Yancey v. State

44 S.W.3d 315, 345 Ark. 103, 2001 Ark. LEXIS 334
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMay 24, 2001
DocketCR 00-1310
StatusPublished
Cited by50 cases

This text of 44 S.W.3d 315 (Yancey v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yancey v. State, 44 S.W.3d 315, 345 Ark. 103, 2001 Ark. LEXIS 334 (Ark. 2001).

Opinions

Jim Hannah, Justice.

Appellants Lee Roy Cloud and Curtis Hoyt Yancey appeal their conviction and sentence for violation of Arkansas Code Annotated Section 5-64-401 (Supp. 1999), for possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver. Both appellants filed conditional pleas of guilty pursuant to Ark. R. Crim. P. 24.3(b), whereby they reserved their right to appeal from the trial court’s denial of their motion to suppress evidence seized during the a search of their homes. Both appellants were sentenced to four months confinement and four years probation.

This case was appealed to the court of appeals, which resulted in a 4-2 decision by that court that the warrants to carry out the searches were properly issued because the facts presented formed a substantial basis to conclude that probable cause existed and that marijuana would likely be found where appellants lived. Yancey v. State, 71 Ark. App. 280, 30 S.W.2d 117 (2000). The court of appeals additionally found that even if probable cause, was lacking, the search met the requirements of the “good faith exception” set out in United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897 (1984), in that the judge determined there was probable cause and the police acted in reasonable reliance on the warrants issued. We granted a petition for review and now consider this matter. When we grant a petition for review pursuant to Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 2-4, we treat the appeal as if it were filed in this court originally. Tucker v. Roberts-McNutt, Inc., 342 Ark. 511, 29 S.W.3d 706 (2000); Fowler v. State, 339 Ark. 207, 5 S.W.3d 10 (1999); Travis v. State, 331 Ark. 7, 959 S.W.2d 32 (1998).

We decline to follow the line of cases cited by the court of appeals and reaffirm our requirement that before a search warrant may issue, an affidavit must be presented to the magistrate that particularly sets forth the facts and circumstances tending to show that the things to be seized are in the place to be searched. Although we hold probable cause in the affidavit lacking, we hold that the officers acted in good faith on the issued warrant and hold that the Leon exception applied. We reverse in part and affirm in part.

Facts

On June 17, 1998, at approximately 9:30 p.m, Arkansas Game and Fish Officer David Evans observed a Jeep being driven down a road in a remote wooded area in Monroe County. He knew Yancey had been driving that Jeep for some time. Evans knew both Yancey and Cloud and had spoken with them before. Evans left his lights off and followed the Jeep. He then parked and observed appellants by use of night-vision equipment. He observed them remove containers of water from the Jeep and water plants growing in a tub, in an ice chest, and in the ground. Evans returned to his own vehicle and waited. He then followed appellants back to Cloud’s residence in Arkansas County.

At Cloud’s residence, Evans asked appellants what they were doing down that road. They responded, “Frogging.” Evans testified in the suppression hearing that there were no frogs down that road. He also testified that he asked if they got any frogs, and they responded, “No.” He then asked if he could look in the vehicle, and they consented. Evans testified he looked through the window and saw gallon jugs and five gallon cans, that there was no frog-gigging equipment, and that while Cloud was wearing hip waders, they had dry dust all over them. Evans testified he saw nothing in the Jeep other than the water containers.

After leaving appellants, Evans called Arkansas State Trooper Rosencrantz because he was not sure who to call given the plants were in Monroe County and appellants lived in Arkansas County. Apparently nothing came of that call. The next day, Evans called the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department and was told that they would be overflying the area soon and that they would get back to him. He did not hear back from them that day, so the next day he went to Wendall Jines, a Criminal Investigative Division investigator for the State Police. Jines took Evan’s deposition, and he and Evans returned to the plants. They believed they were marijuana plants. The plants were put under surveillance, but Yancey and Cloud never returned. Jines and Evans removed three plants the day they first went to examine the plants and an additional fifteen on the morning of June 22, 1998. On that same day, Evans appeared before Municipal Judge Norman Smith, at which time the search warrants were issued to search Cloud’s home and Yancey’s home. Evans was the sole source of information. Marijuana was found in each appellant’s home.

Standard of Review

When reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress, we view the evidence in a light most favorable to the State, make an independent determination based on the totality of the circumstances, and reverse only if the ruling was clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. Miller v. State, 342 Ark. 213, 27 S.W.3d 427 (2000); Mazepink v. State, 336 Ark. 171, 987 S.W.2d 648, cert. denied, 120 S.Ct. 321 (1999); Fultz v. State, 333 Ark. 586, 972 S.W.2d 222 (1998).

Reasonable Cause

In this case, search warrants were issued for two homes after appellants were observed watering eighteen marijuana plants in the woods five to six miles from their homes and then driving to Cloud’s home. The plants in the woods were seized prior to the issuance of the search warrant. We also note that the water containers used by appellants were transported and were still in Yancey’s vehicle when Officer Evans looked in the vehicle window

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Art. 2 § 15 of the Arkansas Constitution provide protection against general search and seizure and require a warrant before a search may take place.

In Arkansas, the procedure for issuance of a search warrant is set out in Ark. R. Crim. P. 13.1. The portions of that rule relevant to the issues of this case provide:

(b) The application for a search warrant shall describe with particularity the persons or places to be searched and the persons or things to be seized, and shall be supported by one (1) or more affidavits or recorded testimony under oath before a judicial officer particularly setting forth the facts and circumstances tending to show that such persons or things are in the places, or the things are in possession of the person, to be searched .... An affidavit or testimony is sufficient if it describes circumstances establishing reasonable cause to believe that things subject to seizure will be found in a particular place. . . .

Thus, probable or reasonable cause to believe the things subject to seizure will be found in the particular place identified is required, and this must be established by affidavit or recorded testimony. See Nance v. State, 323 Ark. 583, 918 S.W.2d 114 (1996); Ark. R. Crim. P. 10.1.

The cases hereinafter discussed refer to both reasonable cause and probable cause. In Edwards v. State, 300 Ark. 4, 775 S.W.2d 900 (1989), we indicated that there is no “substantive distinction” between the terms.

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Bluebook (online)
44 S.W.3d 315, 345 Ark. 103, 2001 Ark. LEXIS 334, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yancey-v-state-ark-2001.