State of Tennessee Ricardo Davidson

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedMay 17, 2012
DocketM2010-02002-CCA-R3-CD
StatusPublished

This text of State of Tennessee Ricardo Davidson (State of Tennessee Ricardo Davidson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State of Tennessee Ricardo Davidson, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE Assigned on Briefs March 21, 2012

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. RICARDO DAVIDSON

Direct Appeal from the Circuit Court for Maury County No. 09-18969 Jim T. Hamilton, Judge

No. M2010-02002-CCA-R3-CD - Filed May 17, 2012

A Maury County jury convicted the Defendant, Ricardo Davidson, of possession of more than 300 grams of cocaine with intent to sell within a Drug Free School Zone, possession of over ten pounds of marijuana with intent to sell within a Drug Free School Zone, conspiracy to possess over 300 grams of cocaine within a Drug Free School Zone, and conspiracy to possess and deliver over ten pounds of marijuana in a Drug Free School Zone. The trial court sentenced him to an effective sentence of fifteen years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to suppress evidence that he says was obtained pursuant to an invalid search warrant. After a thorough review of the record and applicable authorities, we affirm the trial court’s judgments.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgments of the Circuit Court Affirmed

R OBERT W. W EDEMEYER, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which N ORMA M CG EE O GLE and R OGER A. P AGE, JJ., joined.

Ronald G. Freemon, Columbia, Tennessee, for the appellant, Ricardo Davidson.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Lindsy Paduch Stempel, Assistant Attorney General; Mike Bottoms, District Attorney General; and Brent A. Cooper, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION I. Facts A. Motion to Suppress

This case arises from law enforcement officers’ interception of a mailed package that was believed to contain drugs. After obtaining a search warrant to open the package, the officers discovered it contained drugs. They then delivered the package to the intended address, where they also executed a second search warrant and found more drugs. A Maury County grand jury indicted the Defendant for four felony drug offenses and possession of drug paraphernalia. The Defendant filed a motion to suppress the evidence obtained as a result of the search warrants.

At the first hearing on the motion to suppress, neither party presented evidence other than the search warrants themselves. The parties offered the trial court arguments based upon the warrants. The defense argued that there was no nexus between the affidavit and the address searched. Defense counsel noted that this case involved a suspicious UPS package that was opened, and, based upon its contents, law enforcement officers obtained a search warrant. Defense counsel assumed that the address for which they obtained the search warrant was the address to which the UPS package was addressed, but defense counsel argued that nothing in the affidavit alleged that fact.

The State conceded that the affidavit supporting the search warrant never specifically stated that the address that law enforcement officers sought to search was the same address as that listed on the UPS package. The State asserted, however, that when the search warrant was read as a whole, it was obvious from the search warrant that such was the case. The State further noted that the affidavit stated that the officer swearing to the affidavit believed, based upon his knowledge and experience, that the two people listed in the affidavit, who were the occupants of 638 Mooresville Pike, Columbia, Tennessee, were anticipated to take possession of the package.

Defense counsel countered that the package was addressed to a man named “Jerry Fryson” and not to the Defendant. Defense counsel then asked to file an amended motion based upon the law enforcement officer’s alleged “intentional” act of omitting the address of the recipient of the package when seeking a search warrant for the Defendant’s residence. The trial court granted the Defendant’s request to file an amended motion and set a hearing for a later date.

At the hearing on the amended motion to suppress, the parties presented the following evidence: Michael Perez, a Nashville Drug Task Force officer, testified that this investigation began on July 2, 2007. On that day, he received a phone call from “Andy,” an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department who worked in the parcel narcotics unit. Andy advised Officer Perez that there was a package that he suspected contained narcotics or narcotics proceeds coming to Columbia, Tennessee, from the Los Angeles area. Based upon this information, Officer Perez contacted Special Agent Mabry with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and asked if he had a law enforcement contact in the Columbia area. Agent

2 Mabry confirmed he did have a contact and called the Maury County Sheriff’s Department for assistance in a potential controlled delivery of the package.

Officer Perez testified that he and Agent Mabry, along with other officers, went to the UPS facility before the package was placed on the outgoing delivery truck. The officers used a K-9 drug dog, trained as a drug detector, to identify whether the package may, in fact, be emanating odors of narcotics. The drug dog indicated positively on the package, which was addressed to Jerry Fryson. The address was listed as 638 Mooresville Pike in Columbia, Tennessee. Officer Perez said, based upon this information, the officers obtained a search warrant to open the package. Inside the package, they found foam under which was located marijuana. Officer Perez said that, upon finding the marijuana, the officers did not disturb the package further, hoping to successfully conduct a controlled delivery of the package.

Officer Perez testified that he went with Maury County Sheriff’s Department officers as they executed “an anticipatory search warrant” at the address listed on the package. He said he did not personally identify who lived at that address, and he was not involved further in the investigation until after the execution of the second search warrant.

On cross-examination, Officer Perez testified that he attempted to determine whether Jerry Fryson was a real person. He explained that he searched the Tennessee driver’s license files for a “Jerry Fryson.” Officer Perez read from the affidavit requesting the search warrant, wherein another officer, Officer Brian Cook, swore that the search revealed that there was no person with the name Jerry Fryson licensed in the State of Tennessee. The affidavit further stated that individuals dealing in controlled substances very often create false names for parcels to conceal their true identities.

Officer Brian Cook, with the Maury County Sheriff’s Department, testified that he was assigned to the Drug Task Force in 2007. He said that he was present on July 3, 2007, when the suspicious box was opened at the UPS facility. Upon opening the package, officers discovered that it contained illegal narcotics, and they resealed the package for a controlled delivery. Officer Cook said he typed an “anticipatory search warrant” to serve on the residence after delivery of the package. Officer Cook said he listed “Jerry Fryson” as one of the people to be searched, but he did not specifically indicate in the warrant that the package was addressed to “Jerry Fryson.”

Officer Cook testified that the affidavit indicated that, based upon Officer Cook’s belief and training, “Miss Malave and Mr. Davidson are the current residen[ts] at 638 Mooresville Pike, and they are who the said package is intended to be delivered.” The officer agreed that the affidavit does not state in “plain language” that the package was addressed to 638 Mooresville Pike.

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State of Tennessee Ricardo Davidson, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-tennessee-ricardo-davidson-tenncrimapp-2012.