State v. Lyons

203 Conn. App. 551
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedMarch 30, 2021
DocketAC42807
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 203 Conn. App. 551 (State v. Lyons) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Lyons, 203 Conn. App. 551 (Colo. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

*********************************************** The “officially released” date that appears near the be- ginning of each opinion is the date the opinion will be pub- lished in the Connecticut Law Journal or the date it was released as a slip opinion. The operative date for the be- ginning of all time periods for filing postopinion motions and petitions for certification is the “officially released” date appearing in the opinion.

All opinions are subject to modification and technical correction prior to official publication in the Connecticut Reports and Connecticut Appellate Reports. In the event of discrepancies between the advance release version of an opinion and the latest version appearing in the Connecticut Law Journal and subsequently in the Connecticut Reports or Connecticut Appellate Reports, the latest version is to be considered authoritative.

The syllabus and procedural history accompanying the opinion as it appears in the Connecticut Law Journal and bound volumes of official reports are copyrighted by the Secretary of the State, State of Connecticut, and may not be reproduced and distributed without the express written permission of the Commission on Official Legal Publica- tions, Judicial Branch, State of Connecticut. *********************************************** STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. GAVIN LYONS STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. DAVID GORDON STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. PRINCE GORDON STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. ZIPPORAH GREENE-WALTERS (AC 42807) Bright, C. J., and Lavine and Cradle, Js.*

Syllabus

Following the search of a home located at 351 Noble Avenue in Bridgeport, the defendants, who all claimed to be residents of that address, were charged with various drug and weapons offenses. The warrant that supposedly authorized the search described the premises to be searched as ‘‘349 Noble Avenue.’’ 349 Noble Avenue and 351 Noble Avenue are separate units within the same duplex. Each unit has its own driveway, front entrance, mailbox, electric meter, and gas meter, and neither unit can be accessed from inside of the other unit. Prior to trial, the defen- dants filed motions to suppress the evidence seized during the search, claiming that, because the warrant authorized a search of the property identified as ‘‘349 Noble Avenue,’’ the search of 351 Noble Avenue was conducted without a warrant and that the seizure of the items could not be justified pursuant to any exception to the warrant requirement. Following a hearing, the trial court granted the defendants’ motions and, on the state’s motion, rendered judgment dismissing each informa- tion. The state, on the granting of permission, appealed to this court, claiming, inter alia, that the defendant in the first case, L, who was the only defendant who did not testify at the hearing, failed to meet his burden of proving an expectation of privacy in the area searched and, therefore, did not have standing to proceed with his motion. Held: 1. The trial court did not err in determining that L met his burden of proving an expectation of privacy in the area searched by law enforcement officers and had standing to proceed with a motion to suppress: it is well established that owners, tenants, and even overnight guests of a dwelling have a reasonable expectation of privacy in that dwelling and, therefore, have standing to contest the legality of a search of the dwelling; moreover, the state’s claims that the court relied on inadmissible hearsay and improperly took judicial notice of facts not testified to at the hearing in determining that L had a reasonable expectation of privacy are unavail- ing because the state failed to include an adequate analysis of how it was harmed by the court’s evidentiary rulings in its brief; furthermore, the court’s finding that L had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the area searched was not clearly erroneous when the executing officers found personal items, including men’s clothing and important documents such as a passport and other identifications containing L’s name or photograph, in the room he alleged was his own and when he was wearing a bathrobe and slippers at the time of the search, which com- menced at 6 a.m., evidence that was sufficient to prove that L was, at a minimum, an overnight guest at the premises. 2. The trial court did not err in granting the defendants’ motions to suppress: the search was conducted pursuant to a warrant that authorized the search of a different address, the only description of the premises in the warrant was the address, which clearly and unambiguously identified the place to be searched as ‘‘349 Noble Avenue,’’ and the warrant did not contain any information indicating that the issuing magistrate instead intended 351 Noble Avenue to be searched or that the officers executing the warrant otherwise had knowledge of that intent; moreover, the mistake in the warrant was not cured by the affidavit filed in support of the warrant application because the warrant did not incorporate the contents of the affidavit, as it did not reference the affidavit, there was no evidence that the affidavit was attached to the warrant, and the affidavit was under seal and was not available to the executing officers, so it could not have been used to inform the officers that the warrant was actually intended to authorize a search of 351 Noble Avenue; further- more, there are no facts in evidence to uphold the search in the face of the claim that the warrant lacked particularity because there was no evidence that the executing officers prepared the warrant or participated in the surveillance of the premises prior to the search and, therefore, understood the intended reach of the warrant and executed it accord- ingly; additionally, none of the factors that may justify a search with a technical error in the warrant was present in this case, as there was nothing on the face of the warrant to eliminate the possibility that another premises might be mistakenly searched, such as a physical description of the property, and there was no evidence that the executing officers conducted the presearch investigation or prepared the warrant application; accordingly, the search was a warrantless search that was presumptively unlawful and the state, relying entirely on the warrant as legal authorization for the search, did not claim any exception to the warrant requirement. Argued October 7, 2020—officially released March 30, 2021

Procedural History

Information charging the defendant in the first case with the crimes of theft of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance, and information charging the defendant in the second case with the crimes of sale of a controlled substance, operation of a drug factory, possession of a controlled substance, negligent storage of a firearm, possession of a controlled substance within 1500 feet of a school and possession of drug paraphernalia within 1500 feet of a school, and informa- tion charging the defendant in the third case with the crimes of sale of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug para- phernalia, and information charging the defendant in the fourth case with the crimes of sale of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of Fairfield, geographical area number two, where the trial court, Hon. William Holden, judge trial referee, granted the defendants’ motions to suppress certain evidence and, on the state’s motion, rendered judgment dismiss- ing each information; thereafter, the state, on the grant- ing of permission, appealed to this court. Affirmed. Ronald G. Weller, senior assistant state’s attorney, with whom were C. Robert Satti, Jr., supervisory assis- tant state’s attorney, and, on the brief, John C. Smriga, state’s attorney, for the appellant (state). Adele V. Patterson, senior assistant public defender, for the appellee (defendant Gavin Lyons).

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Bluebook (online)
203 Conn. App. 551, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lyons-connappct-2021.