Title: Ex Parte State

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

476 So. 2d 632 (1985)
Ex parte STATE of Alabama.
(Re Robert Lee CRITTENDEN, alias Bean Crittenden v. STATE of Alabama).
84-494.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
August 30, 1985.
*633 Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and Gerrilyn V. Grant, Asst. Atty. Gen., for petitioner.
Allen Edward Cook, Andalusia, for respondent.
ADAMS, Justice.
We granted certiorari to review the Court of Criminal Appeals' reversal in this case in light of United States v. Leon, ___ U.S. ___, 104 S. Ct. 3405, 82 L. Ed. 2d 677 (1984).
The salient facts are as follows:
The defendant, Robert Lee Crittenden, had cohabitated with Sara Jackson, who had a nine-year-old daughter. The two quarreled and separated, and, according to the testimony of the defendant, Sara Jackson threatened him, saying that she would get back at him somehow.
Some time after the defendant moved out, Sara Jackson learned that her daughter had gonorrhea. The following day, October 8, 1982, Sara went to the sheriff's office seeking an arrest warrant, and she executed an affidavit in support thereof, which accused the defendant of first degree sexual abuse of her daughter. The defendant was arrested pursuant to the warrant, was convicted by the Circuit Court of Covington County of attempted rape in the first degree, and was sentenced to ten years and a day in prison.
On appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeals, 476 So. 2d 626, remanded the case for an evidentiary hearing regarding the issuance of the arrest warrant. The circuit court conducted the hearing, and on return to the remand order the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction and again remanded the case, because "the arrest warrant was issued on the basis of insufficient probable cause."
In its petition for certiorari, the State argues that, according to Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S. Ct. 2317, 76 L. Ed. 2d 527 (1983), a magistrate's determination of probable cause should be paid great deference. We agree that the case stands for this proposition in most instances; however, the Court went on to say:
462 U.S.  at 239, 103 S. Ct.  at 2332. In the case before us, the affidavit reads:
It is clear that this is the "bare-bones" type affidavit that the United States Supreme Court said in Gates would be inadequate. Alabama courts also recognize that affidavits, like the one in the present action, which consist solely of the affiant's conclusion that the named individual committed an offense, without setting forth the facts upon which the conclusion is based, are fatally defective. Malone v. State, 51 Ala. App. 19, 282 So. 2d 367, writ quashed, 291 Ala. 789, 282 So. 2d 371 (1973).
A "bare-bones" affidavit can be validated if it is supplemented with additional facts which the magistrate considered before determining that probable cause was present. The Court of Criminal Appeals remanded the case for an evidentiary hearing on this issue, but there was no showing that the magistrate had anything upon which to base the probable cause determination except the affidavit. Without such additional information, the affidavit and arrest warrant cannot be given any effect in this case.
In the case sub judice, soon after his arrest, the defendant gave a confession to the police. According to Taylor v. Alabama, 457 U.S. 687, 102 S. Ct. 2664, 73 L. Ed. 2d 314 (1982), a confession obtained through custodial interrogation subsequent to an illegal arrest must be excluded from evidence unless there are intervening events which break the causal connection between the illegal arrest and the confession. The State argues that the "good faith" exception propounded in United States v. Leon, ___ U.S. ___, 104 S. Ct. 3405, 82 L. Ed. 2d 677 (1984), would require that the arrest based on the defective warrant be upheld, thus allowing the confession to be admitted into evidence. We disagree.
In Leon, the Supreme Court, addressing the argument concerning the policy of deference to a magistrate's probablecause determination, stated:
___ U.S. at ___, 104 S. Ct.  at 3417. The Court followed this discussion with a footnote pertaining to the application of the "good faith" exception to such a case, stating in pertinent part:
___ U.S. at ___, 104 S. Ct.  at 3417. Attempting to clarify the cases in which the newly adopted exception would apply, the Court continued:
___ U.S. at ___, 104 S. Ct.  at 3422. The Court concluded by saying:
___ U.S. ___, 104 S. Ct.  at 3423. The Court in Leon states that the affidavit at issue was clearly not a "bare-bones" affidavit, and suggests that if it were, the outcome would be different. We are of the opinion that the United States Supreme Court did not wish to extend the "good faith" exception in Leon to a case such as the one before us. Therefore, the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
TORBERT, C.J., and MADDOX, FAULKNER, JONES, ALMON, SHORES, EMBRY and BEATTY, JJ., concur.