State v. Holmes

Superior Court of Delaware·Decided October 16, 2018·No. 1710018609·Published

Opinion

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

STATE OF DELAWARE ) )

)

v. ) I.D. No.: 1710018609

)

)

TRENTON HOLMES, ) )

Defendant. )

ORDER

Submitted: October 4, 2018 Decided: October 16, 2018

Upon Consideration of Defendam ’s Motion to Suppress, DENIED.

Gregory R. Babowal, Esquire, Department of Justice. Attorneyfor the State.

Anthony J. Capone, Esquire. Attorneyfor Defendam.

MEDINILLA, J.

AND NOW TO WIT, this 16th day of October, 2018, upon consideration of the Defendant’s Motion to Suppress and the record in this case,l it appears to the Court that:

l. Defendant Trenton Holmes (“Defendant”) is charged With Possession With Intent to Deliver Heroin in a Tier 4 Quantity, Possession of Heroin in a Tier 4 Quantity, and Possession of Drug Paraphemalia. Defendant Was arrested on October 30, 2017 after an administrative search of Defendant’s residence.

2. On October 30, 2017, Defendant, a homeless probationer, reported for his daily office visit at the Dover Probation and Parole Offlce (the “Offlce”) as required. Defendant had reported consecutively for the prior ten days that he Was residing at 409 Charing Cross Drive in Dover, Delaware (the “Residence”), Which Was his girlfriend Tiekeyal Singletary’s (“Singletary”) residence.

3. During the month of October 2017, Probation Offlcers and Dover Police had received a tip from a past proven reliable confidential informant (“CI”) that Defendant Was selling heroin out of the Residence. Detective Joshua Boesenberg (“Boesenberg”) reported that the CI told him that an individual known

as “Redy,” “Reds,” or “T” Was selling heroin from the Residence. Probation Officer

l The Court’s recitation is based on the facts presented in the motions, exhibits, and on the testimony of the State’s and Defendant’s Witnesses and/or exhibits presented at the suppression hearing held on July 23, 2018 and the evidence entered on October 4, 2018 after this Court granted Defendant’s Motion to Re-Open Evidence on September ll, 2018.

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Daniel Stagg (“Stagg”) Was familiar With Defendant Whose aliases included these names.2 Boesenberg showed the Informant a photograph of Holmes and the Cl identified Defendant as the person selling heroin from the Residence.3

4. On October 30, 2017, Probation Officer Ricky Porter (“Porter”) conducted surveillance of the Residence With Dover Police. During this surveillance, Porter observed a black female arrive at the Residence in a 2010 Nissan. This vehicle Was later determined to be Defendant’s girlfriend Singletary’s vehicle and Was the same vehicle that Defendant Was operating during prior drug related activity on August 23, 2017.4

5. The driver of the vehicle picked up Defendant at the Residence and they drove to an Aldi Grocery Store in Camden, Delaware Where they then picked up Singletary and Went to the Office in order for Defendant to report for his daily appointment.5

6. When Defendant arrived at the Office, Porter arrested him. He then obtained supervisory approval from Supervisor Robert Hume to conduct an

administrative search of the Residence. Porter cited that the administrative search

2 Def.’s Mot. to Suppress, Ex. B at 3. 3 Id. 4 Def.’s Mot. to Suppress, Ex. A at 2.

51d.

was based on a past proven reliable informant’s tip that Defendant was living at the Residence and selling heroin from that address, Defendant’s claim that he was homeless to his probation officer but was reporting staying at the Residence the past ten days, Defendant’s positive urinalysis test for marijuana on September 18, 2017 (42 days prior), and Defendant’s then pending drug charges.6

7. After he was arrested and handcuffed, Defendant told Porter that he was living at the Residence with Singletary. Porter walked outside to the parking lot and communicated directly with Singletary who was sitting in the parking lot of the Office. She then confirmed Defendant was residing with her and consented to a search of her vehicle. Porter testified also that verbal consent to search her home was obtained prior to heading to the Residence to conduct the search. Further, Porter and other Dover police officers responded to the Residence and Singletary signed a consent search form to search the Residence that was issued by Probation Officer Stagg.7 Singletary voluntarily followed the officers to her home to allow them to conduct a search. No evidence to the contrary was presented.

8. During the search of the Residence, the record reflects that Stagg

discovered 702 bags/4.914 grams of heroin and $263 in cash in the master bedroom.

6 Def.’s Mot. to Suppress, Ex. A at 2. Defendant was arrested for these then pending charges on August 23, 2017. The charges were resolved via plea agreement on January 3, 2018, which included a plea to Possession of a Controlled Substance with an Aggravating Factor.

7 Def.’s Mot. to Suppress, Ex. D.

Officers also found mail addressed to Defendant and male clothing throughout the master bedroom. Defendant waived his rights under Mz'randa and confessed that he lived at the Residence, possessed the bags of heroin, and that he was selling heroin. Porter also searched Defendant’s cell phone incident to arrest that showed text messages from Defendant texting about selling heroin.

9. Defendant filed this motion to suppress the evidence from the search of his Residence on June 19, 2018. The State responded on June 29, 2018. A suppression hearing was held on July 23, 2018. Defendant subsequently filed a Motion to Reopen Evidence, which this Court granted. A second supplemental hearing was held on October 4, 2018.

10. At the second supplemental hearing, the State recalled Porter to clarify his prior testimony related to the Administrative Warrant (“Administrative Warrant”) he signed on October 30, 2017, and to reconcile the testimony as it relates to the other two reports in this investigations First, the State identified the Administrative Warrant as an emergency capias, which provides the conditions of probation that had been allegedly violated as a result of these criminal drug-related

charges.9 This is different from the report that formed the basis for the search

8 Def.’s Ex. l.

91d.

ll. In support of the search, the State presented evidence through Porter who clarified that the second document, the “Arrest/Incident Report” dated October 31, 2017 fully sets out the reasons, including those to which he testified, regarding the bases for the administrative search.‘° The last document the Court was asked to consider was the Violation Report (“Violation Report”) completed by Probation Officer Anthony Slaughter and submitted on November 1, 2017 that simply confirms the allegation that these new criminal charges of October 30, 2017 formed the basis of the request to violate his probation.ll

Standard of Review

12. Under Delaware Superior Court Criminal Rule 12(b)(2), a criminal defendant is permitted to file a motion to suppress evidence prior to trial.l2 When a Defendant moves to suppress evidence collected in a warrantless search, the burden is on the State to prove the search “comported with the rights guaranteed [to the defendant] by the United States Constitution, the Delaware Constitution and

Delaware statutory law.”13 Here, the burden is on the State to prove the

'0 See generally Def.’s Mot. to Suppress, Ex. A. " Def.’s EX. 2. '2 DEL. SUPER. CT. CRIM. R. 12(b)(2).

13 State v. Preston, 2016 WL 5903002, at *2 (Del. Super. Sept. 27, 2016) (quoting State v. Kang, 2001 WL 1729126, at *3 (Del. Super. Nov. 30, 2001)).

constitutionality of the search by a preponderance of the evidence.14 Discussion

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