Court Opinion

ID: 9852662
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:34:29.004946+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:31.821351
License: Public Domain

Cooper, Judge,
dissenting.
I must respectfully dissent as I cannot agree with the majority that the officer’s affidavit demonstrated probable cause to support issuance of the search warrant. The issuing judge should not have considered the unlawfully obtained private telephone conversations. The officer’s use of the scanner to intercept appellant’s private cordless telephone conversations required a properly issued warrant pursuant to OCGA § 16-11-64 (b), and his recording of the conversations violated OCGA § 16-11-62. Review of the affidavit, excluding the unlawfully obtained cordless telephone conversations, reveals no probable cause.
The affidavit first represents that a confidential informant reported to the detective eight days prior to the execution of the warrant that “there has been a lot of vehicular traffic to 206 Russ Circle.” The informant also stated that a “Muslim looking fellow” with a deformed forehead drove a green Grand Prix which was always parked in the driveway of the residence. However, there are no facts alleged in the affidavit to demonstrate the informant’s reliability and no allegation of criminal activity. See State v. Smith, 201 Ga. App. 650 (411 SE2d 877) (1991). Furthermore, the evidence, without more, is not relevant to any offense with .which appellant was charged. Next, the detective discussed a silent witness complaint and a vice referral form he received on January 6, seven days before the execution of the warrant. The silent witness alleged that another individual brought crack or cocaine into the residence on August 12, 1989, five months before the execution of the warrant and two-and-one-half months before appellant moved into the house. The vice referral form reported prosti*52tution and drug activity on October 2, 1989, three months before the issuance of the warrant. These observations were not “ ‘so near in point of time to the making of the affidavit and the execution of the search warrant as to create a reasonable belief that the same conditions described in the affidavit still prevailed at the time of the issuance of the warrant.’ [Cit.]” Jackson v. State, 130 Ga. App. 6 (3) (202 SE2d 206) (1973). Moreover, the information provided in the anonymous letter regarding drug deliveries and prostitution was not corroborated by the detective nor did it point to any particular place where cocaine might be found in the house. State v. Stephens, 252 Ga. 181, 182 (311 SE2d 823) (1984). These are not merely technical defects. Probable cause must be demonstrated by more than an officer’s suspicions based on stale information and uncorroborated allegations. Furthermore, I cannot so easily excuse the officer’s unlawful interception of appellant’s private telephone conversations. The officer cannot be said to have acted in good faith in executing the search warrant when he violated the law in obtaining the warrant authorizing such search. Thus, the issuing judge did not have a substantial basis for concluding that probable cause existed, and appellant’s motion to suppress should have been granted.
Decided July 16, 1992.
William A. Dowell, for appellant.
Spencer Lawton, Jr., District Attorney, for appellee.