State v. Malone

323 P.3d 188, 50 Kan. App. 2d 167
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedApril 18, 2014
DocketNo. 110,191
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 323 P.3d 188 (State v. Malone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Malone, 323 P.3d 188, 50 Kan. App. 2d 167 (kanctapp 2014).

Opinion

Hill, J.:

This is an interlocutory appeal of a district court ruling suppressing contraband found in a trash bag left in front of a house. The district court held that since there was no evidence connecting the contraband with the house where the defendant was living, there was no probable cause to issue a search warrant, and the court thus suppressed the evidence. Because we agree that tliere was no probable cause for issuing this search warrant, we hold the court’s ruling on that point is correct. In its second attack on the court’s ruling, the State contends the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule compels the admission of this evidence. Because the affidavit in this case was so bare-bones, it lacked any indicia of probable cause, and any official belief that probable cause to search existed was unreasonable. We hold the trial court was correct when it refused to apply the good-faith exception.

[169]*169 A purchase of fertilizer and soil conditioner started this investigation.

At a meeting hosted by the Missouri State Highway Patrol regarding possible marijuana “grow houses” in Olathe, a Missouri Sergeant, Jim Wingo, told Olathe Detective Nicholas Stein that an unidentified male had been seen purchasing perlite soil conditioner and hquid fertilizer from the Green Circle Garden Center on Februaiy 8, 2011. The man was then seen driving a car registered to Mai Lin Malone, whose address was a residence on South Troost Street in Olathe.

Detective Stein went to the Troost address on April 7,2011, and recovered trash placed in a plastic garbage can sitting at the curb. Stein said that when he sorted through the trash, he found some plants suspected to be marijuana, a glass pipe containing suspected marijuana residue, an empty jug of General Hydroponics, and other items consistent with marijuana cultivation. Stein also found mail addressed to Melissa Sayer, at the same residence on South Troost Street. The mail was not found in the same bag as the contraband. Stein said that water billing records noted that Mai Lin Malone was the resident at the residence on South Troost Street.

Stein used this information to obtain a search warrant. The court concluded that the officer had probable cause to believe marijuana and various items related to the cultivation, use, packaging, and sale of marijuana would be found at the residence and issued a search warrant.

Stein and other officers executed the search warrant on April 8, 2011. They discovered marijuana plants, drug paraphernalia, firearms, and tattooing equipment. The State charged Malone with the crimes of cultivation of marijuana, two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, a drug tax stamp violation, and unlicensed tattooing.

Malone moved to suppress all evidence seized during the search. He claimed Stein’s affidavit failed to establish probable cause to search because the mail bearing Sayer’s name — the only evidence giving an indication of the source of the trash — was not found in [170]*170tlie same bag as the contraband. Malone argued that because the search warrant was unsupported by probable cause, all evidence obtained during the search — including the tattooing evidence-— was “fruit of the poisonous tree.”

In opposition to the motion, the State argued that the combination of finding the trash directly in front of the Troost residence and Stein’s information regarding the prior garden center purchase established probable cause. The State also claimed recovery of the tattooing evidence was permissible because it was in plain view when they were searching.

The district court agreed with Malone and granted his motion to suppress all evidence obtained during the search. The court explained that under Kansas law, an affidavit must specify a link between trash collected during a trash pull and the residence the police want to search. The court said that here, where the contraband was found in one trash bag and any evidence showing the source of the trash was found in a separate bag, there was not a sufficient link between the contraband and the residence. The court found Stein’s information about the garden center purchase to be insufficient as well, noting the link between Malone and this purchase was “tenuous,” as there was no evidence to establish Malone was the person who made the purchase.

In a motion for reconsideration, the State brought up for the first time the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule. In its resulting holding, the court first observed it need not consider the State’s argument because the State could have presented this argument prior to the court’s ruling on the suppression motion. Nevertheless, the court addressed the substance of tire State’s argument and determined the good-faith exception did not apply here because it was not reasonable for the officers to act on the warrant — -since the indicia of residency was not found in the same bag as die contraband. The court noted our Supreme Court has made it clear that an affidavit must establish a link between contraband found in the trash and a residence subject to a search, this is not a recent development in the law, and police officers must have a reasonable knowledge of what the law prohibits.

[171]*171The State brings this appeal, arguing the district court erred in determining Stein’s affidavit was insufficient to support a finding of probable cause to search the Troost residence. In addition, the State argues the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule should have applied here because law enforcement officers reasonably relied on die search warrant. We will examine the two issues in that order.

Our rules of revieio.

The standards for issuing a search warrant are well known. When considering whether to issue a search warrant, a judge is required to “make a practical, common-sense decision whether, given all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit, including the veracity and basis of knowledge of any person supplying hearsay information, there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.” State v. Hicks, 282 Kan. 599, Syl. ¶ 1, 147 P.3d 1076 (2006).

In turn, when we review the issuance of a search warrant on appeal, we apply a deferential standard of review to see if the affidavit provides a substantial basis to support the issuance of the warrant:

“When an affidavit in support of an application for search warrant is challenged, the task of the reviewing court is to ensure that the issuing magistrate had a substantial basis for concluding probable cause existed. This standard is inherently deferential. It does not demand that die reviewing court determine whether, as a matter of law, probable cause existed; rather, the standard translates to whether the affidavit provided a substantial basis for the magistrate’s determination that there is a fair probability diat evidence will be found in the place to be searched. Because die reviewing court is able to evaluate the necessarily undisputed content of an affidavit as well as the issuing magistrate, the reviewing court may perform its own evaluation of the affidavit’s sufficiency under this deferential standard.” Hicks, 282 Kan. 599, Syl. ¶ 2.

This deferential standard of review is appropriate because such a policy encourages police officers to first seek a warrant before making a search.

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

Related

State v. Gardner
Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2025
Zuniga-Rodriguez v. State
Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2020
State v. Bowen
Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2020
Givhan v. Kemper
E.D. Wisconsin, 2020
State v. Johnston
2019 WI App 15 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2019)
State v. Krajicek
25 Neb. Ct. App. 616 (Nebraska Court of Appeals, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
323 P.3d 188, 50 Kan. App. 2d 167, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-malone-kanctapp-2014.