James Brundige stands accused in the Superior Court of Clarke County of manufacturing marijuana, OCGA § 16-13-30 j 1; possessing marijuana with intent to distribute, OCGA § 16-13-30 j 1; and possessing a controlled substance, OCGA § § 16-30-28 a 6 designating Clonazepam as a controlled substance; 16-13-30 a. Brundige filed a motion to suppress and exclude all evidence seized pursuant to two warranted searches of his home, arguing, inter alia, that the first search warrant, which designated “anomalous heat loss” from the residence as the thing to be seized, was not authorized under Georgia law. After a hearing, the trial court denied the motion, and we granted Brundige’s ensuing application for an interlocutory appeal. For the reasons explained below, we affirm. The record shows the following undisputed facts.1 On May 21, 2009, a University of Georgia police officer applied for a warrant to search Brundige’s home. In the warrant, the officer gave his reasons for believing that there was a marijuana-growing operation inside the home, including “an amount of marijuana in a size that is consistent with a marijuana grow operation,” which the officer had found in a garbage can beside the driveway of the house. The officer explained how an electronic thermal detection and imaging device can be used to detect heat loss patterns, including “hot spots” that are consistent with the use of high-intensity lights to grow marijuana indoors. The officer requested a warrant to use such a device to search the residence for “anomalous heat loss occurring at the described premises as a result of an indoor marijuana growing operation, which is being possessed in violation of The Georgia Controlled Substances Act.” A judge granted the application and issued the warrant.
The officer, along with a detective who was trained as a thermographer, executed the warrant early the following morning. Based on the amount and pattern of heat loss detected by the thermal scanning device when it was pointed at the garage door, the thermographer concluded that there were hot spots inside the garage. The investigating officer went back to the residence one or two days after executing the warrant and left a copy of the warrant with Brundige’s father, who answered the door.
