Dorsey v. State

761 A.2d 807, 2000 Del. LEXIS 444, 2000 WL 1566510
CourtSupreme Court of Delaware
DecidedOctober 18, 2000
Docket546, 1998
StatusPublished
Cited by89 cases

This text of 761 A.2d 807 (Dorsey v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dorsey v. State, 761 A.2d 807, 2000 Del. LEXIS 444, 2000 WL 1566510 (Del. 2000).

Opinions

HOLLAND, Justice,

for the majority.

The defendant-appellant, James Dorsey, was charged with Murder in the First Degree, Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony and Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited. Following a jury trial in the Superior Court, Dorsey was convicted on all charges. Dorsey filed a Motion for a New Trial on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct and inadmissible evidence. The Superior Court granted Dorsey’s motion with respect to two convictions: Murder in the First Degree and Possession of a Firearm During Commission of a Felony.

This is Dorsey’s direct appeal from the final judgment of conviction on the charge of Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited. Dorsey contends that the Superior Court erroneously denied his Motion to Suppress the State’s use of the firearms as evidence. According to Dorsey, the warrant that authorized a search of his automobiles for those weapons was not supported by probable cause in violation of his rights under the Delaware Constitution and applicable statutes.

This Court has concluded that the warrant to search Dorsey’s automobiles was issued without a demonstration of probable cause. The protection against unreasonable searches that is afforded to all persons by the Delaware Constitution requires the suppression of illegally seized items as evidence. Accordingly, Dorsey’s conviction for Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited must be reversed.

Facts

On August 14, 1996, at 4:05 p.m., Dorsey called 911 to request police and ambulance assistance at 615 W. 5th Street, Wilmington. City of Wilmington police officers responded and found the body of Frank Williams in an upstairs bedroom. It appeared that Williams had suffered a single gun shot wound to the head. Police searched the immediate area but failed to [809]*809locate a gun. Police then interviewed Dorsey, who indicated that he owned the building and rented a room to Williams. The building also housed four or five other tenants.

Later that same day, police applied for and received a search warrant for the premises known as 615 W. 5th Street. The application for that search warrant indicated that the items the police wanted to search for were “an unknown caliber handgun and ammunition” and “any clothing or items that appeared to have the presence of blood.” The warrant also indicated the police would be “processing ... the house for physical evidence, to include but not limited to: videotaping, photo’s [sic], latent prints, and any other evidence which may assist in the investigation of the death of Frankie Williams.” The police executed the search warrant for the premises at approximately 6:00 p.m. That search warrant is not an issue in this appeal.

While still executing the search warrant for the premises described as 615 W. 5th Street, the police applied for and obtained a second warrant to search two automobiles, a 1986 Dodge 600 and a 1989 Cadillac DeVille. The two automobiles were owned by and registered to Dorsey. That search warrant is the subject matter of this appeal.

In the affidavit for the warrant to search Dorsey’s vehicles, the police alleged the following facts in. support of probable cause:

1. On 14 Aug 96 at 1604 hours the Wilmington Police were summoned to a shooting scene at 615 W. 5th Street, Wilmington, DE. This incident is documented under Wilmington Police Case # 96-19754.
2. Upon arrival officers were approached by a subject who identified himself as the owner of the property, James Dorsey. Dorsey related that this afternoon he had returned from an out of state trip. He related that he houses multiple people in his property as borders [sic]. Upon checking the residence he related that he found one of the borders [sic] prone in his room bleeding from head.
3. Police checked the crime scene and it appeared the victim, tentatively ID’d as Frankie Williams, suffered a single gun shot wound to the head, killing him.
4. A check of the immediate crime scene did not locate the weapon, believed to be an unknown caliber handgun.
5. Police are still attempting to identify and interview all present tenants of the residence which according to the landlord houses 4-5 tenants.
6. In a statement to police James Dorsey related that he attempted to contact Williams numerous times in the past two days, without success. He then related that he forced entry through an adjacent room to find the victim.
7. A search warrant was executed at the crime scene on this date and as of this writing a firearm can not be located.
8. James Dorsey was asked to consent to gunshot/metal residue testing and consented. He was then asked that his vehicles be checked for any evidence of this crime and refused.
9. Police now wish to process two vehicles registered to James Dorsey located in close proximity to the crime scene, in the 400 block of Montgomery. Police wish to secure potential physical evidence of this crime.

The application indicated the police wanted to search for “any clothing or items that appeared to have the presence of blood” and “an unknown caliber handgun.”

The police executed the search warrant for the two vehicles-at approximately 7:50 p.m. Seized from the 1989 Cadillac De-Ville were the following items: (1) a Smith and Wesson .38 Special; (2) a Harrington and Richardson Arms .38 Special; (3) a box of .38 Special ammunition and (4) photos of the vehicle.

[810]*810 Motion to Suppress

Dorsey filed a Motion to Suppress the evidence that was seized pursuant to the warrant issued to search his two vehicles. The Superior Court held a hearing on the Suppression Motion over the course of three different days. At the initial Suppression Hearing, the State argued that probable cause to search Dorsey’s vehicles was established within the four corners of the affidavit or, in the alternative, if the search warrant failed, a warrantless search of Dorsey’s vehicles was valid pursuant to the automobile exception. When the Suppression Hearing resumed a few weeks later, the State withdrew the argument that probable cause to search Dorsey’s vehicles existed outside of the affidavit. Accordingly, the Superior Court considered and ruled on the sole issue of whether the affidavit in support of the search warrant established probable cause.

The Superior Court issued a written decision denying Dorsey’s Motion to Suppress. The rationale for the Superior Court’s ruling was as follows:

Although the affidavit supporting the search warrant for Dorsey’s two automobiles does not specifically state that Dorsey was a suspect in the death of Williams, there are sufficient facts in the warrant to infer that such was the case. Police stated in the affidavit that Dorsey told Police he had discovered the body by forcing entry into Williams’ room. Dorsey told Police he had been out of town and since returning had been trying to contact Williams.
The Court also finds that, although the affidavit does not specifically state facts to support a belief that the gun used in the shooting or bloody items of clothing would be found in Dorsey’s car, it is reasonable to infer probable cause, given the nature of the crime and the items sought by Police.

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Bluebook (online)
761 A.2d 807, 2000 Del. LEXIS 444, 2000 WL 1566510, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dorsey-v-state-del-2000.