State v. Kelley

The trial court did not err in granting the defendant's motion to suppress, because the judge, who signed the search warrant, lacked authority to act in the case-the order appointing the judge was invalid.

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The State appeals from the trial court’s grant of Roy Robinson Kelley, III’s motion to suppress evidence of child pornography found on his office computer. Kelley argues that the judge who signed the search warrant lacked authority to do so and also argues, among others, that the warrant was issued without a showing of probable cause. Because we conclude that the order appointing the judge who issued the search warrant did not comply with the mandates of OCGA § 15-1-9.1, we affirm the trial court’s grant of the motion to suppress on those grounds. The record shows that a GBI Special Agent investigating child pornography on internet web sites, discovered that a credit card issued to Kelley had been used to access one of the web sites targeted by the investigation. When the agent decided to request search warrants for the Kelley investigation, the judge she first applied to stated that he was not comfortable signing off on the warrant and another judge would have to be appointed to handle the case. A judge from another county was brought in, the agent met with that judge, and the judge signed the warrant.

After officers conducted the search of Kelley’s office, he was charged with 20 counts of sexual exploitation of children. Kelley filed a motion to suppress the evidence seized during the search, arguing that the judge who signed the search warrant was without authority to do so, that there was no probable cause to issue the warrant, and that, for numerous reasons, the search warrants were unlawfully issued. The trial court granted the motion to suppress on all grounds. This appeal followed.

State v. Kelley

The trial court did not err in granting the defendant's motion to suppress, because the judge, who signed the search warrant, lacked authority to act in the case-the order appointing the judge was invalid.

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