intent to sell or deliver as well as the charged offenses of conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering, and possession of a firearm with the intent to go armed during the commission of a dangerous felony. Following a bench trial on the judicial forfeiture count, the trial court denied the forfeiture of several items seized but ordered the forfeiture of other items, including the $1,098,050 that is at issue on appeal. After a sentencing hearing on the other counts, the trial court imposed an effective sentence of fifty years with a release eligibility of thirty-five percent. On appeal, the Defendant-Appellant argues: (1) that the search of his property violated his constitutional right against unreasonable searches and seizures because the affidavit in support of the search warrant did not provide probable cause for the issuing judge to believe that evidence of a crime would be found on his property and in his home; (2) the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conspiracy convictions; and (3) he is entitled to the return of the $1,098,050 because the cash seized was obtained by him more than five years prior to the seizure and because the seizing agent failed to deliver a notice of seizure to him at the time the cash was seized. Upon review, we reverse the Defendant-Appellant's convictions. However, we affirm the trial court's judgment in regard to the forfeiture proceedings.
CAMILLE R. MCMULLEN, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which JAMES CURWOOD WITT, JR. joined. ROGER A. PAGE, J. dissenting and concurring in part.
John S. Colley, III, Columbia, Tennessee, for the Defendant-Appellant, Jerry Lewis Tuttle.
Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Andrew Coulam, Assistant Attorney General; Mike Bottoms, District Attorney General; and Brent Cooper, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee.
OPINIONPre-Trial Hearing on Motion to Suppress. The Defendant-Appellant argued that he was entitled to suppression of the evidence seized from his property pursuant to the search warrant on the basis that the following paragraphs of Trooper Shawn Boyd's affidavit contained false statements:
Because the Defendant-Appellant alleged that Trooper Boyd made false statements with the intent to deceive and/or statements made in reckless disregard for the truth in presenting his affidavit to the issuing judge, the court heard testimony from several witnesses prior to determining the suppression motion.
Shawn Boyd, a Tennessee Highway Patrolman currently assigned to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Task Force in Nashville, testified that he drafted the affidavit in support of the search warrant in this case. He stated that in March 2012, he took a statement from Adrian Davis. Prior to giving this statement, Davis had been stopped for a traffic violation, and a trooper discovered drugs on Davis's person. The trooper gave Davis the phone number to contact the DEA if he wanted to cooperate. Davis subsequently contacted Trooper Boyd and informed him that Christopher Tuttle, the Defendant-Appellant's son, was involved in a major marijuana conspiracy. Davis's information was corroborated by other DEA sources who determined that Davis was involved with the same drug cartel members as Christopher Tuttle. Davis also stated that Christopher Tuttle drove a white Nissan truck and that Christopher Tuttle's "whole family" was involved in selling drugs.
Trooper Boyd stated that paragraph 13 of his affidavit talked about information that was obtained by the Birmingham, Alabama DEA regarding the March 16, 2012 shipment of drugs that was being transported by Cleto Medina's brother, Biato Jaramillo. He said the Birmingham DEA had observed suitcases, believed to contain drugs, and had located the pick-up and drop-off of these suitcases based on wiretaps obtained from the DEA agents in Texas, who had learned that there were drugs traveling from Texas to Birmingham, Alabama.
Trooper Boyd explained the following sentence in paragraph 18 of his affidavit: ". . . As further described below Christopher TUTTLE used [the Defendant-Appellant's] residence on March 16, 2012 and April 2, 2012 to off load shipments of marijuana in the excess of 100 pounds." He said that although he used the language "[a]s further described below," no one ever observed Christopher Tuttle using the Defendant-Appellant's residence to offload marijuana on March 16, 2012 and April 2, 2012. Trooper Boyd said that this section of paragraph 18 was "probably miswording, more than anything" but asserted that he included this information because he and other officers were able to conduct visual surveillance with Christopher Tuttle and Jaramillo until shortly before the transfer took place on March 16, 2012. Although he was not able to observe Christopher Tuttle and Jaramillo at the Defendant-Appellant's residence on March 16, 2012, he saw that Christopher Tuttle's truck was parked there only a few minutes after officers believed the transfer of marijuana had taken place. He also included the information in paragraph 18 based on the ping of Medina's phone on April 2, 2012, that placed Medina on the Defendant-Appellant's property. He denied intentionally putting anything false in his affidavit and said he had "no reason to mislead" the judge who granted the search warrant for the Defendant-Appellant's property.
Trooper Boyd explained that on March 16, 2012, officers had observed Christopher Tuttle and Jaramillo at a gas station together, but no transfer of drugs occurred there. From the gas station, Christopher Tuttle and Jaramillo drove down Highway 373 and then turned onto a little road near the school where the officers terminated surveillance for fear of being discovered. Shortly thereafter, officers received information that Christopher Tuttle had family living at 4571 Dugger Road. A few minutes later, Trooper Boyd and Officer Breedlove then independently drove by the Defendant-Appellant's residence and observed Christopher Tuttle's truck parked in the driveway. He acknowledged that he never observed Jaramillo's or Medina's vehicle on the Defendant-Appellant's property after the drug transactions were believed to have taken place. Trooper Boyd stated that he knew of no other place where a transfer of the drugs could have occurred on March 16, 2012.
Trooper Boyd stated that Christopher Tuttle and Medina met on April 2, 2012, at a Shell gas station while under surveillance by law enforcement and that no transfer of drugs took place at that location. Based on the information he received from the DEA in Birmingham, he knew that the drugs would be concealed in suitcases. After meeting at the Shell gas station, Christopher Tuttle and Medina traveled to an area near Dugger Road, where the officers terminated contact for fear of being discovered. Shortly thereafter, Agent Shawn Steven informed Trooper Boyd that he had received a real-time ping for Medina's phone, which placed Medina on Dugger Road. Trooper Boyd stated that when he plotted these GPS coordinates, they...
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