Opinion ID: 2621326
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: challenge to findings of fact

Text: Petitioners' assignments of error to findings of fact VII, VIII, and XVI do not merit discussion. [71] Only assignments of error to findings of fact IX, X, and XVII deserve attention. Finding of fact IX states: Tary Rodocker testified she saw the defendants leave Anderson Island on 1/24/98, not 1/25/98 and that this is what she related to Detective Davidson. Detective Davidson made an error in the date written in the search warrant for leaving and returning to Anderson Island. The crime occurred shortly after midnight, 1/25/98. The detective put the correct dates in a supplemental police report. The use of the incorrect date was neither intentional, nor a deliberate misrepresentation. Finding of fact X states: Tary Rodocker confirmed her information was firsthand knowledge except about the time when the Vickers returned on the ferry to Anderson Island. Tary Rodocker also testified she saw Paul Vickers on 1/28/98, Wednesday, at the store. He had on new clothes, buying cigarettes and beer, and declined repayment of a $4 debt. A common sense reading of the affidavit results in the conclusion that the confidential informant's basis of knowledge was firsthand based upon what the informant had seen and heard from the Vickers brothers. [72] Finding of fact XVII states: The detective did not make any intentional, nor deliberate misrepresentations or omissions in the search warrant. Petitioners assert that finding of fact IX is not supported by the record because there is no basis for determining whether the incorrect date was an intentional misrepresentation. They argue that finding of fact X is not supported by the record because the confidential informant's testimony demonstrated that much of her knowledge was from a secondhand source. Petitioners claim that finding of fact XVII is not supported by the record because of alleged inconsistencies between what was testified to at the suppression hearing and the affidavit used to support the search warrant. On appeal, the court reviews solely whether the trial court's findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence and, if so, whether the findings support the trial court's conclusions of law. The party challenging a finding of fact bears the burden of demonstrating the finding is not supported by substantial evidence. [73] Substantial evidence is evidence sufficient to persuade a fair-minded, rational person of the truth of the finding. [74] In this case, there was substantial evidence to support the trial court's findings of fact. Detective Tom Davidson testified the informant told him she saw Petitioners board a ferry leaving Anderson Island on January 24, 1998, and that he placed that correct date in his supplemental report, characterizing the transcription of the wrong date, January 25, 1999, as a typographical error. [75] This can be characterized in a classic sense as merely a scrivener's error. That testimony supports the trial court's finding of fact IX that the incorrect date was not an intentional or deliberate misrepresentation but only an innocent mistake. The challenge to finding of fact X raises the issue whether the record supports the conclusion, when reading the affidavit in a common sense manner, that the informant's basis of knowledge was firsthand knowledge about information she had observed and heard from Petitioners. The record supports finding of fact X. Ms. Rodocker testified that on three occasions she heard Petitioner Paul Vickers discuss committing a robbery in a manner consistent with the manner in which the robbery and homicide were committed at The Pub on January 25, 1998, and that she saw Petitioner John Vickers gesture and make comments in agreement. [76] She said Petitioner Paul Vickers told her about a week before the January 25, 1999 robbery that he had purchased a large amount of ammunition. [77] Considering the testimony of Ms. Rodocker and reading the affidavit in a common sense manner, we conclude the record supports finding of fact X. In challenging finding of fact XVII, Petitioners assert that the detective made intentional or deliberate misrepresentations or omissions in the affidavit for the search warrant. However, the alleged inconsistencies between the affidavit and testimony in the suppression hearing are inconsequential to the finding of probable cause for the search warrant. Petitioners have not established that Detective Davidson intentionally or recklessly misrepresented any facts necessary for establishing probable cause for the search warrant. There was substantial evidence to support finding of fact XVII.