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Sosebee v. State

The trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion to suppress, because the state failed to produce evidence that the search of the defendant's hotel room, which uncovered a firearm, was conducted pursuant to a search warrant.

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Following the grant of her application for discretionary appeal, Rhonda Dilynn Sosebee appeals the trial court’s order revoking her probation after finding that she committed the offense of possession of a firearm by a first offender probationer. She contends that the trial court erred in denying her motion to suppress, and that the state failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that she possessed the firearm. Because the state did not carry its burden of proving that the search in question was conducted pursuant to a valid search warrant, we reverse. The record reveals that Sosebee, charged with theft by deception, entered a negotiated plea of nolo contendere. The trial court sentenced her under the First Offender Act, OCGA § 42-8-60 et seq., to five years of probation. A few months later, the state petitioned for the trial court to revoke Sosebee’s first offender probation, alleging that she had committed the offense of possession of a firearm by a first offender probationer, OCGA § 16-11-131 b. The state maintained that the police had discovered the firearm during the lawful search of a hotel room registered in Sosebee’s name.

Sosebee moved to suppress the firearm on the ground that the search of the hotel room had been conducted without a valid search warrant, without the consent of Sosebee, and in the absence of exigent circumstances.1 While the state asserted that the search was conducted pursuant to a valid search warrant, the state did not provide a copy of the warrant with supporting affidavit to Sosebee before or during the hearing on her motion to suppress.

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