Hall v. State

The Superior Court of Chatham County denied Leonard Hall’s motion to suppress cocaine found on his person as a result of the execution of a search warrant at Hall’s place of employment, Woods Barbershop on 37th Street in Savannah, and Hall’s subsequent consent to a search of his person. From testimony adduced at the hearing on the motion to suppress, the trial court determined that Hall had voluntarily consented to a search of his person. Hall claims that, despite his consent to search, the motion to suppress should have been granted since the State failed to introduce the search warrant and supporting affidavit, thereby rendering the entry into Woods Barber Shop illegal and tainting everything that came thereafter, including his consent to search. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

On appeal of the denial of a motion to suppress, the evidence is to be construed most favorably to the upholding of the judgment made.1 So viewed, testimony at the motion to suppress showed that Hall had started working as a barber at Woods Barbershop just three months prior to the incident date; he had not yet built up a clientele. On the day in question, Hall was working in the shop with two of the apparent owners, Tony and Fred Woods. The police entered Woods Barbershop pursuant to a warrant establishing the barber shop as a known drug sale location; the officer who swore out the affidavit for the warrant informed the executing officers that barbers were selling drugs out of the shop.