Wall v. State

Charged with possession of less than one ounce of marijuana, Preston Wall filed a motion to suppress. The trial court denied the motion, and following a bench trial on stipulated facts, found him guilty. Wall now appeals, contending that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. For the following reasons, we affirm. “On appeal from a denial of a motion to suppress, we construe the evidence in favor of the trial court’s ruling, and the trial court’s application of law to undisputed facts is subject to de novo review. And where there is evidence to support the decision of a trial judge on motion to suppress evidence, that decision will not be disturbed on appeal.” Citations and punctuation omitted. Barnett v. State , 275 Ga. App. 464, 466 2 620 SE2d 663 2005.

The undisputed facts are as follows. A state court judge issued an arrest warrant for Harold Hawthorne Jr. for violation of probation. The warrant listed Hawthorne’s address as 7124 Southlake Parkway, Bldg. P, Apt. 8, Morrow, Georgia, 30260. The warrant lead sheet attached to the warrant showed that Hawthorne’s address had been verified on December 16, 2005. A deputy serving the warrant knocked on the door of the address listed, and Wall answered. Wall told the deputy that Hawthorne had moved to Mississippi in October 2005, two months before police had verified Hawthorne’s address in December. The deputy then told Wall that he needed to come inside the apartment and verify that Hawthorne was not there. Wall replied “okay,” and the deputy entered the apartment.