DE: Def does not waive suppression motion by FTA; hear it without him

Failure to appear for a suppression hearing is not a waiver of the motion. The court should have conducted the hearing in his absence. Smolka v. State, 2015 Del. LEXIS 308 (June 23, 2015).

Defendant called 911 about the pregnant deceased falling down stairs. He showed the officer text messages from her phone on his phone, but she had to take the phone from him because his hands were shaking. The phone was taken as evidence, but it wasn’t searched until later by search warrant, as they were supposed to do. There was probable cause for issuance of search warrants for the phones and surveillance videos around the house based on the officer’s reasonable belief that the deceased was dead long before the 911 call. He was convicted of strangling her. State v. Holland, 2015 Minn. LEXIS 367 (June 24, 2015).*

Defendant was arrested for driving on a suspended DL. During a patdown, a pill bottle was found in his pants cuff. He disavowed ownership, so he had no reasonable expectation of privacy in it. State v. McKeever, 2015 MT 177, 2015 Mont. LEXIS 319 (June 24, 2015).*