Logan v. Com.
Logan v. Com.
Opinion
The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether the Court of Appeals erred in holding that the exclusionary rule never applies to evidence submitted in probation revocation proceedings, regardless of the searching officer's conduct or bad faith.
I
The facts relevant to the issue presented are not in dispute. In 2002, James Gregory
Logan was convicted of selling cocaine as an accommodation under Code § 18.2-248(D). He was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, with three years and seven months suspended upon condition that he be of good behavior for three years and six months from the date of his release from probation. On August 22, 2003, Logan, while on probation, was arrested for possession of cocaine. He was convicted and appealed his conviction to the Court of Appeals, contending that the search and seizure that yielded the contraband had violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Court of Appeals, sitting
en banc,
reversed Logan's conviction on Fourth Amendment grounds,
Logan v. Commonwealth,
The Commonwealth then sought to have Logan's probation revoked because he had violated the requirement that he be of good behavior. The Commonwealth argued that Logan's conduct in possessing cocaine while on probation was proved and that the exclusionary rule did not apply at a probation revocation hearing. Logan argued that the evidence obtained as a result of an unlawful search and seizure should be excluded from the probation revocation hearing because the police officer who made the warrantless search and seizure had acted in bad faith.
At the probation revocation hearing, Danville police officer Jerry Lee Pace, Jr. testified that he saw a man whom he thought was wanted for a felony. Officer Pace followed the man into a rooming house and up the stairs where he saw the man and a woman on the landing. The man, who possessed a piece of crack cocaine, was Logan. Logan was not the wanted felon.
The trial court conducting the probation revocation hearing found that the police officer had not acted in bad faith and that the evidence obtained from the officer's search and seizure should not be excluded. The court, therefore, revoked Logan's probation. Logan filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals.
II
In the Court of Appeals, Logan contended, as he had done in the trial court, that the evidence obtained by Officer Pace should have been suppressed because the officer, in entering the rooming house, had acted in bad faith. The Court of Appeals did not consider Logan's bad-faith argument, finding irrelevant the question whether the officer had acted in bad faith and holding that the exclusionary rule never applies in a probation revocation proceeding.
Logan v. Commonwealth,
This holding by the Court of Appeals is contrary to
Anderson v. Commonwealth,
We conclude that the Court of Appeals' reliance on
Scott
is misplaced based upon three relevant distinctions between
Scott
and the present case. First,
Scott
involved a parolee, rather than a probationer,
III
Accordingly, we will reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals and remand the case to the Court of Appeals for a review of Logan's challenge to the trial court's determination that the police officer's actions did not constitute bad faith.
Reversed and remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- James Gregory LOGAN v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published