Court Opinion

ID: 9676933
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:38:40.072055+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:52.420184
License: Public Domain

McDONALD, Judge
dissenting:
I dissent because it was error, in my opinion, for the trial court to suppress the evidence. I believe the actions of the parole officer must be examined step by step to determine if such actions were reasonable, and if reasonable, Pierre Lamont Elliott’s constitutional rights were not violated.
In the first place, was the parole officer legally in the residence of Elliott’s sister where Pierre Elliott lived? His status there is undisputed. He had permission to enter the home from the sister and, regardless, he had a statutory right to make a warrantless arrest under KRS 439.430.
Keep in mind that the parole officer is not functioning as a police officer. Elliott was a parolee under supervision and the officer had unquestioned probable cause to believe Elliott was violating the conditions of his parole.
Secondly, Pierre Elliott was arrested in the kitchen area of the home and then taken to the living room. The officer had information that a female, Yvette Miles, was helping Elliott in selling drugs and that she might be at the house. The officer’s informant was not sure whether Elliott or Miles was armed. But knowing Elliott’s violent tendencies, Elliott having killed before, the officer was prepared for the worst.
In the process of making a “safety sweep” of the premises for the officers’ own protection because accomplices might be hiding therein, the officer saw drugs and paraphernalia on a small table in Elliott’s bedroom in plain view.
In my, opinion, this was not a search as such is defined in Nichols v. Commonwealth, Ky., 408 S.W.2d 189 (1966).
I would reverse the order of the circuit court and permit the evidence to be used against Elliott. His constitutional rights have not been abused.