State v. Revelo

740 A.2d 390, 55 Conn. App. 217, 1999 Conn. App. LEXIS 396
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedOctober 12, 1999
DocketAC 17757
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 740 A.2d 390 (State v. Revelo) 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. Revelo, 740 A.2d 390, 55 Conn. App. 217, 1999 Conn. App. LEXIS 396 (Colo. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinions

Opinion

FOTI, J.

The defendant, Hector Revelo, appeals from the trial court’s judgment of conviction of sale of illegal drugs in violation of General Statutes § 21a-278 (a)1 [219]*219rendered after a conditional plea of nolo contendere pursuant to General Statutes § 54-94a.* 2 On appeal, the defendant challenges the trial court’s conclusion that there was probable cause for a search of his apartment and claims that the court violated his constitutional rights by adding one additional year to his sentence because he insisted on a determination of his motion to suppress. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

I

The defendant challenges the sufficiency of the facts stated in the warrant affidavit to support the finding of probable cause to search his apartment. The affidavit for the search warrant, pursuant to which the defendant’s apartment was searched and found to contain illegal drugs, was signed by two Waterbury police officers claiming to have a combined total of forty years training and experience and to have conducted numerous narcotics investigations resulting in arrests and convictions. It stated that within the two weeks prior to the search warrant application, members of the vice and intelligence division of the Waterbury police department had received information that the defendant was using Apartment K at 103 Hamden Avenue as a drug factory and that a Hispanic male known as “Tito” was delivering drugs for the defendant.

[220]*220The affidavit then set forth the following narrative: “That within the past few days, a known and reliable confidential informant, who has given the Waterbury police department information that has led to arrests and convictions, came forward and agreed to make a controlled purchase of cocaine from the Hispanic male known as ‘Tito.’ The informant was searched for drugs and none were found. The informant was given Waterbury police funds for the sole purpose of purchasing cocaine from . . . Tito. The informant then contacted . . . Tito by telephone and arranged a purchase of cocaine at a prearranged location. A surveillance was setup on [the defendant’s apartment], . . . [The defendant] was observed operating a 1988 Dodge Caravan . . . and drove to [his apartment] and entered [it] using a key. ... A short time later . . . Tito was observed operating a 1983 Toyota Starlet . . . and he was also observed entering [the apartment] using a key. A short time later both parties exited [the apartment] and left in their vehicles. . . .

“Tito was followed to the prearranged location where he met the informant. While under surveillance the informant was observed meeting with . . . Tito. After the meeting the informant then went directly to this affiant and turned over a white powder substance. The informant said that the white powder substance was purchased from . . . Tito. . . . The surveillance was continued and . . . Tito was observed going directly [back to the defendant’s apartment] where he met with [the defendant] outside and . . . Tito gave [the defendant] money. ...”

Although the defendant challenges the sufficiency of the facts stated in the warrant affidavit to support the finding of probable cause to search his apartment, he does not dispute their veracity. The judge who denied the defendant’s motion to suppress concluded that the [221]*221affidavit “presented a substantial factual basis, including reasonably drawn inferences, that uphold the validity of the warrant and the magistrate’s conclusion that probable cause existed.”

The defendant relies primarily on State v. DeCham-plain, 179 Conn. 522, 427 A.2d 1338 (1980), in claiming that the facts set out in the warrant application do not establish a sufficient connection between his apartment and the illegal drugs that were delivered to the affiant officer by the informant. In DeChamplain, a case involving a similar controlled buy, there was no indication that the drugs delivered to the informant by the seller came from the apartment in question other than the fact that the seller’s car was observed parked near the apartment prior to the sale. According to our Supreme Court, “[i]t was just as likely that the marihuana sought to be seized was in another location—for example, in another apartment in the complex or in the [seller’s carl—as it was that it was in [the apartment searchedl.” Id., 532.

The case before us is readily distinguishable. The fact that Tito, after agreeing to meet the informant to sell him illegal drugs, immediately drove to the defendant’s apartment and arrived almost simultaneously with the defendant indicates some communication between them to arrange the meeting for a purpose related to that communication. If Tito already had possessed a supply of drugs sufficient to complete the sale to the informant, it is unlikely that he would have made a special trip to the defendant’s apartment prior to meeting with the informant.

Further, Tito’s return to the defendant’s apartment after delivering the drugs to the informant, and his payment of money to the defendant there, indicates the significance of the apartment as the center of the drug distribution operation. “In making his determination on [222]*222the issue of probable cause, the magistrate is entitled to rely on the ordinary dictates of common experience and on his own common sense.” State v. Bember, 183 Conn. 394, 412, 439 A.2d 387 (1981). We conclude that the facts contained in the search warrant application support a reasonable inference that the apartment was the source of the drugs delivered by Tito to the informant and that additional drugs probably would be found there. We conclude that the trial court properly found that probable cause existed to issue the search warrant and, therefore, properly denied the defendant’s motion to suppress.

II

■ The defendant next claims that he was penalized for exercising his right to a judicial determination of his motion to suppress the evidence obtained as a result of the warrant. The basis for this claim is the plea bargain made before the trial court denied the defendant’s motion to suppress.

The defendant was charged in a four count information with two counts of selling illegal drugs in violation of § 2 la-278 (a), one count of operating a drug factory in violation of General Statutes § 2 la-277 (c) and one count of risk of injury to a child in violation of General Statutes § 53-21. On June 17, 1997, the trial court announced that a plea offer of “eight years to serve in jail” had been made to the defendant, but that the defendant wanted a hearing on his motion to suppress. The court stated further that if the defendant wanted to plead guilty after losing that motion, the sentence would be nine years instead of eight years. The defendant responded that he understood.3

[223]*223Two weeks after the denial of his motion to suppress,4 the defendant accepted an offer of a plea bargain for a definite sentence of nine years imprisonment on the charge of sale of illegal drugs, reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress pursuant to § 54-94a. The state agreed to nolle the three remaining charges.

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Related

State v. Perkins
856 A.2d 917 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2004)
State v. Revelo
743 A.2d 617 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
740 A.2d 390, 55 Conn. App. 217, 1999 Conn. App. LEXIS 396, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-revelo-connappct-1999.