State v. Sayles

CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedFebruary 23, 2021
DocketAC43500
StatusPublished

This text of State v. Sayles (State v. Sayles) 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. Sayles, (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. DWAYNE SAYLES (AC 43500) Elgo, Alexander and Suarez, Js.

Syllabus

The defendant, who had been convicted of felony murder and several other crimes, appealed, claiming that the trial court improperly denied his motions to suppress his cell phone that was seized by the police and the information it contained. The defendant and two other men, V and S, had driven to and parked their car near a convenience store. V remained in the car while the defendant and S went into the store, robbed it of cash and cigars, and fatally shot the victim, an employee, before fleeing in the car with V. The police later took a statement from V, who identified the defendant and S as the perpetrators of the robbery and murder, and stated that they had contacted him by cell phone or that he had contacted them by cell phone on the day of the victim’s death. The next day, the defendant spoke with two detectives at the police station. After the defendant invoked his right to counsel pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona (384 U.S. 436), one of the detectives, P, asked the defendant where his cell phone was located. The defendant responded that the phone was with his mother, who was waiting outside of the interview room. P then asked the defendant’s mother for the cell phone, which she gave him. The next day, P prepared an affidavit in support of an application for a search and seizure warrant to obtain the contents of the phone. The defendant claimed in his first motion to suppress that the police lacked probable cause to seize his phone at the police station and that the detectives improperly continued ques- tioning him after he invoked his right to counsel pursuant to Miranda. He further claimed that the subsequent search of the phone’s contents constituted fruit of the poisonous tree as a result of P’s having prepared an inaccurate affidavit as part of the warrant application. In his second motion to suppress, the defendant sought to suppress the contents of and cellular data from the phone due to alleged violations of the federal and state constitutions. He claimed that he was entitled to a hearing pursuant to Franks v. Delaware (438 U.S. 154) because he had made a preliminary showing that P’s affidavit contained assertions that were known to be false or were made with reckless disregard for the truth. On appeal, the defendant claimed, inter alia, that this court should adopt a prophylactic rule under the state constitution that would render inadmissible incriminating evidence obtained after a criminal suspect invokes the right to counsel or to have counsel present and the police continue to use deceptive tactics to undermine those rights. Held: 1. The trial court properly denied the defendant’s motion to suppress the evidence that was obtained from his cell phone, which was based on his assertion that the evidence was discovered as a result of a Miranda violation by the police: the defendant did not seek to suppress his response to P, which occurred after the defendant’s request for counsel, and, even if a Miranda violation occurred when P questioned him as to the phone’s location after the invocation of his rights to remain silent and to counsel, the phone and its contents were not subject to suppression under the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine, as Miranda does not apply to the fruits of unwarned statements; furthermore, this court declined to adopt the prophylactic rule the defendant proposed, as the record and the trial court’s findings did not support his claim that the police intended to undermine his invocation of his Miranda rights and to trick him into telling them where his phone was, and the trial court found, to the contrary, that there was evidence of the phone’s use prior to and after the victim’s death, and that P wanted to seize the phone to ensure that its data was not erased or damaged; moreover, the defendant’s brief lacked a comprehensive analysis of the state consti- tution that would persuade this court of the propriety of adopting his proposed rule or that the protections afforded by the state constitution are greater than those afforded by the federal constitution. 2. The defendant could not prevail on his claim that the trial court erred in concluding that the police had probable cause to seize his cell phone pursuant to the exigent circumstances exception to the fourth amend- ment’s warrant requirement: the court correctly found that P, while at the police station, had sufficient information to establish probable cause, which included information that the defendant and S had been involved in the robbery and shooting and that one of them had communicated with V by cell phone, and the court credited P’s testimony that criminal actors often use cell phones to communicate with one another and that cell phones may contain evidence that may connect a person to a crime; moreover, there was no merit to the defendant’s assertion that the police should not have relied on V’s statements to establish probable cause, as it is proper for the police to assess the credibility of informants, and V’s statements that were against his penal interest carried their own indicia of credibility. 3. The defendant’s claim that the warrant application to search his cell phone contained materially false information pursuant to Franks was inadequate for review, as the trial court did not make a finding as to whether the omission in P’s affidavit that questioning of the defendant occurred after he requested counsel was done knowingly or falsely or with reckless disregard for the truth, and the defendant’s brief failed to address whether that omission was material to the determination of probable cause. Argued September 17, 2020—officially released February 23, 2021

Procedural History

Substitute information charging the defendant with the crimes of felony murder, conspiracy to commit rob- bery in the first degree, criminal possession of a pistol or revolver and carrying a pistol without a permit, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of Waterbury, where the court, B. Fischer, J., denied the defendant’s motions to suppress certain evidence; thereafter, the matter was tried to the jury; verdict and judgment of guilty, from which the defendant appealed. Affirmed. Dina S. Fisher, assigned counsel, for the appellant (defendant). Timothy J. Sugrue, assistant state’s attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Patrick J. Griffin, state’s attorney, Seth R.

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

Related

Wong Sun v. United States
371 U.S. 471 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Beck v. Ohio
379 U.S. 89 (Supreme Court, 1964)
Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Franks v. Delaware
438 U.S. 154 (Supreme Court, 1978)
New York v. Quarles
467 U.S. 649 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Ornelas v. United States
517 U.S. 690 (Supreme Court, 1996)
United States v. Patane
542 U.S. 630 (Supreme Court, 2004)
Braveheart v. United States
544 U.S. 949 (Supreme Court, 2005)
United States v. Capers
627 F.3d 470 (Second Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Parker
549 F.3d 5 (First Circuit, 2008)
State v. Boyd
992 A.2d 1071 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2010)
State v. Cotto
960 A.2d 1113 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2008)
State v. Federici
425 A.2d 916 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1979)
State v. Canales
916 A.2d 767 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2007)
State v. Stepney
464 A.2d 758 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1983)
State v. Thomas
909 A.2d 969 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2006)
State v. Estrella
893 A.2d 348 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2006)
State v. Jackson
40 A.3d 290 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2012)
Coleman v. Commissioner of Correction
958 A.2d 790 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
State v. Sayles, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-sayles-connappct-2021.