State v. Higgins

136 Wash. App. 87, 2006 WL 3490928
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedDecember 5, 2006
DocketNo. 33833-5-II
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 136 Wash. App. 87 (State v. Higgins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Higgins, 136 Wash. App. 87, 2006 WL 3490928 (Wash. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

[89]*89¶1 Lloyd James Higgins appeals his domestic violence second degree assault conviction for allegedly firing a gun at his wife, Patricia Higgins. He claims that police seized evidence pursuant to an overbroad search warrant. He also claims other errors that we do not reach. Because the search warrant did not specify the particular crime in question, did not contain a list of items to be seized, and did not expressly refer to the probable cause affidavit, any evidence seized under it should have been suppressed under the particularity requirement of the Fourth Amendment. U.S. Const, amend. IV. We reverse and remand with instructions to suppress the seized evidence.

Van Deren, J.

FACTS

¶2 After quarreling most of the day and drinking heavily at the 99 Bar, Lloyd and Patricia1 went home separately. Lloyd locked Patricia out, and she called the police for assistance in entering the home. Officer Johnny Gonzales of the Centraba Police Department responded. He knocked on the front door. When nobody answered, he went around to the side of the house and, seeing Lloyd lying on the bed, knocked on the window, again receiving no response. He borrowed a key from the landlord and let Patricia in through the sliding back door. After returning the key to the landlord next door, he encountered Centraba Police Officer Tracy Murphy at the side of the house. Gonzales and Murphy then heard a gunshot from inside the house.

¶3 The officers detained Lloyd and Patricia. Patricia initially claimed that she fired the gun. She later testified that after she had entered the residence, she walked down [90]*90a hallway toward the bedroom and, reaching the washer and dryer, looked up and saw Lloyd pointing a gun at her. She heard the gun fire and was grabbed from behind and shoved against the wall, shattering her hip.

¶4 Gonzales obtained a search warrant authorizing seizure of “certain evidence of a crime, to-wit: ‘Assault 2nd DV’ RCW 9A.36.021.” Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 22. An affidavit describing the underlying incident and establishing probable cause to search for “a Glock pistol, unknown serial number or caliber; a spent casing, bullets, and an entry and possibly exit point where the bullet struck” was attached to the warrant. CP at 24.

f 5 After searching the house under the warrant, Gonzales found all anticipated items. A 40-caliber handgun and a clip were next to the bed. A spent casing was on the TV stand. There were holes indicating that the bullet had gone through the bedroom wall and through an exterior wall. The bullet was found on the patio.

¶6 The State charged Lloyd with second degree assault, “which is a violation of RCW 9A.36.021(l)(c),” alleging that he had assaulted Patricia “with a deadly weapon.” CP at 14.

¶7 Lloyd moved to suppress evidence seized under the search warrant because the warrant violated the particularity clause of the Fourth Amendment. Specifically, he noted that the warrant did not contain a list of items to be seized, did not incorporate the affidavit by reference, and did not list a subsection of the second degree assault statute. Finding that no subsection of the statute was needed and that the affidavit was attached to the warrant and contained a particular list of items to be seized, the trial court concluded that the warrant satisfied the particularity requirement and denied the suppression motion.

¶8 In closing argument, the prosecutor emphasized that the locations where officers found the bullet holes, the gun, and the magazine corroborated Patricia’s story. The jury convicted Lloyd on one count of domestic violence second degree assault.

[91]*91ANALYSIS

¶9 Lloyd argues that the search of his residence violated the particularity requirement of the warrant clause and that the trial court therefore should have suppressed the evidence seized. Under the Fourth Amendment, a warrant must describe with particularity the things to be seized. Groh v. Ramirez, 540 U.S. 551, 557, 124 S. Ct. 1284, 157 L. Ed. 2d 1068 (2004); State v. Riley, 121 Wn.2d 22, 28, 846 P.2d 1365 (1993). This requirement serves two functions by “limit [ing] the executing officer’s discretion”; and “inform[ing] the person subject to the search what items [may be] seize [d].” Riley, 121 Wn.2d at 29.

¶10 Neither the officer’s personal knowledge of the crime nor a proper execution of the search may cure an overbroad warrant. Riley, 121 Wn.2d at 29. For example, in Riley our Supreme Court held that a warrant authorizing the seizure of “ ‘fruits, instrumentalities, and/or evidence of a crime,’ ” followed by a list of various items that might fit the description, was overbroad because it did not limit the seizure by stating the crime under investigation. Riley, 121 Wn.2d at 26. Although the investigator knew that he was seeking items involved in the crime of computer trespass and limited his search accordingly, the court reversed the conviction. Riley, 121 Wn.2d at 28-29. “Because the person whose home is searched has the right to know what items may be seized, an overbroad warrant is invalid whether or not the executing officer abused his discretion.” Riley, 121 Wn.2d at 29 (citing In re Application of Lafayette Acad., Inc., 610 F.2d 1, 5 (1st Cir. 1979)).

¶11 Three factors are relevant to determine whether a warrant is overbroad:

“(1) whether probable cause exists to seize all items of a particular type described in the warrant, (2) whether the warrant sets out objective standards by which executing officers can differentiate items subject to seizure from those which are not, and (3) whether the government was able to describe [92]*92the items more particularly in light of the information available to it at the time the warrant was issued.”

United States v. Mann, 389 F.3d 869, 878 (9th Cir. 2004) (quoting United States v. Spilotro, 800 F.2d 959, 963 (9th Cir. 1986)).

¶12 Here, there is no question that the government was able to describe the items more particularly, given that Gonzales’s affidavit used more particular terms: “a Glock pistol, unknown serial number or caliber; a spent casing, bullets, and an entry and possibly exit point where the bullet struck.” CP at 24. The warrant could easily have specified these items, rather than the general description of “certain evidence of a crime, to-wit: ‘Assault 2nd DV’ RCW 9A.36.021.” CP at 22.

¶[13 That the affidavit was attached to the warrant is irrelevant because the warrant did not incorporate the affidavit by reference. In Riley,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State Of Washington, V. Darrius Galom
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2024
State Of Washington, V. Michael Wayne Pickering
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2024
State Of Washington, V. Jamel Lewis Alexander
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2023
State Of Washington, V. Arthur S. Durone
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2021
Personal Restraint Petition of Richard Elliott Cain
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2021
State Of Washington v. Eric Shawn Thomas
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2019
State Of Washington v. Scott Halfhill
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2018
State Of Washington v. Say Sulin Keodara
364 P.3d 777 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2015)
State Of Washington, Res. v. Paul G. Jones, App.
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2013
State v. Temple
285 P.3d 149 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
136 Wash. App. 87, 2006 WL 3490928, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-higgins-washctapp-2006.