Case Title: Stevenson v. State

Citation: 

Docket Number: 92/16

State: maryland

Court: Maryland Supreme Court

Date: 2017-08-31T00:00:00Z

Document:
Timothy Stevenson v. State of Maryland, No. 92, September Term, 2016 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CRIMINAL LAW — FOURTH AMENDMENT — SEARCH WARRANT OF A 
CELL PHONE — SUBSTANTIAL BASIS — The affidavit in support of the search 
warrant provided a substantial basis for the warrant-issuing judge to find probable cause to 
search Appellant’s cell phone where the warrant affidavit stated that Appellant was arrested 
and found with an assault victim’s wallet and shoes, Appellant had confessed to assault, 
and the affiant knew through his experience that suspects in robberies and assaults 
sometimes take pictures and send communications related to criminal activity on their cell 
phones. 
 
CRIMINAL LAW — SEARCH WARRANTS — INSUFFICIENT SHOWING OF 
PROBABLE CAUSE — GOOD FAITH EXCEPTION — Evidence seized pursuant to 
an assumptively improperly issued search warrant for Appellant’s cell phone fell within 
the good faith exception to the Fourth Amendment’s exclusionary rule because the warrant 
to search Appellant’s cell phone was not so lacking in indicia of probable cause as to render 
police reliance on the warrant entirely unreasonable. 
 
 
 
Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County 
 
Case No. C-02-CR-15-000098 
Argued:  May 8, 2017
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS 
OF MARYLAND 
 
No. 92 
 
September Term, 2016 
 
 
 
TIMOTHY STEVENSON 
 
v. 
 
STATE OF MARYLAND 
 
 
 
 
 
Barbera, C.J., 
 
Greene 
Adkins 
McDonald 
Hotten 
Getty 
Wilner, Alan M. 
    (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned), 
 
 
               JJ. 
 
 
 
                 Opinion by Barbera, C.J. 
            Greene and Adkins, JJ., concur. 
 
 
 
 
 
Filed: August 31, 2017
 
Earlier today, we filed Moats v. State, __ Md. __ (filed Aug. 31, 2017).  That case 
and this one are “companion” cases; they were argued on the same day and generally 
address the same legal issues and sub-issues.  Like this case, the lead issue in Moats 
involved whether the search of a cell phone seized by the police incident to an arrest was 
executed in reliance on a properly-issued search warrant.  Our analysis focused on whether 
the affidavit in support of the warrant provided a substantial basis for the judge who issued 
the warrant to find probable cause that the cell phone contained evidence connecting the 
petitioner to drug distribution as well as an ongoing investigation of a sexual assault 
allegation.  We held in Moats that the affidavit met that standard.  Given that holding, we 
had no cause to address whether, even had the warrant not complied with Fourth 
Amendment standards, the police executed the warrant in “good faith” under the standards 
outlined in United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897 (1984). 
 
In the case at bar, we hold that the warrant affidavit supplied a substantial basis for 
the judge who issued the warrant to find probable cause to issue it.  We also take this 
opportunity to explain why, even if the affidavit in support of the warrant did not provide 
a substantial basis for the warrant-issuing judge to find probable cause to search the cell 
phone of Timothy Stevenson, Appellant,1 Appellant was not entitled to suppression of the 
evidence obtained while executing the warrant by application of the Leon “good faith” 
exception to the exclusionary rule. 
                                                          
 
1  Because this matter came to this Court on bypass, the initial appeal is still pending in 
the Court of Special Appeals.  Accordingly, the parties are captioned as Appellant and 
Appellee. 
2 
 
I 
Procedural History 
A.  The crime, initial police investigation, and warrant application process 
 
On July 22, 2015, Corporal Matthew Johnson of the Anne Arundel County Police 
Department was called to the Moose Lodge in Glen Burnie.  Upon arrival, he found a man 
lying on the ground, with a bloodied face, his pants around his ankles, and no wallet or 
shoes.  That individual was later discovered to be David Pethel.  Mr. Pethel’s injuries were 
life threatening, requiring hospitalization for several months.  On July 23, 2015, Appellant 
was arrested in connection with a separate assault and robbery.  The police found three 
items on Appellant at the time of his arrest—Mr. Pethel’s wallet and shoes and Appellant’s 
cell phone. 
 
On July 24, 2015, Detective Brian Houseman sought and received a warrant to 
search Appellant’s cell phone for evidence pertaining to the assault and robbery of Mr. 
Pethel.  The warrant authorized the police to search “[e]lectronic communications 
information” stored on the cell phone.  The search produced six photographs depicting Mr. 
Pethel just after the assault and robbery.  Appellant filed a motion to suppress the photos 
on the ground that the police had exceeded the scope of the warrant because the photos 
were not “electronic communications.” 
 
Before there was a hearing on that motion to suppress, Detective Houseman 
prepared a second warrant application and affidavit, again to search Appellant’s cell phone.  
The affidavit in support of the second warrant contained language identical to the first 
3 
 
warrant affidavit in all respects, save for the requested scope of the search of the cell phone 
and Appellant’s acknowledgement that the cell phone belonged to him. 
 
The facts in both affidavits stated that, “[o]n July 22, 2015 at approximately 
2137hrs,” Corporal Johnson “responded to the area of 1911 Crain Highway South in Glen 
Burnie, MD [the Moose Lodge] for a report of injured subject” and discovered Mr. Pethel 
lying injured on the parking lot of the Moose Lodge.  Both affidavits also recounted that 
when the police arrested Appellant on July 23, 2015, he was wearing Mr. Pethel’s sandals 
and carrying Mr. Pethel’s wallet.  The affidavits included that Appellant later admitted 
during an interview that he assaulted Mr. Pethel on July 22, 2015, and an assertion by the 
affiant, Detective Houseman, that Appellant “assaulted” and “robbed Mr. Pethel of 
property including his black leather billfold containing his identification and his Adidas 
sandals.”  Detective Houseman concluded: 
It is through my knowledge and experience that suspects in robberies and 
assaults will sometimes take pictures, videos and send messages about their 
criminal activities on their cellular phones.  I am wishing to search this phone 
to attempt to recover any evidence of the robbery and assault of David 
Matthew Pethel which may be stored on the phone of Timothy Lamar 
Stevenson Jr. 
 
Attached to each affidavit was a document outlining Detective Houseman’s relevant 
experience and training as a police officer since 2002.2   
                                                          
 
2  The affidavit attachment titled “Experience” stated the following: 
 
Your affiant, Det. Brian K. Houseman is currently a duly sworn officer of 
the Anne Arundel County Police Department, Anne Arundel County 
Maryland.  Your affiant is currently assigned to the Eastern District Detective 
Unit.  Your affiant was a duly constituted member of the Maryland 
Transportation Authority Police Dept. from May 2002 to May 2004.  Your 
4 
 
Both affidavits were limited to requesting information “stored within a black touch 
screen Huawei phone for the services of cellular phone [number deleted] from 1600 hours 
on 22 July 2015 to 1000hrs on 23 July 2015,” and the second affidavit added, “which 
Timothy Lamar Stevenson, Jr. identified as his phone during an interview on 23 July, 
2015.”  Unlike the first warrant, which merely sought “electronic communications,” the 
affidavit in support of the second warrant sought the following: 
Any and all information, including but not limited to all pictures, movies, 
electronic communications in the form of text, numeric, and voice messages, 
detailed phone records to include all incoming/outgoing calls and Facebook 
messages contained within phone. 
 
                                                          
 
affiant has been a duly constituted member of the Anne Arundel County 
Police Department since May 2004.  Your affiant was assigned as a Patrol 
Officer from May 2004 to August 2012.  Your affiant has been assigned to 
the Eastern District Detective Unit since August 2012 until present.  
 
Your affiant has attended and successfully completed a twenty-six week Law 
Enforcement Academy conducted by the Maryland Transportation Authority 
Police Department.  While a Police Officer, your affiant has investigated 
numerous crimes.  Your affiant has made several arrests of suspects in cases 
of shootings, robberies and burglaries that resulted in convictions.  Your 
affiant has assisted other officers in making arrests of individuals for multiple 
violations of the law.  I have written and served numerous search warrants, 
as well as assisting others in the execution of search and seizure warrants for 
various crimes.  
 
Your affiant, Det. Brian K. Houseman has attended and successfully 
completed the following relevant specialized police training schools/courses 
during the course of his career: 
 
- Maryland Transportation Auth. Police Acad.  
- Fundamentals of Criminal Investigations, Maryland State Police 
- Interview and Interrogation Training 
- Investigative Training Eyewitness Evidence 
- Forensic Statement Analysis 
- Introduction to Technology Related Investigations 
5 
 
The affidavit did not include any information about the existence of the first warrant, much 
less information that, upon execution of the first warrant, the police discovered the six 
photos of Mr. Pethel following the assault and robbery. 
 
The second warrant application and affidavit were presented to a judge, who issued 
the warrant on January 6, 2016.  The judge who issued that warrant was not the judge who 
issued the first warrant.  Upon executing the second warrant, the police downloaded the 
cell phone data and obtained the same six photos of Mr. Pethel lying on the ground, covered 
in blood, with his pants around his ankles, and appearing to have been beaten. 
B.  The second motion to suppress and hearing 
 
Appellant, through counsel, filed a second motion to suppress the six photos 
depicting the victim of the assault.  Appellant made no argument in the motion or at the 
suppression hearing that the second warrant was in any manner tainted by the first warrant 
or its execution.  Rather, the parties, then and now, rely for their arguments solely on the 
second warrant and its supporting affidavit.  Further references in this opinion are therefore 
to the second warrant and its affidavit. 
 
Neither party called any witnesses at the hearing on the motion to suppress.  
Appellant contended that the information presented in the affidavit did not provide 
probable cause that the evidence sought would be found on Appellant’s cell phone.  
Relying upon Agurs v. State, 415 Md. 62 (2010), Appellant argued in particular that the 
warrant lacked specific facts connecting the crime and the cell phone.  The State responded 
that the suppression court should take into account that it is now “common knowledge” 
that people take pictures and videos on their cell phones of the crimes they commit.  The 
6 
 
State also emphasized the detailed facts set forth in the affidavit, which included 
Appellant’s admission that he assaulted Mr. Pethel. 
 
The following day, the circuit court issued an order denying the motion.  The court 
concluded that the warrant contained adequate facts and details to satisfy the probable 
cause requirement.  The court explained: 
Both [the first and second] warrants contain facts supported by affidavit that 
the victim, [Mr.] Pethel, was assaulted and that the Defendant, Timothy 
Stevenson “admitted to being at Frank’s Den the same time as David Pethel 
and assaulting him at the location of the Moose Lodge . . . ”  The affidavit 
also indicates that based on the officers’ “knowledge and experience that 
suspects in robberies and assaults will sometimes take pictures, videos and 
send messages about their criminal activities on their cell phones.”  This 
Court must give due deference to the training and experience of the officer 
in this case.  The judges who issued the warrants correctly did so as well. 
 
 
Appellant elected a bench trial.  At its conclusion, the court found him guilty of 
first-degree assault, second-degree assault, robbery, reckless endangerment, and theft of 
property valued at less than $1000.  Appellant noted an appeal and, while that appeal was 
pending in the Court of Special Appeals, he filed a petition for writ of certiorari presenting 
three questions: 
1.  Can an officer affiant’s generalized claim that suspects sometimes have 
evidence of crimes on their cell phones alone provide the requisite nexus 
between the crime alleged and the phone to be searched to support the 
issuance of a search warrant? 
 
2.  Did the trial court err in denying [Appellant]’s motion to suppress the 
fruits of a search conducted pursuant to a warrant issued for his cell phone 
where there was no substantial basis to find probable cause because the 
warrant application lacked any nexus between the alleged criminal activity 
and the cell phone to be searched beyond the officer affiant’s generalized 
statement that, in his experience, “suspects in robberies and assaults will 
sometimes take pictures, videos and send messages about their criminal 
activities on their cellular phones”? 
7 
 
 
3.  Does the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule apply where a 
search warrant for a cell phone is issued on the basis of the affiant officer’s 
statement that, in his experience, suspects in robberies and assaults 
“sometimes” have pictures, videos, or messages about the crimes in their cell 
phones, and the warrant application fails to allege any nexus between the 
crimes and the phone, any potential communication with conspirators, or the 
commission of a crime that requires communications with third parties?  
 
We granted the petition prior to oral argument in the Court of Special Appeals, Stevenson 
v. State, 451 Md. 579 (2017), and affirm the judgment of the circuit court.  
II 
Discussion 
A.  The parties’ contentions 
 
Appellant argues that there was not a substantial basis for the judge who issued the 
warrant to conclude that it was supported by probable cause.  He contends that the warrant 
affidavit failed to provide a nexus between the crime alleged and the “place” the police 
sought to search, Appellant’s cell phone.  Appellant also argues that the Leon good faith 
exception to the exclusionary rule does not save the photos obtained during the execution 
of the warrant from application of that rule.  According to Appellant, no reasonable officer 
would have reasonable grounds to believe that the warrant was properly issued, given that 
the affidavit relied upon the notion that people who commit crimes “sometimes” have 
evidence of such crimes on their cell phones. 
 
The State responds that the affidavit in support of the warrant to search the cell 
phone supplied the requisite substantial basis for the suppression court to uphold the 
warrant.  The State analogizes this case to the circumstances in Moats v. State, 230 Md. 
8 
 
App. 374 (2016), adding that, when Appellant was arrested for another robbery and assault, 
he was found with the cell phone and in possession of Mr. Pethel’s wallet and sandals.  The 
State further argues that, even if the warrant is deemed invalid, the good faith exception to 
the exclusionary rule applies to the officers’ good-faith reliance on the warrant.  The State 
points out that two different judges in this case found the affidavit sufficient to show 
probable cause; it is, therefore, “difficult to see” how the police could not have relied upon 
the warrant in good faith when executing it. 
B.  Substantial basis for issuance of the warrant 
 
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the issuance of 
any warrant except “upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and 
particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”  
U.S. Const. amend. IV.  “Probable cause” is a term of art in Fourth Amendment 
jurisprudence and is defined as 
“a ‘practical, nontechnical conception’ that deals with ‘the factual and 
practical considerations of everyday life on which reasonable and prudent 
men, not legal technicians, act.’”  Maryland v. Pringle, 540 U.S. 366, 370 
(2003) (quoting Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 231 (1983)).  Thus, “‘the 
quanta . . . of proof’ appropriate in ordinary judicial proceedings are 
inapplicable to the decision to issue a warrant.  Finely tuned standards such 
as proof beyond a reasonable doubt or by a preponderance of the evidence, 
useful in formal trials, have no place in the [probable-cause] decision.”  Id. 
at 371 (quoting Gates, 462 U.S. at 235).   
 
Moats, slip op. at 15.  Probable cause is “a fluid concept,” Gates, 462 U.S. at 232, 
“incapable of precise definition or quantification into percentages because it deals with 
probabilities and depends on the totality of the circumstances,” Pringle, 540 U.S. at 371.  
Consequently, the affidavit in support of a search warrant, viewed in its totality, need only 
9 
 
provide “a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a 
particular place.”  Gates, 462 U.S. at 238; see also Texas v. Brown, 460 U.S. 730, 742 
(1983) (plurality opinion) (“[Probable cause] does not demand any showing that such a 
belief be correct or more likely true than false.  A ‘practical, nontechnical’ probability that 
incriminating evidence is involved is all that is required.” (quoting Brinegar v. United 
States, 338 U.S. 160, 176 (1949))).  The Supreme Court has observed that probable cause 
may be based on “common-sense conclusions about human behavior.”  Gates, 462 U.S. at 
231 (quoting United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 418 (1981)). 
 
As we review the search warrant in the present case, we bear in mind not only “the 
Fourth Amendment’s strong preference for searches conducted pursuant to a warrant,” 
Gates, 462 U.S. at 236, but also the Supreme Court’s recognition that “[r]easonable minds 
frequently may differ on the question whether a particular affidavit establishes probable 
cause,” Leon, 468 U.S. at 914.  In consideration of both principles, the Supreme Court has 
“concluded that the preference for warrants is most appropriately effectuated by according 
‘great deference’ to a magistrate’s determination.”  Id. (quoting Spinelli v. United States, 
393 U.S. 410, 419 (1969)).  Thus, “in a doubtful or marginal case a search under a warrant 
may be sustainable where without one it would fall.”  Id. (quoting United States v. 
Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 106 (1965)).  “[S]o long as the magistrate had a ‘substantial basis 
for . . . conclud[ing]’ that a search would uncover evidence of wrongdoing, the Fourth 
Amendment requires no more.”  Gates, 462 U.S. at 236 (quoting Jones v. United States, 
362 U.S. 257, 271 (1960)).  If that “substantial basis” standard is met, then any court called 
10 
 
upon thereafter to review the warrant is required to uphold it.  Id. at 238–39; see also 
Patterson v. State, 401 Md. 76, 89–90 (2007). 
We conclude that the judge who issued the warrant had a substantial basis for 
finding probable cause to search Appellant’s cell phone for “[a]ny and all information, 
including but not limited to all pictures, movies, electronic communications in the form of 
text, numeric, and voice messages, detailed phone records to include all incoming/outgoing 
calls and Facebook messages contained within phone.”  We reach that conclusion by taking 
into account the detailed description of the historical facts that supported the warrant; the 
sworn declaration of Detective Houseman that, “[i]t is through my knowledge and 
experience that suspects in robberies and assaults will sometimes take pictures, videos and 
send messages about their criminal activities on their cellular phones”; the limitation in the 
affidavit to information “stored” on the phone “from 1600 hours on 22 July 2015 to 1000hrs 
on 23 July 2015,” when the assault occurred; and the Supreme Court’s recognition of the 
prevalence of cell phones in the population and the degree of detail of one’s daily life that 
is often contained in a cell phone.  See Riley v. California, 134 S. Ct. 2473, 2490 (2014). 
Appellant argues that the warrant affidavit did not set forth direct evidence that the 
cell phone contained evidence of the crime he was alleged to have committed.  We 
explained in Moats why a warrant affidavit need not include direct evidence that the 
evidence sought would be found in the place to be searched:  
[D]irect evidence has never been required by the Fourth Amendment.  
Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 700 (1996) (“[O]ur cases have 
recognized that a police officer may draw inferences based on his own 
experience in deciding whether probable cause exists.”); Holmes v. State, 368 
Md. 506, 522 (2002) (“Direct evidence that contraband exists in the home is 
11 
 
not required for a search warrant; rather, probable cause may be inferred from 
the type of crime, the nature of the items sought, the opportunity for 
concealment, and reasonable inferences about where the defendant may hide 
the incriminating items.”); State v. Ward, 350 Md. 372, 379 (1998) 
(concluding that the suspect’s home was a “probable place for secreting 
objects” related to the crime) (quoting Mills v. State, 278 Md. 262, 280 
(1976)).  There must, of course, be a reasonable basis for such an inference 
to be drawn.  See Holmes, 368 Md. at 523; see also Agurs v. State, 415 Md. 
62, 87 (2010). 
  
Moats, slip op. at 17–18.   
 
Appellant argues that the warrant affidavit does not permit a reasonable inference 
that his cell phone contained evidence of the assault and robbery of Mr. Pethel.  He rests 
his argument primarily on Detective Houseman’s statement in the affidavit that, “[i]t is 
through my knowledge and experience that suspects in robberies and assaults will 
sometimes take pictures, videos and send messages about their criminal activities on their 
cellular phones.”  Focusing on the word “sometimes,” Appellant argues that the statement 
is “so generalized that it could provide the basis for a search on suspicion of any offense, 
undermining the substantial protections for cell phones recognized in Riley.” 
 
We address first the latter part of Appellant’s contention.  We agree with Appellant 
that the Riley Court recognized the substantial privacy concerns attendant to searches of 
cell phones.  It is precisely for that reason the Supreme Court explained why the 
reasonableness clause of the Fourth Amendment does not allow for an automatic rule 
authorizing the police to conduct in every instance a warrantless search of a cell phone 
seized incident to a lawful arrest.  Rather, absent an exigency at the time of arrest that 
would permit an immediate search, the police must obtain a warrant to conduct one. 
We note, too, the Riley Court’s declaration that cell phones can hold far more data 
12 
 
than normally would be found in a home.  See Riley, 134 S. Ct. at 2490–91.  The Court 
said:   
[I]t is no exaggeration to say that many of the more than 90% of American 
adults who own a cell phone keep on their person a digital record of nearly 
every aspect of their lives—from the mundane to the intimate. . . .  A phone 
not only contains in digital form many sensitive records previously found in 
the home; it also contains a broad array of private information never found 
in a home in any form . . . . 
 
Id.  “It would not be an overstatement to characterize cell phones as the repository of 
personal effects in digital form that heretofore would be found in physical form in the home 
or at the office.”  Moats, slip op. at 20. 
 
The Riley Court did not even intimate, much less state, that simply because cell 
phones hold a “broad array” of information, a search warrant cannot issue.  134 S. Ct. at 
2491.  Quite the opposite.  The Riley Court mandated that, save for an exigency that 
demands an on-the-spot intrusion into the cell phone at the time of an arrest, the police may 
seize—and secure—a cell phone.  134 S. Ct. at 2493–94.  But, the police may not search 
the phone without a duly authorized search warrant that complies in all respects with the 
dictates of the Fourth Amendment regardless of the “broad array” of information the cell 
phone may hold.  Id.  “That is consistent with the Supreme Court’s long-standing Fourth 
Amendment jurisprudence.”  Moats, slip op. at 20 (citing Andresen v. Maryland, 427 U.S. 
463, 480–82 (1976) (observing that, in searching for an item identified in the warrant, the 
police executing the warrant may legitimately search through a large volume of other 
information in pursuit of the item that is the subject of the warrant)). 
13 
 
 
We return to Appellant’s particular concern with Detective Houseman’s use of the 
word “sometimes” in describing the frequency with which photos are found on cell phones 
of people suspected of committing certain crimes.  The detective’s use of “sometimes” 
must be considered in the context in which it was made.  Detective Houseman, in swearing 
that, in his knowledge and experience, people suspected of “robberies and assaults will 
sometimes take pictures . . . on their cellular phones,” understood the purpose of his sworn 
statement in setting forth probable cause for the search.  In that context, we suspect that the 
detective intended “sometimes” to indicate that the frequency of discovering such evidence 
on cell phones is more than “rarely” and less than “more often than not.”  
Beyond that, whether it is the judge who is presented with an application for a search 
warrant or the judge or appellate court reviewing a warrant for a substantial basis to support 
its issuance, the information set forth in a warrant affidavit is to be considered in its totality.  
No single item of information in the affidavit stands alone in supplying the requisite 
probable cause for the warrant-issuing judge, or the “substantial basis” analysis that 
reviewing courts must use in assessing that judge’s probable cause determination.  See 
Gates, 462 U.S. at 238; cf. United States v. Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266, 273–74 (2002) (noting, 
in the context of an officer’s reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct, that the “totality of 
the circumstances” are to be considered when determining whether the detaining officer 
has a “particularized and objective basis” for suspecting legal wrongdoing).  “This process 
allows officers to draw on their own experience and specialized training to make inferences 
from and deductions about the cumulative information available to them that might well 
elude an untrained person.”  Arvizu, 534 U.S. at 273 (internal quotation marks omitted); 
14 
 
see also Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 699 (1996) (reviewing courts must give 
“due weight” to factual inferences drawn by resident judges and local law enforcement 
officers).   
We give Detective Houseman’s statement “due weight.”  Detective Houseman 
swore to his training and experience investigating robberies and assaults.  He also included 
that, based on his knowledge and experience, “suspects in robberies and assaults will 
sometimes take pictures, videos and send messages about their criminal activities on their 
cellular phones.”  He provided in the affidavit a detailed summary of the facts surrounding 
the crime—including the posture of the robbery victim, who was prone on the ground, 
beaten, and with his pants pulled down to his ankles.  The affidavit also included 
Appellant’s admission to the assault on the robbery victim.  We bear in mind, as well, that 
the warrant affidavit sought only such information as was stored within the eighteen-hour 
period encompassing the time when Appellant assaulted and robbed Mr. Pethel.  All of 
this, when coupled with the Riley Court’s recognition that “more than 90% of American 
adults who own a cell phone keep on their person a digital record of nearly every aspect of 
their lives—from the mundane to the intimate,” provides the substantial basis for the 
warrant-issuing judge reasonably to infer a fair probability that Appellant’s cell phone 
contained, among other digital evidence, photos connecting him to the assault and robbery.   
For these reasons, we hold that the suppression court judge properly denied 
Appellant’s motion to suppress the photos found during the execution of the warrant.  
C.  The photographs, in any event, fall within the Leon good faith exception to the 
exclusionary rule.  
 
15 
 
 
Even were we to decide that the warrant to search Appellant’s cell phone was not 
supported by a substantial basis for its issuance, we would not require exclusion of the 
evidence seized pursuant to the warrant because the police relied in good faith upon the 
warrant in conducting the search. 
 
The Supreme Court established the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule in 
United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897 (1984).  See also Massachusetts v. Sheppard, 468 U.S. 
981 (1984).  The Court held in Leon that, even if it is later determined that a warrant was 
invalid for lack of probable cause, the reviewing court will not suppress evidence obtained 
during execution of that warrant if the officers reasonably relied upon the warrant issued 
by a detached and neutral magistrate.  Leon, 468 U.S. at 922–24.  The Leon Court 
concluded that the affidavit in support of the warrant at issue in that case “provided 
evidence sufficient to create disagreement among thoughtful and competent judges as to 
the existence of probable cause.”  Id. at 926.  Consequently, it was “objectively reasonable” 
for the police to have relied on the warrant.  Id.  
 
Application of the good faith doctrine outlined in Leon results in exempting from 
exclusion evidence that is seized pursuant to a warrant that falls short of satisfying the 
dictates of the Fourth Amendment; that is, a warrant that supplies fewer facts in support of 
probable cause than would be necessary to satisfy the “substantial basis” test.  This Court 
recognized as much in Patterson v. State, 401 Md. 76, 105 (2007).  We stated there that 
“application of the good faith exception does not hinge upon the affidavit providing a 
substantial basis for determining the existence of probable cause.”  Id.  The “standard of 
factual support required to be presented by the affidavit in order for evidence to be admitted 
16 
 
under the good faith exception is considerably lower than the standard for establishing a 
substantial basis for a finding of probable cause by a judge issuing a search warrant.”  
Marshall v. State, 415 Md. 399, 410 (2010). 
 
The Leon Court recognized, however, that there are certain circumstances under 
which police will be unable reasonably to rely on a warrant that later is determined to have 
been issued improperly: 
Suppression therefore remains an appropriate remedy if [1] the magistrate or 
judge in issuing a warrant was misled by information in an affidavit that the 
affiant knew was false or would have known was false except for his reckless 
disregard of the truth.  The exception we recognize today will also not apply 
in cases where [2] the issuing magistrate wholly abandoned his judicial role 
. . . [and] no reasonably well trained officer should rely on the warrant.  Nor 
would an officer manifest objective good faith in [3] relying on a warrant 
based on an affidavit so lacking in indicia of probable cause as to render 
official belief in its existence entirely unreasonable.  Finally, [4] depending 
on the circumstances of the particular case, a warrant may be so facially 
deficient—i. e., in failing to particularize the place to be searched or the 
things to be seized—that the executing officers cannot reasonably presume 
it to be valid. 
 
Leon, 468 U.S. at 923 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted); see also Patterson, 
401 Md. at 104. 
 
Appellant does not contend that the warrant-issuing judge was misled by 
information in the affidavit or abandoned his judicial role in considering the warrant 
application, or that the warrant does not meet the particularity requirement.  Appellant’s 
contention, rather, is that no “reasonably” well-trained officer could “reasonably” rely on 
the warrant because the warrant on its face lacked probable cause, therefore focusing on 
the third situation articulated above.   
17 
 
“In this category of cases, evidence obtained during a police search should be 
excluded at trial if the warrant was so clearly lacking in indicia of probable cause as to 
render police reliance on the warrant entirely unreasonable.”  Marshall, 415 Md. at 409.  
“A warrant may be considered ‘so lacking in indicia of probable cause’ if the applicant 
files merely a ‘bare bones’ affidavit, one which contains only ‘wholly conclusory 
statements’ and presents essentially no evidence outside of such conclusory statements.”  
Id. (quoting Patterson, 401 Md. at 107–08); see also Leon, 468 U.S. at 915; Nathanson v. 
United States, 290 U.S. 41, 47 (1933) (holding that a warrant may not “rest upon mere 
affirmance of suspicion or belief without disclosure of supporting facts or circumstances”). 
The bare bones exception “is inapplicable where there is ‘some indicia of probable 
cause.’  It is also inapplicable when reasonable minds might disagree about its applicability.  
It will apply, however, when the absence of probable cause ‘is apparent on the face of the 
affidavit.’”  Agurs, 415 Md. at 82–83 (citations omitted); see also Marshall, 415 Md. at 
409. 
The test for determining whether a warrant affidavit is “bare bones” is an objective 
one.  The test asks whether “officers, exercising professional judgment, could have 
reasonably believed that the averments of their affidavit related to a present and continuing 
violation of law, not remote from the date of their affidavit, and that the evidence sought 
would be likely found at [the place identified in the affidavit].”  Patterson, 401 Md. at 107 
(citation omitted). 
Assuming, solely for purposes of our discussion, that the warrant upon which the 
police relied in executing the search of Appellant’s cell phone did not satisfy the dictates 
18 
 
of the Fourth Amendment, exclusion of the photos is not the proper result.  By application 
of the good faith doctrine, the evidence the police found on the cell phone was subject to 
suppression if and only if, as argued by Appellant, the search rested on a “bare bones” 
warrant.  The information supplied in the affidavit, at the very least, rose above mere 
“conclusory statements” on the part of the affiant.  That is particularly so in light of the 
Riley Court’s recognition that the vast majority of “adults who own a cell phone keep on 
their person a digital record of nearly every aspect of their lives—from the mundane to the 
intimate.”  134 S. Ct. at 2490. 
Finally, if thoughtful and competent judges could disagree on this point, then it 
follows that the police relied in good faith upon the warrant.  In that regard, we agree with 
the State that the issuance of the search warrant by not just one judge—but two judges 
independently of one another—weighs in favor of applying the good faith exception in this 
case.  See Greenstreet v. State, 392 Md. 652, 679 (2006) (“[W]here the warrant is based on 
‘evidence sufficient to create disagreement among thoughtful and competent judges as to 
the existence of probable cause,’ then the good faith exception will apply.” (quoting Leon, 
468 U.S. at 926)). 
 
We hold that, even assuming the warrant to search Appellant’s cell phone was not 
supported by a substantial basis for its issuance, the police relied in good faith upon it when 
executing the warrant to search the cell phone.   
III 
Final Thoughts and Conclusions 
19 
 
As a postscript to this holding, we repeat here the guidance offered at the close of 
our Moats opinion: 
Before concluding this opinion, we offer a few thoughts for judges—
whether they be tasked with considering a warrant application or reviewing 
the decision of the judge who issued the warrant—that they might want to 
consider when the search at issue involves a cell phone.  Unlike those of us 
who review search warrants for substantial basis or good faith execution, the 
judges of our circuit courts and the District Court to whom warrant 
applications are presented have the more challenging task of determining 
whether probable cause exists in the first instance.  In examining an affidavit 
in support of a warrant to search a cell phone, as in any other warrant 
application, judges always must consider the totality of the information 
contained in the affidavit. 
Not every affidavit will (or should) result in issuance of a warrant to 
search a cell phone.  We can imagine situations in which the nature of the 
crime will not support a warrant to search the suspect’s cell phone; examples 
might include traffic offenses, public nuisance crimes, and the like.  Even in 
cases where the connection between the suspected crime and the cell phone 
is more likely to be established, the lack of factual detail or other 
circumstances might countenance against a finding of probable cause.  The 
affiant’s professed training and experience might fall short of demonstrating 
to the judge’s satisfaction that the affiant’s prediction can be relied upon in 
determining whether the evidence sought will be found in the cell phone the 
affiant wants to search. 
In the end, each application for a warrant to search a cell phone is to 
be addressed by the judge on the merits of the affidavit.  The judge will 
necessarily consider the nature of the crime being investigated, the facts 
provided in support of the connection between that crime and the cell phone 
to be searched, and, depending upon the affiant’s demonstrated training and 
experience, the degree to which the deference owed to the affiant adds to the 
ultimate decision.  The decision of the warrant-issuing judge will ultimately 
rest on whether, in its totality, the affidavit sets forth a fair probability that 
the information will be found in the cell phone to be searched. 
 
Moats, slip op. at 22–23.   
We have concluded that the warrant-issuing judge had a substantial basis for issuing 
the search warrant and, in any event, that the police acted in good faith in relying upon it.  
We therefore affirm the judgment of the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County. 
20 
 
JUDGMENT OF THE CIRCUIT 
COURT FOR ANNE ARUNDEL 
COUNTY AFFIRMED; COSTS TO 
BE PAID BY APPELLANT. 
Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County 
Case No.: C-02-CR-15-000098 
Argued: May 8, 2017 
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS 
OF MARYLAND 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
No. 92 
September Term, 2016 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
TIMOTHY STEVENSON 
v. 
STATE OF MARYLAND 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Barbera, C.J. 
Greene 
Adkins 
McDonald 
Hotten 
Getty 
Wilner, Alan M., (Senior Judge, 
Specially Assigned), 
 
JJ. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Concurring Opinion by Adkins, J., which 
Greene, J., joins. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Filed: August 31, 2017 
I agree with the Majority’s holding that the good faith exception to the Fourth 
Amendment exclusionary rule applies in this case, and the search should be upheld on that 
basis.  Most respectfully, I write separately because I am troubled by the implications of 
the Majority’s holdings in both Stevenson v. State, ___ Md. ___ (2017), and Moats v. State, 
___ Md. ___ (2017), regarding probable cause to search cell phones.1  I fear that the 
Majority has paved the way for law enforcement to search a cell phone without a nexus 
between the criminal activity and the phone to be searched.  We should not apply Riley v. 
California, 134 S. Ct. 2473 (2014), a decision protecting the privacy interest of individuals 
in their phones, to prop up a warrant based almost exclusively on the police officer’s 
training and expertise—rather than facts.  
PROBABLE CAUSE  
In Riley, a unanimous Supreme Court held that law enforcement officers must obtain 
a warrant before searching a cell phone.  Id. at 2485.   In reaching that decision, the Court 
pointed out that cell phones, when compared with objects customarily found on an 
arrestee’s person, “differ in both a quantitative and a qualitative sense . . . . ”  Id. at 2489.  
The modern cell phone has a significant impact on individual privacy because of storage 
capacity, the variety of information, and the “pervasiveness” of cell phones.  Id. at 2489–
90.  The Chief Justice explained that an individual without a cell phone is the exception—
the rule appears to be that people carry “a cache of sensitive personal information with 
them” nearly everywhere at all times.  Id. at 2490.  The fact that the data and information 
                                              
1 I have discussed an additional concern regarding Moats v. State, ___ Md. ___ 
(2017), in a separate concurring opinion accompanying that case.  
2 
on a phone can “form a revealing montage of the user’s life” supported the conclusion that 
permitting warrantless searches of cell phones would jeopardize the privacy interests of the 
majority of the United States’ population.  Id. at 2490–91.  The Court analogized cell 
phones to homes, explaining that  
[A] cell phone search would typically expose to the 
government far more than the most exhaustive search of a 
house: A phone not only contains in digital form many 
sensitive records previously found in the home; it also contains 
a broad array of private information never found in a home in 
any form—unless the phone is.  
 
Id. at 2491 (emphasis in original).     
Chief Justice Roberts emphasized that technological advances do not alter the 
fundamental principles and protections of the Fourth Amendment.  “The fact that 
technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand does not make 
the information any less worthy of the protection for which the Founders fought.”  Id. at 
2495.  To search a cell phone, law enforcement is required to obtain a warrant supported 
by probable cause.  
Probable cause requires an assessment, based on the totality of the circumstances, 
of whether “there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found 
in a particular place.”  Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238 (1983).  There must be a “nexus 
between criminal activity and the place to be searched.”  Agurs v. State, 415 Md. 62, 84 
(2010).  Given the totality of the circumstances, I cannot conclude that a substantial basis 
for a warrant existed in either of these cases.   
3 
In Stevenson, the Appellant, Timothy Stevenson, assaulted and robbed David Pethel 
on July 22, 2015.  The next day he attempted to assault and rob another individual.  Officers 
arrested Stevenson, and discovered items belonging to Pethel on his person.  Stevenson 
also had a cell phone in his possession when he was arrested, which he told officers was 
his own.  Detective Houseman sought a warrant to search Stevenson’s phone based on 
these facts.  In his affidavit, Houseman explained that “[i]t is through my knowledge and 
experience that suspects in robberies and assaults will sometimes take pictures, videos and 
send messages about their criminal activities on their cellular phones.” (Emphasis added.)2    
The Majority reasons that Houseman’s affidavit, Stevenson’s admission that he 
assaulted Pethel, and the Supreme Court’s recognition of the pervasiveness of cell phones 
provided a “substantial basis” for a judge to conclude that Stevenson’s cell phone contained 
evidence connecting him to the crime.  Stevenson, Maj. Slip Op. at 14–15.  But Houseman 
did not allege facts permitting inferences that Stevenson had a co-participant, had 
communicated with others about the robbery, or had photographed his victim.  
In Moats, the Petitioner, Timothy Moats, was arrested on drug-related charges.  
Officers were also investigating a sexual assault.  The drug charges arose from an incident 
that occurred two weeks before Moats’s arrest.  Moats provided marijuana and Suboxone 
to other teenagers in a car on the way to a party.  One of the individuals in the car, A.D.C., 
alleged that she had been sexually assaulted that evening at the party, but could not 
                                              
2 Houseman’s warrant affidavit requested data on Stevenson’s phone stored during 
an eighteen-hour period, “from 1600 hours on 22 July 2015 to 1000 hrs on 23 July 2015.”  
This request was appropriately tailored to the circumstances of the crime of arrest. The 
warrant incorporated the affidavit.  
4 
remember where the party was, nor who assaulted her.  Sergeant Zimmerman interviewed 
the other teenagers in the car, who corroborated this account of distribution.  Moats had his 
cell phone with him when he was arrested.  Zimmerman sought a warrant to search Moats’s 
cell phone based on these facts, and his “training and experience” that “individuals who 
participate in such crimes communicate via cellular telephones, via text messages, calls, 
emails, etc.”   
As in Stevenson, the Majority in Moats reasons that the facts set forth in the 
affidavit, the prevalence of cell phones, the data contained in cell phones, and the 
“particulars of the events” leading to Moats’s arrest, provide a substantial basis to conclude 
that probable cause existed. Moats, Maj. Slip Op. at 20–21.  To be sure, the “crime of drug 
distribution involves at least two participants . . . , ”  id. at 21, but there are no references 
to phone communications in the specific events leading up to Moats’s arrest.  Moats gave 
the drugs in person to his friends while driving to a party.  Nor are there any facts 
surrounding the alleged sexual assault that indicate that anyone used a phone to document 
or communicate about the assault.  The affidavit does not allege any facts suggesting that 
Moats was engaged in broader drug distribution activities.  
In both of these cases, the Majority fails to offer an explanation for why these facts 
provide a sufficient nexus between the crimes and the likelihood that evidence would be 
found on the arrestees’ phones.  Neither of the affiants provided an articulable reason to 
believe that either arrestee had used his phone in the commission of the crime, or had 
evidence of the crime on his phone. The affiants relied only on their general experience 
that individuals who commit these crimes communicate by cell phone through text 
5 
messages, calls, and emails.  The affiants’ experience, absent any factual basis to support 
the inference that the arrestees’ cell phones were connected to the crimes, cannot suffice 
as probable cause.  The Majority opinion, with its emphasis on officer experience, can 
readily be interpreted to mean that as long as an officer has sufficient experience in 
investigation, his belief that a cell phone contains pertinent evidence is sufficient to support 
a warrant.  An officer’s training and experience cannot substitute for an “evidentiary 
nexus” between the place to be searched and criminal activity suspected.  United States v. 
Schultz, 14 F.3d 1093, 1097 (6th Cir. 1994).  
Although it mentions that the nature of the crime should be considered, the Majority 
simply uses the ubiquitous nature of cell phones to support the magistrate’s finding of 
probable cause.  Stevenson, Maj. Slip Op. at 14–15; Moats, Maj. Slip Op. at 20–21.  A 
statement that criminals tend to use phones in crimes provides support, according to the 
Majority, for a warrant—even if the crime at issue is unconnected to use of a cell phone.  
Stevenson, Maj. Slip Op. at 14; Moats, Maj. Slip Op. at 19–20.   
The Majority relies on the following quotation from the Supreme Court in Riley:   
[I]t is no exaggeration to say that many of the more than 90% 
of American adults who own a cell phone keep on their person 
a digital record of nearly every aspect of their lives—from the 
mundane to the intimate. . . . A phone not only contains in 
digital form many sensitive records previously found in the 
home; it also contains a broad array of private information 
never found in a home in any form . . . . 
 
Stevenson, Maj. Slip Op. at 11–12 (quoting Riley, 134 S. Ct. at 2490–91).  The Supreme 
Court, however, also explained—in that same discussion—that “allowing police to 
scrutinize such records on a routine basis is quite different from allowing them to search a 
6 
personal item or two . . . .”  Riley, 134 S. Ct. at 2490.  Clearly, the Supreme Court intended 
to highlight the substantial threat to individual privacy if law enforcement officers could 
search cell phones without a warrant supported by probable cause, not to provide the 
primary factual basis to support a warrant in all but the most minor of crimes.    
In Riley, the Supreme Court drew parallels between cell phones and houses, and 
acknowledged that the information contained in a cell phone may be just as substantial as 
that typically found in a house.  Riley, 134 S. Ct. at 2491.  Although the Court did not 
explicitly say so, it appears that the Justices considered phones at least as worthy of 
protection as homes.  For that reason, it is instructive to look to Maryland precedent 
addressing warrants to search suspects’ homes. 
To obtain probable cause to search a suspect’s home, “mere observation, 
documentation, or suspicion of a defendant’s participation in criminal activity will not 
necessarily suffice by itself, to establish probable cause that inculpatory evidence will be 
found in the home.”  Holmes v. State, 368 Md. 506, 523 (2002).  Officers need not supply 
direct evidence.  Instead “probable cause may be inferred from the type of crime, the nature 
of the items sought, the opportunity for concealment, and reasonable inferences about 
where the defendant may hide the incriminating items.”  Id. at 522.  In Agurs, this Court 
relied on Holmes and State v. Coley, 145 Md. App. 502 (2002) to “establish relevant 
principles” to determine when a sufficient nexus exists to search a suspect’s home.  Agurs, 
415 Md. at 86–88.  Here, the affiants provided no support, other than their training and 
experience, for the statement that the arrestees used their phones in the commission of a 
crime, or that the phones contained evidence of a crime.  This is precisely the lack of nexus 
7 
that this Court and the Court of Special Appeals have condemned as impermissible to 
support probable cause for a search warrant.3    
In Coley, the Court of Special Appeals explained that “Maryland . . . has explicitly 
rejected th[e] notion” that there is probable cause to believe that drug dealers will keep 
contraband and records of transactions in their homes.  145 Md. App. at 527 n.18.  As we 
explained in Agurs, while officers may draw reasonable inferences that evidence may be 
found in a location, “there must be facts shown from which this reasonable inference can 
be drawn.” 415 Md. at 87 (emphasis added).  Facts that connect a suspected drug dealer to 
his home at the time of drug transactions permit that inference.  Id.  We have not adopted 
a rule that probable cause to search a home exists because drug dealers tend to keep drugs 
in their home.  We should not adopt a rule that translates that rationale to phones.   
The Majority offers a slim exception to its holding.  It suggests that in some cases 
“the nature of the crime will not support a warrant to search the suspect’s cell phone . . . . ”  
Moats, Maj. Slip Op. at 23.  But the only examples given are “traffic offenses, public 
nuisance crimes, and the like.”  Id.  This exception creates an amorphous, but seemingly 
narrow standard in which I cannot find a limiting principle.  
 
Other jurisdictions require more to connect a cell phone to a crime before finding 
probable cause to issue a warrant to search the phone.  In Commonwealth v. White, 59 
N.E.3d 369 (Mass. 2016), the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts concluded that 
                                              
3 I in no way discount the extensive training and experience of our State’s law 
enforcement officers.  Our officers are extremely capable.  For that reason, I do not doubt 
their ability to provide magistrates with additional facts that draw a nexus between a phone 
and suspected criminal activity.   
8 
“probable cause to search or seize a person’s cellular telephone may not be based solely on 
an officer’s opinion that the device is likely to contain evidence of the crime under 
investigation . . . . ”  Id. at 371–72.  Detectives had seized the suspect’s phone because they 
had reason to believe the defendant had participated in a crime, and their training and 
experience suggested the device might contain relevant evidence.  Id. at 376.  
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court explained that this connection alone 
could not satisfy the nexus requirement.  Relying upon Massachusetts precedent, the court 
concluded that even if probable cause to suspect the defendant committed a crime exists, 
officers may not search or seize a cell phone unless they have “information establishing 
the existence of particularized evidence likely to be found there.”  Id.  The court rejected 
the inference that because phones are commonly used, they contain evidence.  It reasoned 
that if that inference was sufficient for probable cause “it would be a rare case where 
probable cause to charge someone with a crime would not open the person’s cellular 
telephone to seizure and subsequent search.”  Id. at 377 (citing Riley, 134 S. Ct. at 2492). 
The “particularized evidence” standard that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial 
Court set may be too high.  I do not suggest that officers must be able to identify the specific 
information they seek.  But judges should not issue warrants to search cell phones that may 
contain exhaustive details of an individual’s life simply because criminals in other cases 
have sometimes used cell phones in the commission of crimes.  Officers relying on specific 
facts of a crime to support an affidavit should be able to point to facts that support a 
reasonable inference that evidence may be found on a suspect’s cell phone.   
9 
Federal court cases have also required a link between the phone and the crime to 
justify probable cause.  See United States v. Ramirez, 180 F. Supp. 3d 491, 495 (W.D. Ky. 
2016) (suspect’s possession of a phone at the time of arrest for drug conspiracy does not 
by itself establish a sufficient nexus between the phone and alleged criminal activity); see 
also United States v. Bass, 785 F.3d 1043, 1049 (6th Cir. 2015) (sufficient nexus existed 
when suspect and co-conspirators used their phones to communicate during fraudulent 
activities and suspect was using his phone before arrest to alert co-conspirators); Mathis v. 
United States, 767 F.3d 1264, 1276 (11th Cir. 2014) (probable cause existed because 
affiants showed evidence of communications between suspect and alleged victim on the 
suspect’s phone).  
The Supreme Court has explained that “probable cause is a fluid concept—turning 
on the assessment of probabilities in particular factual contexts . . . . ”  Gates, 462 U.S. 
at 232 (emphasis added).  But probabilities require a footing in facts.   Although “common-
sense conclusions about human behavior” are relevant to determining when probable cause 
exists, see id. at 231–32, they should not be the sole criteria for assessment.  Before a judge 
authorizes a warrant to search a cell phone, there should be a factual context that makes it 
probable that the suspect’s phone has been used in a crime, or that evidence of the crime 
may be found on the phone.  
CONCLUSION  
Riley does not address what constitutes probable cause sufficient to obtain a warrant 
to search a cell phone.  I cannot, however, conclude that it is appropriate for this Court to 
apply Riley to permit warrants based primarily on an officer’s training and expertise 
10 
without the necessary facts to support a reasonable inference that the suspect has used his 
phone in the commission of a crime or that the phone contains evidence of the crime.   
Judge Greene has authorized me to state that he joins this Concurring Opinion.