AL: Inevitable discovery saves [alleged] defective warrant in death penalty case

Officers searched defendant’s mobile home with a warrant for evidence of a rape and murder, and, by the time that happened, they had developed significant evidence that defendant was involved. Applying the preponderance of the evidence standard that applies to inevitable discovery, this search qualified. (The court assumes that there was no probable cause.) Kelley v. State, 2014 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 6 (March 14, 2014), this part reaffirmed on rehearing Kelley v. State, 2014 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 62 (September 5, 2014) [Say what you will about the Gates “soft standard of probable cause” coupled with the good faith exception, why wasn’t the probable cause for this search warrant just analyzed under that standard? They don’t say why there wasn’t probable cause, but it appears that there was.]:

Here, the State presented more than sufficient evidence to establish that the evidence discovered in Kelley’s mobile home would inevitably have been discovered absent the invalid search warrant. The State’s evidence showed that Kelley was the last person with Emily before her murder. Kelley, without being prompted, telephoned Detective Reaves to inquire about the investigation. Kelley lied to Detective Reaves and told her that he had dropped off Emily at the club before it closed. Detective Reaves determined that Kelley had lied about the events that occurred on the night Emily was murdered by reviewing surveillance videos taken at the club. Based on that information, law-enforcement officers were actively investigating Kelley.

Emily’s body was found, battered and nude, in a wooded area where it had been dumped. Emily’s body was covered with contusions and lacerations. Further, her genital area had been mutilated. Law-enforcement officers also learned that Kelley had abandoned the vehicle he recently had purchased. A search of the vehicle established the presence of blood, which was later determined to be Emily’s blood. From these leads, law-enforcement officers would have had probable cause to believe that Kelley had murdered Emily. They also would have had cause to believe that the clothes Kelley was wearing on the night of the murder would probably be stained with Emily’s blood and that the clothes and other blood evidence would probably be located inside Kelley’s mobile home. Given that evidence, law-enforcement officers would have sought a valid search warrant. Thus, the evidence established that “the police possessed and were actively pursuing the lawful avenue of discovery when the illegality occurred.” Khoury, 901 F.2d at 960.

Moreover, while officers were searching Kelley’s mobile home, Gomer informed them that he had discovered women’s clothing in the trash bags Kelley had thrown away. A search of the trash bags revealed bloody household items, such as a toilet plunger and a sleeping bag; bloody clothes, including the clothes Emily was wearing on the night she was murdered; and Emily’s driver’s license. Such evidence would have led law-enforcement officers to conclude that blood evidence would be found in Kelley’s mobile home. Further, Detective Reaves sought, albeit improperly, to obtain a search warrant for Kelley’s mobile home. From the facts that Detective Reaves sought a search warrant and law-enforcement officers had evidence indicating that Emily’s blood would be found in Kelley’s mobile home, the State presented evidence establishing that “certain proper and predictable investigatory procedures would have been utilized in the instant case, and … that those procedures inevitably would have resulted in the discovery of the evidence in question.” Johnson, 340 Or. at 326-27, 131 P.3d at 179. That is, even if the law-enforcement officers had “not performed the [initial search of Kelley’s mobile home], they could have, and ultimately would have, produced an affidavit that established probable cause to search [Kelley’s] residence for evidence ….” Id.; see also State v. Taylor, 943 S.W.2d 675, 678 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997) (holding that evidence seized pursuant to an invalid search warrant was admissible because the information officers obtained from the search would inevitably have been discovered by a legitimate search warrant procured with information known to law enforcement), reversed on other grounds, State v. Taylor, 1 S.W.3d 610 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999).

For the foregoing reasons, this Court holds that the State “establish[ed] by a preponderance of the evidence that the [evidence collected from Kelley’s mobile home] ultimately or inevitably would have been discovered by lawful means ….” Nix, 467 U.S. at 444. Therefore, the circuit court did not err by denying Kelley’s motion to suppress.