Commonwealth v. Sukhadia

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COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA Appellant v. CYRUS SAM SUKHADIA

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA Appellant v. CYRUS SAM SUKHADIA

Nos. 1230 WDA 2022, 1231 WDA 2022

No. J-A18038-23

Superior Court of Pennsylvania

November 8, 2023

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION

Appeal from the Suppression Order Entered September 23, 2022 In the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-65-CR-0001889-2016 CP-65-CR-0002897-2017

Benjamin D. Kohler, Esq.

BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., LAZARUS, J., and KUNSELMAN, J.

MEMORANDUM

KUNSELMAN, J.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appeals the order granting Cyrus Sam Sukhadia's motion to suppress in two cases. The suppression court found that two search warrants for the contents of Sukhadia's cell phone were unconstitutionally overbroad. We affirm.

Case Posture

This case began in 2014 with an investigation into Sukhadia, who was then a police recruit. The suppression court found the following facts leading up to the issuance of the first warrant:

On October 17, 2014, Detectives James Simunovic and Jeffrey Abraham, of the City of Pittsburgh Police Department, met with [Sukhadia] in order to conduct an interview regarding his arrest on charges which alleged that [Sukhadia] provided alcohol to an underage female and communicated with her through Tinder, a social media communication application. [Sukhadia] was placed in a soundproof interview room. After being administered Miranda warnings, [Sukhadia] chose not to speak with the officers and the interview was terminated.

Simunovic also took custody of [Sukhadia's] cellular telephone from the arresting officer and placed it on his desk. [Sukhadia] did not consent to a search of the phone's contents. Abraham subsequently wrote an application for a search warrant to examine the contents of [Sukhadia's] cellular telephone. The Honorable David Cashman of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County signed the search warrant at approximately 11:45 a.m. on October 17, 2014. After the warrant was signed, Abraham transferred the phone to another City of Pittsburgh police officer to conduct the search.

Suppression Court Opinion, 9/23/22, at 9-10 (record citations and footnotes omitted).

This first search warrant authorized the police to search for and seize "All electronic data to include but not limited to phone calls, text messages, emails, photos, videos, call log instant messages and correspond[e]nce from applications downloaded from [Sukhadia's phone]." Application for Search Warrant and Authorization, 10/17/14 (First Warrant), at 1 (identifying the "items to be searched for and seized," being "as specific as possible"). The warrant confined the location of the search to the following content: "All electronic data to include but not limited to phone calls, text messages, emails, photos, videos, call log, and instant messages from [Sukhadia's phone]." Id. (describing the "premises . . . to be searched"). It listed two crimes: witness intimidation and selling liquor to a minor, with dates of "10//2014-10/16/2014" [sic]. Id.; see 18 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 4952, 6310.1.

Attached to (and included with) the first search warrant was the affidavit of probable cause. The affidavit provided both detectives' backgrounds as well as the following information in support of probable cause:

The information in this search warrant was [corroborated] and relayed to us from a report generated by Detective Brian Sellers, who is assigned to the Sex Assault and Family Crimes Unit. The report that he prepared, detailed an incident involving a female victim named [E.W.], and ACTOR Cyrus Sukhadia.

The report [dictated] that on 10/16/2014, Detective Patterson and Detective Sellers received an underage drinking report from officers Matthew Mays and Michael Muehlbauer of the Point Park University Public Safety Department. The student was identified as 18 year old [E.W.] According to the report, [E.W.] disclosed that she had obtained the alcohol from a City of Pittsburgh Police officer. [E.W.] made a written statement of the incidents. Detective Sellers and Detective Patterson received a copy of the statement.

[E.W.] knew the officer only as "Cyrus." Through further investigation, it was discovered that a Cyrus Sukhadia was currently enrolled with the City of Pittsburgh Police Training Academy as a recruit. [E.W.] didn't know the address of Sukhadia but was able to direct Sgt. Black (Point Park University) and Lt. Kudrav (A/Commander, Zone 2) to the apartment building in the Brookline section of the City of Pittsburgh. A silver Toyota Corolla, parked on the street in front of the building, was positively identified by [E.W.] as Cyrus' vehicle. A check of the license plate confirmed the owner as Sukhadia. The driver's license photo was an exact match as to a photo on [E.W.'s] cell phone as Sukhadia.

Detective Sellers and Detective Patterson then interviewed [E.W.] in SAFC room #263. The following is a summary of the interview and is not verbatim unless quoted.

[E.W.] said that she is currently enrolled at Point Park University as a freshman. [E.W.] said that she met Sukhadia on "Tinder". She explained that Tinder is a dating website for mobile phones. [E.W.] admitted that she put her age as 22 on the website and that she "needed booze." On 10/2/2014, at 1842 hrs, Sukhadia responded to [E.W.'s] post with "So i hear u want some booze." The following is conversation between Sukhadia and [E.W.], as copied from [E.W.'s] cell phone:

[E.W.] - "Yes please."

Sukhadia - "Lol and whats in it for me:p"

[E.W.] - "Bring me two bottles, I'll give you head and cash."

Sukhadia - "Lol sure, what do u want and where am i taking it?"

[E.W.] - "First, are you okay with getting head in your car?" Sukhadia - "Yeah sure" "Actually ur only 3 miles away, we could prob head to my place real quick"

By 1925 hrs., Sukhadia texted [E.W.] and said that he'd be there in 20 minutes. A short time later, Sukhadia called [E.W.] on her phone and told her that he was at the school. Sukhadia drove [E.W.] to a liquor store on Shiloh St. where she gave him $40.00. Sukhadia returned with a bottle of rum and a bottle of vodka. While en route, Sukhadia asked [E.W.] how old she was. [E.W.] told Sukhadia that she was 18 years old. She said Sukhadia replied "No wonder you asked me to get you alcohol." They then drove to Sukhadia's apartment. While [E.W.] performed oral sex on Sukhadia, she noticed a bandage on Sukhadia's knee. After she was done, she asked Sukhadia how he injured himself. Sukhadia told [E.W.] to look in his closet. [E.W.] complied and she said that when she opened the doors, she immediately saw Pittsburgh Police uniforms. [E.W.] said that she felt that she had been "busted." She said Sukhadia said: "Just forget I'm a cop." Sukhadia drove [E.W.] back to the dorms.

[E.W.] said that the next time she and Sukhadia texted each other was on 10/7/2014. Sukhadia agreed to get [E.W.] alcohol. He told her that he had to go to a beer distributor because the liquor stores were closed. Sukhadia picked up [E.W.] and took her to his house. After the oral sex was completed, Sukhadia drove [E.W.] back to the dorms. During the drive back to the dorms, Sukhadia asked [E.W.] if any of her friends would have oral sex for alcohol or intercourse for drugs. [E.W.] said that she didn't reply. At the dorms, [E.W.] retrieved a 12 pack of [Four Loko] out of the trunk. [E.W.] said she paid Sukhadia $26.00. A short time later, [E.W.] received a message from Sukhadia accusing her of short changing him. [E.W.] said that there was no more communication between the two of them until the final meeting.

On 10/15/2014, Sukhadia picked up [E.W.] and drove to his apartment. [E.W.] said that inside the apartment, she saw a pistol, vest and other police items. [E.W.] said Sukhadia suggested that she put his "billy club" inside her vagina. [E.W.] said she refused. She performed oral sex on Sukhadia. He then drove Sukhadia [sic] back to the dorms. While driving [E.W.] back to the dorm, Cyrus Sukhadia told her that if she or some of her friends wanted drugs, he would get the drugs from the evidence locker. Sukhadia said he would get the drugs if [E.W.] or her friends would have sex with him.

As they got closer to the school, Sukhadia and [E.W.] observed a heavy presence of police in the area (due to a movie being filmed in the area). Sukhadia told [E.W.] that if she gets caught, not to tell police she got the alcohol from him. [E.W.] asked Sukhadia why and he said: "I'd plant enough cocaine on you to get you in jail for 20 years." [The police asked E.W.] how she felt about that statement. She said that she was scared and thought, "He could actually do that."

Based on this information, Detective Patterson obtained an arrest warrant for Sukhadia.

On 10/17/14 Sukhadia reported to the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Training Academy and was placed into custody by Sgt. Epler. [During a search] incident to arrest, Sgt. Epler recovered the white Iphone as described in the application for the search warrant.

Based on the victim's statement's about correspond[e]nce VIA the cellular phone messaging between [E.W.] and Sukhadia, I am respectfully requesting a search warrant for all electronic data to include but not limited to phone calls, text messages, emails, photos, videos, call log, instant messages and correspond[e]nce from applications downloaded from a cellular phone recovered from Cyrus Sukhadia. The description of the cellular phone is white Apple Iphone [with specific descriptors].

First Warrant, at 2-4.

The suppression court found the following facts about the execution of the first warrant:

Detective Timothy Cole is employed by the Computer Crimes Unit of the City of Pittsburgh Police Department and is tasked with processing

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