State v. White, Unpublished Decision (1-24-2000)
State v. White, Unpublished Decision (1-24-2000)
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
On January 20, 1999, Judge Robert G. Lavery of the Alliance Municipal Court issued a search warrant for a residence located at 745 South Liberty in Alliance, Ohio. The warrant was executed on January 25, 1999. As a result, appellant, Andre White, was arrested and charged with possession of cocaine in violation of R.C.I THE TRIAL COURT ERRED TO THE PREJUDICE OF THE DEFENDANT/APPELLANT IN DENYING HIS MOTION TO SUPPRESS DUE TO THE DEFICIENCIES IN THE SEARCH WARRANT, THEREBY VIOLATING HIS FOURTH AMENDMENT CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.
A warrant shall issue under this rule only on an affidavit or affidavits sworn to before a judge of a court of record and establishing the grounds for issuing the warrant. The affidavit shall name or describe the person to be searched or particularly describe the place to be searched, name or describe the property to be searched for and seized, state substantially the offense in relation thereto, and state the factual basis for the affiant's belief that such property is there located. If the judge is satisfied that probable cause for the search exists, he shall issue a warrant identifying the property and naming or describing the person or place to be searched.
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The warrant shall be directed to a law enforcement officer. It shall command the officer to search, within three days, the person or place named for the property specified. The warrant shall be served in the daytime, unless the issuing court, by appropriate provision in the warrant, and for reasonable cause shown, authorizes its execution at times other than daytime. The warrant shall designate a judge to whom it shall be returned.
(Emphasis added.)
Crim.R. 45(A) governs the computation of time and states as follows:
In computing any period of time prescribed or allowed by these rules, by the local rules of any court, by order of court, or by any applicable statute, the date of the act or event from which the designated period of time begins to run shall not be included. The last day of the period so computed shall be included, unless it is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, in which event the period runs until the end of the next day which is not Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday. When the period of time prescribed or allowed is less than seven days, intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays shall be excluded in computation.
The search warrant was signed on Wednesday, January 20, 1999, and executed on Monday, January 25, 1999, at 1:03 a.m. If Saturday and Sunday do not count per Crim.R. 45(A), then the search warrant was executed within time. In examining this area of the law, the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Western Division, noted the issue is whether the probable cause for the issuance of the search warrant changed before it was executed. See, United States v. Richmond (1988),
A search warrant authorizing the search of `all persons' on a particular premises does not violate the Fourth Amendment requirement of particularity if the supporting affidavit shows probable cause that every individual on the subject premises will be in possession of, at the time of the search, evidence of the kind sought in the warrant.
In explaining the particular granting of an "all persons" search warrant, Justice Lundberg Stratton in Kinney at 95 cited the following from People v. Nieves (1975),
`In determining the reasonableness of a particular warrant application, it is appropriate to consider the necessity for this type of search, that is, the nature and importance of the crime suspected, the purpose of the search and the difficulty of a more specific description of the persons to be searched. The risk that an innocent person may be swept up in a dragnet and searched must be carefully weighed.'
Applying Kinney to the facts sub judice, we find probable cause substantiated by the continued traffic at the residence by convicted and known drug users, the controlled drug buy inside the residence and the residence's location in a high drug activity area. Also, the search warrant was executed at night and there was testimony that there is a great likelihood of the presence of weapons in drug sale residences. T. at 15. Based upon the above facts, we conclude there was sufficient evidence to establish probable cause that there were numerous convicted and known drug users and the likelihood of weapons in the residence. The trial court did not err in denying the motion to suppress. The sole assignment of error is denied.
The judgment of the Court of Common Pleas of Stark County, Ohio is hereby affirmed.
By FARMER, J. GWIN, P.J. and HOFFMAN, J., concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.