Copley v. Commonwealth

361 S.W.3d 902, 2012 WL 976052, 2012 Ky. LEXIS 26
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 22, 2012
Docket2011-SC-000063-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 361 S.W.3d 902 (Copley v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Kentucky Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Copley v. Commonwealth, 361 S.W.3d 902, 2012 WL 976052, 2012 Ky. LEXIS 26 (Ky. 2012).

Opinions

Opinion of the Court by

Justice ABRAMSON.

Appellant Ronald Copley was sentenced to twenty years in prison after pleading guilty to murdering his wife. Copley appeals as a matter of right, alleging the trial court erred when it denied his motion to suppress evidence seized during a search of his home. Copley argues the evidence is inadmissible because the affidavit supporting the warrant was not properly sworn pursuant to Rules of Criminal Procedure 2.02 and 13.10, which require the affidavit be sworn before a person authorized by a written order from the judge of the county to administer oaths to complaining parties. While the criminal procedure rules were violated in this case, suppression was not warranted because the error was not of constitutional magnitude, the error did not prejudice Copley and there was no deliberate disregard of the rules. The trial court is affirmed.

RELEVANT FACTS

On November 8, 2007, Deputy David Cain executed an affidavit for a search warrant for Copley’s residence. Deputy Cain swore the affidavit before Anita C. Hardy, a notary public and employee of the Commonwealth Attorney’s office. There being no available circuit court judge, district court judge or trial commissioner, Circuit Court Clerk Tony D. Kerr reviewed the affidavit, found probable cause and issued the search warrant.1 Police officers executed the warrant the same day and seized several pieces of evidence from Copley’s residence, including shell casings and swabs of blood.

On April 9, 2008, Copley filed a motion to suppress any evidence seized during the search, arguing the warrant was invalid because the affidavit was not properly sworn pursuant to RCr 13.10 and RCr 2.02. On August 11, 2008, the parties entered a Notice of Stipulated Fact jointly stipulating that, at the time the affidavit was sworn, Anita C. Hardy was a notary public but was not authorized by a written judicial order to administer oaths to complaining parties pursuant to RCr 2.02. On September 10, 2008, the trial court denied Copley’s motion on the grounds that, while the affidavit was not properly sworn pursuant to RCr 2.02, the violation was technical in nature, the officers acted in good faith and Copley suffered no prejudice by the violation. On November 16, 2010, Copley pled guilty to murder and received twenty years in prison. Copley appeals to this Court as a matter of right, Ky. Const. § 110(2)(b), maintaining the search warrant was invalid and arguing the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress.2

[905]*905 ANALYSIS

The trial court properly denied Copley’s motion to suppress. When reviewing a trial court’s denial of a motion to suppress this Court first determines whether the trial court’s findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence, RCr 9.78, and then conducts a de novo review of the trial court’s application of law to the facts. Meece v. Commonwealth, 348 S.W.3d 627, 646 (Ky.2011). The parties here do not contest the trial court’s findings of fact and upon a review of the record we conclude the findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence. We thus proceed to determine whether the trial court’s ruling was correct as a matter of law.

I. Violation of Rules of Criminal Procedure 2.02 and 13.10.

A search warrant may issue in Kentucky upon an affidavit that is sufficient under Section 10 of the Kentucky Constitution3 and sworn to before an officer or person who (1) is legally empowered to administer oaths and (2) is authorized to administer such oaths to a complaining party by written order of a judge for the county having venue of the offense charged. RCr 13.10 and RCr 2.02. Thus, it is not sufficient for the person administering the oath for an affidavit for a search warrant to be simply a notary public; he or she must also possess a written order from the appropriate judge authorizing him or her to administer such oaths. RCr 2.02. The parties stipulated that Ms. Hardy, the notary public who administered the oath for the affidavit in this case, was not authorized to do so by a written order of a Russell County judge. Rules 2.02 and 13.10 were not properly complied with and the search warrant was technically deficient. This, however, does not end our inquiry.

II. Suppression of Evidence When the Rule Violation Infringes the Defendant’s Constitutional Rights.

Suppression of evidence pursuant to the exclusionary rule applies only to searches that were carried out in violation of an individual’s constitutional rights. Brock v. Commonwealth, 947 S.W.2d 24, 29 (Ky.1997). In several prior cases, our appellate courts have admitted evidence where the underlying warrant did not strictly comply with the rules but the defendant’s constitutional rights were not violated. For example, in Commonwealth v. Wilson, 610 S.W.2d 896 (Ky.App.1980), the Court upheld a search warrant even though, in violation of RCr 1.08(2) and Civil Rule 5.05(2), the underlying affidavit was not filed with the clerk until after the search was completed. The Wilson Court acknowledged the untimely filing violated the rules but upheld the warrant because the purposes behind the Fourth Amendment of the Federal Constitution and Section 10 of the Kentucky Constitution were satisfied. Id,, at 897. “We cannot, under these circumstances, state that the appel-lee’s constitutional rights were violated by the inadvertence of the court.” Id. at 898. Facing a similar issue in McRay v. Commonwealth, 675 S.W.2d 397 (Ky.App.1984), the Court again held the warrant was valid even though, “[i]n a hypertechnieal sense, the requirements for a search warrant [906]*906were lacking” because the original affidavit was not properly filed in the clerk’s office pursuant to RCr 13.10(2). The McRay Court considered the totality of the circumstances, including the fact that the warrant was based on probable cause and that the officers acted in good faith, and found “the spirit of the law ha[d] certainly been satisfied.” Id. at 402. And in Commonwealth v. Hubble, 780 S.W.2d 582 (Ky.App.1987), the Court declined to suppress the seized evidence even though the judge who issued the search warrant failed to retain and file with the clerk a copy of the affidavit and the warrant as required by RCr 13.10(2), and inserted information into the supporting affidavit which was not sworn to by the affiant. The Hubble Court upheld the warrant, stating that because RCr 13.02 is procedural in nature and does not confer any new substantive rights upon the defendant, a violation of the rule does not necessarily affect the defendant’s due process rights. Id. at 533. “The evidence obtained should not be suppressed unless the violation of the rule resulted in prejudice to the defendant.” Id. at 533. See also Stephens v. Commonwealth, 522 S.W.2d 181 (Ky.1975) (upholding warrant issued by magistrate on a form for the Rowan County Quarterly Court).

The Court has held evidence seized pursuant to a faulty warrant was admissible where the violation was less technical and more substantive in nature.

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Copley v. Commonwealth
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
361 S.W.3d 902, 2012 WL 976052, 2012 Ky. LEXIS 26, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/copley-v-commonwealth-ky-2012.