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State v. Wells

Information one officer relayed to the officer who prepared and signed an affidavit supporting a warrant to search the defendant's residence was admissible to establish probable cause.

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The State appeals a trial court decision granting Alan Wells’s motion to suppress evidence obtained as result of a search pursuant to a warrant.1 For the reasons that follow, we reverse.

Viewed in the light most favorable to upholding the trial court’s findings and judgment, see Brown v. State, 293 Ga. 787, 803 3 b 2 750 SE2d 148 2013, the evidence presented at the suppression hearing shows that on August 30, 2011, the DeKalb County Police Department received a anonymous complaint from a community member about alleged narcotics sales at 663 Parker Avenue, with purchasers arriving both on foot and in vehicles. Four uniformed officers, including Sergeant Pitts, went to the location to conduct a “knock and talk” to investigate the allegations in the report. The officers first identified two known drug users standing in the driveway. Pitts then knocked on the front door and spoke with Wells, who identified himself as the leaseholder. Pitts explained to Wells the nature of the complaint, and Wells responded that he had been arrested for trafficking in cocaine in the past and that he was on probation. Pitts asked for consent to search; Wells refused and responded that he only had a “little bag of weed” in the house for personal use and was not selling drugs on the premises. Pitts then asked Wells if he could enter the home to retrieve the marijuana. Wells became visibly nervous but responded “come on” and started walking in the house; Pitts followed Wells into the master bedroom. There, Wells searched a drawer but stated that he could not find the marijuana, and he again refused a request by Pitts to search the house. Pitts and Wells then went back outside. At that point, Pitts and the other officers decided to detain the individuals at the house and to attempt to obtain a warrant to search the house.

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