Perez-Grahovac v. State

894 N.E.2d 578, 2008 Ind. App. LEXIS 2156, 2008 WL 4427213
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 2, 2008
Docket22A05-0712-CR-703
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 894 N.E.2d 578 (Perez-Grahovac v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Perez-Grahovac v. State, 894 N.E.2d 578, 2008 Ind. App. LEXIS 2156, 2008 WL 4427213 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION

DARDEN, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Joshua Perez-Grahovac brings this interlocutory appeal challenging the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence.

We affirm.

ISSUE

Whether collateral estoppel precluded the trial court from denying PerezGra-hovac’s motion to suppress evidence.

FACTS

On June 3, 2006, Perez-Grahovac was involved in an automobile accident in New Albany, Indiana. He fled from the scene of the accident on foot, entered a nearby home without the owner’s permission, and barricaded himself in a second-story room. Officer Craig Pumphrey of the New Albany Police Department reported to the scene of the accident and, thereafter, was able to locate and arrest Perez-Grahovac. Perez-Grahovac told Officer Pumphrey that he was a cocaine dealer and that his wife was dead. When Officer Pumphrey asked about his wife, Perez-Grahovac explained, “ ‘Me and my wife were getting high and she overdosed on some green pills.’ ” (Tr. 11). Officer Pumphrey asked where Perez-Grahovac’s wife was, and Perez-Grahovac said she was at his home located at 1720 Florence Avenue. After receiving consent from Perez-Grahovac to search the home, police went to 1720 Florence Avenue where they learned Perez-Grahovac’s wife was alive and at a nearby hospital receiving treatment for a drug overdose. While being processed at the county jail, officers found .9 grams of cocaine in Perez^Grahovae’s sock.

A short time after this incident, the New Albany Police Department received an anonymous tip that there was drug activity at 2213 East Spring Street 1 in New Albany. Officers Kelly Brown and Jeff McKinley went to this address and knocked on the door. Perez-Grahovac answered the door. Officers Brown and McKinley asked if they could search the residence, but Perez-Grahovac did not consent to a search. Perez-Grahovac, though, told the officers that he was a drug user. During this encounter, Officers Brown and McKinley also spoke with Angelia Phillips, who stated she lived at 2213 East Spring Street.

After speaking with Officers Brown and McKinley, Detective Salvatore Zagami *581 conducted surveillance at 2213 East Spring Street. Over a five day period, Detective Zagami observed, “[p]eople showing up [at the residence] for two or three minutes and leaving.” (Tr. 35). He believed that this type of traffic was consistent with narcotics trafficking.

A few days later, Officer Brown conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Perez-Grahovac. During the course of the traffic stop, Perez-Grahovac again told Officer Brown that he was a drug user.

On June 27, 2006, Detective Zagami noted that trash was being collected in the neighborhood where 2213 East Spring Street was located. He saw a trash container behind 2213 East Spring Street “right at the very edge of the driveway going into the alley.” (Tr. 49). Detective Zagami then drove his truck into the alley behind 2213 East Spring Street and parked. Without entering onto the property, he wheeled the trashcan back to his vehicle and unloaded the trash bags into the bed of his truck. Inside two of the trash bags, 2 Detective Zagami found the following: mail addressed to 2213 East Spring Street Apartment A, seven used syringes, one of which contained a substance that field tested positive for cocaine, green vegetation that field tested positive for marijuana, a plastic zip lock bag that contained cocaine residue, and forty-nine plastic bags with the corners twisted and torn off consistent with packaging narcotics for sale.

On June 29, 2006, Detective Zagami applied for a search warrant for 2213 East Spring Street Apartment A. In his probable cause affidavit, Detective Zagami described the premises to be searched and stated:

On June 4, 2006 Officer Pumphrey arrested [Perez-Grahovac]. During the arrest, Mr. Perez-Grahovac told Officer Pumphrey that he was a cocaine dealer. A couple of weeks later, Officer Bell notified Officer Brown of suspected drug activity at 2213 East Spring St. When Officers Brown and McKinley did a stop and knock at that residence, Mr. Perez-Grahovac answered the door. Mr. Perez-Grahovac did not give consent to search, but admitted to Officer Brown that he was a drug addict. Approximately a week later, Officer Brown conducted a traffic stop on [Perez-Graho-vac], and Mr. Perez-Grahovac stated once again that he was a drug addict. On June 23, 2006 I received a tip from Detective Troy McDaniel of Floyd County Police. Det. McDaniel had received information that someone was dealing narcotics out of 2213 East Spring Street, and that there were guns in the house. On June 27, 2006 I noticed a New Albany City container sitting in the alley for normal pick up in the rear of the residence at 2213 East Spring St. I retrieved 2 white garbage bags and 2 black garbage bags from the can. I then conducted a search of the refuse and located the following: 49 plastic bags with the corners twisted and torn off (consistent with packaging narcotics for sale), 1 used syringe with a clear fluid left in it (fluid field tested positive for cocaine), 1 small zip lock bag with white residue left in it (residue field tested positive for cocaine), 6 more used syringes, 2 green stems (appear to be marijuana stems), 9 seeds (appear to be marijuana seeds), Miscellaneous [sic] papers addressed to 2213 E. Spring St. Apt. # A, A[sie] “to do” list that includ *582 ed collecting money from people, and a note listing the good and bad things about someone with the # 1 bad thing being that he is “dealing.” I also found a small piece of green vegetation that field tested positive for marijuana.

(App. 10-11) (citation omitted). Floyd County Superior Court Judge Susan Orth reviewed the probable cause affidavit and issued a search warrant to Detective Zaga-mi that same day.

Officers executed the search warrant on June 30, 2006. Both Perez-Grahovac and Phillips were present at the time of the search. In the basement of the residence, officers found a rock of a white granular substance in the drain of the sink, a dish with white powder residue on it, a zip lock bag containing twenty-one grams of a white powder substance, a measuring cup with white powder residue, seven syringes, a partially smoked marijuana cigarette, and a stolen pistol. A box of shells matching the bullets found in the stolen pistol was found in a bedroom Perez-Grahovac and Phillips admitted they shared. In the kitchen, officers found the following: a plastic bag containing five pounds of a white powdery substance that field tested positive for cocaine, a zip lock bag containing .7 grams of a white chunk-like substance, a dish with white residue on it and a razor blade, a metal strainer with white residue on it, and five Zoloft pills in a bottle with the name “Carrie Yates” on it. (App. 16). In Perez-Grahovac and Phillips’ bedroom, officers found a syringe with a clear fluid in it that field tested positive for cocaine, sixteen syringes, a partially smoked marijuana cigarette, four Lorazep-am pills, two unidentified white and yellow pills, a silver spoon with white powdery residue on it, and a set of digital scales.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
894 N.E.2d 578, 2008 Ind. App. LEXIS 2156, 2008 WL 4427213, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/perez-grahovac-v-state-indctapp-2008.