Com. v. Kennedy, B.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided September 5, 2024·No. 998 EDA 2023·Unpublished

Opinion

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA

:

v. :

:

:

BRIAN KENNEDY :

:

Appellant : No. 998 EDA 2023

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered March 23, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-23-CR-0002966-2019

BEFORE: LAZARUS, P.J., STABILE, J., and LANE, J. MEMORANDUM BY LANE, J.: FILED SEPTEMBER 5, 2024 Brian Kennedy (“Kennedy”) appeals from the judgment of sentence imposed following his jury convictions for murder in the first degree and possessing an instrument of crime (“PIC”).1 We affirm.

Kennedy fatally shot his ex-wife, Stephanie Miller (“the decedent”), during a custody exchange of their minor child at a Wawa convenience store in Wayne, Delaware County. Kennedy then fled the scene. Shortly thereafter, police located Kennedy in his vehicle, which also contained an assault rifle and a cell phone. Police arrested Kennedy and charged him with the above offenses.

During the murder investigation, police applied for a warrant to search Kennedy’s cell phone. As Kennedy’s sole issue on appeal challenges the

1 18 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 2502(a), 907(a).

sufficiency of the affidavit of probable cause (“Affidavit”) supporting the application for the search warrant, we review the Affidavit in detail. The Affidavit was prepared by Radnor Township Police Detective Thomas Schreiber,2 specially trained in mobile device investigations, and Delaware County District Attorney’s Office Detective Michael Jay. The Affidavit first stated that on the night of March 28, 2019, police officers responded to a report of a shooting at the Wawa store in Wayne. The shooter was no longer at the scene. A woman, identified as the decedent, had gunshot wounds to her head and stomach, and she was pronounced deceased. See Omnibus Pretrial Motion, 7/30/19, Exhibit B, Affidavit, 3/29/19, at 2-3.

Responding officers obtained a surveillance video, which showed a man “retrieve a rifle from the trunk of a . . . sedan . . . in front of the Wawa” store. Id. at 3. The man entered the Wawa with the rifle, exited twenty-six seconds later with the rifle, entered the front seat of the car, and drove away. A second surveillance video, showing the front door area of the Wawa, also showed the man enter the Wawa with the rifle.

The Affidavit further summarized: Tredyffrin Police Corporal Scott Costa, who responded to the scene, recognized the decedent’s name from prior

2 Although the suppression hearing notes of testimony indicate the spelling of

the detective’s last name to be “Shriver,” the Affidavit, co-written by the detective, sets forth his name as “Schreiber.”

domestic disturbances involving Kennedy.3 Corporal Costa retrieved an electronic photo of Kennedy and another officer who observed that photo stated that Kennedy was the same person he had just observed in the second surveillance video. Id.

Responding officers interviewed four Wawa employees who were in the store during the shooting. Two employees recognized Kennedy as a regular customer, although they did not know his name, and both stated they heard approximately five gunshots. One of these employees described Kennedy as appearing “agitated and [having] a ‘stern’ look on his face as he looked around the store.” Id. This employee further stated that Kennedy walked up to the decedent, shot her at point blank range, and did not say anything the entire time he was in the store. See id. Both employees, as well as two additional eyewitnesses in the store, identified Kennedy in a photo array as the person who entered the store with a rifle.

The Affidavit stated that two hours after the shooting, officers located Kennedy in his car in a park. Officers took Kennedy into custody and summoned medical assistance, as he was suffering from a drug overdose. Officers also retrieved an assault rifle from the car, which they believed to be the murder weapon, as well as a black Apple iPhone 6.

3 The decedent previously obtained orders against Kennedy pursuant to the Protection from Abuse Act, see 23 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 6101-6122.

The decedent’s boyfriend told police that on the day of the shooting, Kennedy sent a text message to the decedent, confirming they would meet at the Wawa store that evening. Kennedy further stated in this message, “I don’t want to have to deal with law enforcement. If I have to speak to a cop, then I will ask[] through my attorney to have harassment charges against you.” Affidavit, 3/29/19, at 4.

The Affidavit also set forth the following findings of the police investigation: five months earlier, Kennedy obtained a permit to carry a concealed weapon; twelve days before the shooting, Kennedy purchased a firearm from a gun store; and on the day before the shooting, he purchased ammunition from the same store.

The application for a search warrant requested a “full search” of “all data” on Kennedy’s phone existing from March 16 through March 29, 2019, including:

Address book/contacts, messaging, call logs, voice mail, photographs, videos, emails, SMS/MMS messages, calendar, and any and all media, instant messaging, memo/note pads, tasks, voice memos, internet browser history[,] any and all applications, both available and deleted[, and] the SIM card [and] the Secure Digital (SD) card, [both of] which may or may not be located inside of the cellular phone.

Id. at 1, 9.

The affiants averred the above information would assist investigators in determining: (1) whether there were other communications between Kennedy and the decedent “leading up to the” shooting; (2) whether Kennedy

“communicated with others about his involvement with the [decedent] in the days prior to” the shooting, as “this evidence may provide police with additional witnesses and motive evidence;” and (3) whether Kennedy researched information about the gun and ammunition purchased days before the shooting. Id. at 8. Additionally, the affiants wished to search for location (“GPS”) data that would “assist investigators in corroborating witnesses.” Id.

Based on the information in the Affidavit, the magisterial district court issued a warrant to search the contents of Kennedy’s phone. Subsequently, Kennedy filed an omnibus pretrial motion seeking suppression of the evidence recovered from his phone.4 The trial court conducted a suppression hearing at which the co-affiant, Detective Schreiber, testified. Pertinently, Kennedy argued that the Affidavit did not state why the detectives believed the sought- after evidence would appear in the phone, and thus, the Affidavit failed to show a nexus between the crime and the phone. See N.T., 11/22/21, at 45- 46. The Commonwealth responded that police officers identified Kennedy as the shooter within thirty minutes of the shooting, and the search warrant application clearly stated the police were searching for a motive and “the why and the how this crime happened.” Id. at 46-47. Accordingly, the Commonwealth contended, the lack of any “particular language” in the Affidavit was not fatal and the trial court should review it “with common

4 Neither the “Receipt/Inventory” sheet, attached to the last page of the Affidavit, nor the suppression record indicate what evidence was recovered from the phone.

sense.” Id. at 47. The trial court denied Kennedy’s motion to suppress the evidence recovered from his phone.

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