Wendt v. State

876 N.E.2d 788, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 2586
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 21, 2007
Docket53A04-0612-CR-684
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 876 N.E.2d 788 (Wendt v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wendt v. State, 876 N.E.2d 788, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 2586 (Ind. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION

MAY, Judge.

In this consolidated appeal, Norman and Eileen Wendt challenge the admission of evidence seized at their home pursuant to a search warrant. The Wendts first assert there is no good faith exception to the exclusionary rule under the Indiana Constitution. They also argue the good faith exception is unavailable because the officer who sought the warrant acted in reckless disregard of the truth and misled the issuing magistrate regarding the reliability of his informant. We reaffirm the good faith exception under the Indiana Constitution, and we find the officer acted in good faith. The trial court therefore did not abuse its discretion by admitting the evidence, and we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On August 13, 2004, the Indiana State Police obtained a warrant to search the Wendt residence after learning the Wendts were growing and selling psilocy-bin mushrooms. 1 Officers executed the search warrant and found marijuana, drug paraphernalia, prescription drugs, weapons, and evidence of mushroom growing. The State charged the Wendts with manufacturing a controlled substance as a Class B felony, 2 possession of a controlled substance as a Class D felony, 3 maintaining a common nuisance as a Class D felony, 4 possession of marijuana as a Class A misdemeanor, 5 and possession of paraphernalia as a Class A misdemeanor. 6

The Wendts moved to suppress the evidence seized pursuant to the warrant. They introduced evidence challenging the accuracy of the information Trooper Mark Parker had supplied to the magistrate to demonstrate probable cause for the warrant. The trial court denied the Wendts’ *790 motion to suppress, finding “a substantial basis did not exist to support a finding of probable cause,” (App. at 216), but “the officers relied in good faith upon the warrant.” (Id. at 217.) The court then found both Wendts guilty as charged.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

Because the Wendts are appealing from final judgments, we determine whether the trial court abused its discretion by admitting the evidence at trial. Hirshey v. State, 852 N.E.2d 1008, 1012 (Ind.Ct.App.2006), trans. denied 860 N.E.2d 595 (Ind.2006).

1. Existence of Exception

The Wendts first argue the application of the federal good faith exception, established in U.S. v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 923, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984), reh’g denied 468 U.S. 1250, 105 S.Ct. 52, 82 L.Ed.2d 942 (1984), 7 is inconsistent with the reasonableness requirement of Article I, Section 11 of the Indiana Constitution.

One year after Leon was decided, we held:

Because the Indiana exclusionary rule has historical ties to the federal rule, and because Article I, Section 11 of the Indiana Constitution contains substantially identical language as the fourth amendment, we fail to find any compelling reason for rejecting the Leon good faith exception in Indiana, at least until such time as experience convinces us that the exception is unworkable or subject to abuse. Therefore, we, too, adopt such an exclusion.

Mers v. State, 482 N.E.2d 778, 783 (Ind.Ct.App.1985). When our Supreme Court was asked whether a good faith exception to the exclusionary rule existed under the Indiana Constitution, it cited Mers with approval. Hopkins v. State, 582 N.E.2d 345, 351 (Ind.1991) (“regardless of appellant’s assertion to the contrary, the federal good-faith exception ... has been held applicable to the prohibition of unreasonable search and seizure found in art. 1, § 11 of the Indiana Constitution”), reh’g denied.

Nonetheless, the Wendts argue Mers and Hopkins have been “implicitly overruled,” (Appellant’s Reply Br. at 14), by the reasoning in Brown v. State, 653 N.E.2d 77 (Ind.1995). They have not.

Brown involved the warrantless search of an automobile parked in a residential neighborhood and surrounded by police cars. Because the search therein occurred without a warrant, our Supreme Court had no reason to analyze whether the officers had relied in good faith on an improperly issued warrant. Brown is thus irrelevant to the validity of the good faith exception under the Indiana Constitution’s reasonableness analysis.

Neither have the Wendts convinced us the good faith exception — which itself includes a reasonableness inquiry — is incompatible with the reasonableness test we apply for an Article 1, Section 11 analysis. We decline to depart from precedent establishing the existence of the good faith *791 exception under Indiana Law. See also State v. Spillers, 847 N.E.2d 949, 957 (Ind.2006) (evidence admissible under good faith exception); Lloyd v. State, 677 N.E.2d 71, 74 (Ind.Ct.App.1997) (“an exception has been carved out under both federal and Indiana law in which a search will be deemed valid if the State can show that the officer conducting the search relied in good faith upon a properly issued, but subsequently invalidated warrant”), trans. denied 690 N.E.2d 1180 (Ind.1997).

2. Application of Exception

To decide whether the good faith exception is available to the State, we must determine whether Trooper Parker misled the issuing magistrate or acted with reckless disregard of the truth when he sought the warrant. See, e.g., Spillers, 847 N.E.2d at 957.

Probable cause for the warrant to search the Wendts’ home rested in substantial part on the statements of an informant, Jeremy Moore. Probable cause to issue a warrant cannot arise from uncorroborated hearsay from a source whose credibility is itself unknown, Jaggers v. State, 687 N.E.2d 180, 182 (Ind.1997). Rather, the hearsay must exhibit some hallmarks of reliability — for example, that the informant has given correct information in the past or independent police investigation corroborates the informant’s statements. Id.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
876 N.E.2d 788, 2007 Ind. App. LEXIS 2586, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wendt-v-state-indctapp-2007.