Hunt v. State

1

NICHOLAS HUNT v. STATE OF MARYLAND

No. 485-2022

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland^[**]

May 8, 2023

Circuit Court for Harford County Case No. C-12-CR-18-000626

Leahy Albright, Harrell, Glenn T., Jr., (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned) JJ.

OPINION ^[*]

Leahy J Appellant, Nicholas Hunt, ("Hunt"), was indicted in the Circuit Court for Harford County on eleven drug and firearm counts. He moved to suppress evidence seized during a search of the apartment where he was living. Hunt's contention before the suppression court, and now on appeal, is that the search and seizure warrant was based upon information obtained unlawfully by law enforcement after Hunt purportedly revoked his invitation to search his apartment without a warrant earlier that day. The circuit court denied the motion following a hearing. Hunt then pled guilty to one count of possession of a firearm with a nexus to drug trafficking and one count of possession of a regulated firearm by a prohibited person, conditioned upon his right to appeal from the suppression ruling. The court sentenced him to an aggregate term of 35 years, all but ten years suspended, with the executed portion of the sentence to be served without the possibility of parole.

On appeal, Hunt poses a single question: Did the suppression court err by denying the motion to suppress? Discerning no error, we shall affirm the judgments of the circuit court.

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, we hold that after Hunt told law enforcement, "[y]ou can search my apartment," he did not revoke his consent to the search unequivocally by his words or by his conduct. We conclude that, under the totality of the circumstances, Hunt did not withdraw his express consent to the search by implication when he briefly led the officers away from the apartment because he then accompanied the officers to his apartment, handed them his key ring, and showed them which was the key to his apartment. Consequently, we hold that the circuit court did not err in denying the motion to suppress.

BACKGROUND

We present the facts adduced at the May 11, 2022, suppression hearing in the light most favorable to the State, the prevailing party. Greene v. State, 469 Md. 156, 165 (2020). The State called Detective James Nolan, Jr. ("Nolan") as its only witness. He testified that at the relevant time, he worked for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services ("DPSCS") Warrant Apprehension Unit serving "parole retake warrants." In August 2018, his team was searching for Demond Pettigrew ("Pettigrew"),^[1] for whom a warrant had been issued for violation of the conditions of his parole. A source told Nolan that Pettigrew was living in Apartment 301, 1313 Gold Meadow Way, in Edgewood, Maryland (hereinafter "Apartment 301") with his girlfriend and a "white male[.]"

On August 28, Nolan and his team surveilled Apartment 301. They observed a white male, later identified as Hunt, park a white BMW outside the apartment building. Hunt and a woman got out of the vehicle, walked up the external staircase to the third floor of the apartment building, and entered the apartment using Hunt's key. The officers waited to see if Pettigrew would exit the apartment but left after some time had elapsed.

Early the next morning, August 29, Nolan returned with at least six or seven other officers. Around 7 a.m., he observed Hunt leave the apartment with the same woman and walk towards the white BMW. Nolan "never saw Mr. Pettigrew come or go . into that apartment" but he nevertheless approached Hunt and identified himself. Nolan asked Hunt "if he knew Mr. Pettigrew." Hunt denied knowing Pettigrew. Nolan then showed Hunt a picture of Pettigrew, but Hunt again denied knowing him. Nolan explained to Hunt "that [they] had information that he was living with Pettigrew[,]" but Hunt denied that as well. Hunt then "volunteered" a search, with the words "[y]ou can search my apartment."

Nolan testified that he followed behind as Hunt walked toward the apartment building. However, in an apparent ruse, Hunt "walked past the staircase" that led up to Apartment 301 when they "got to the actual entrance" of the building. Nolan stopped Hunt and told him that the police had observed him entering and exiting Apartment 301 and that "they knew Mr. Pettigrew was in the apartment." Hunt then admitted to Pettigrew's presence in the back bedroom of Apartment 301.

Nolan testified to what happened next:

[NOLAN]: At that time, the team went up to the third floor. We took Mr. Hunt with us. Mr. Hunt was standing to the side -- well, off to the side actually. We got the key for the Apartment 301 from Mr. Hunt.

[STATE'S ATTORNEY]: How did you go about getting the key from Mr. Hunt? [NOLAN]: I asked him for it. [STATE'S ATTORNEY]: And he just handed it over?

[NOLAN]: Yes. [STATE'S ATTORNEY]: Okay.

[NOLAN]: He actually showed -- there were several keys on the ring. He actually showed me the key. He gave me the key, and we were - as I put the key into the lock, I looked over to Mr. Hunt, and he was waving me over to him.

Nolan explained that he "went over to Mr. Hunt[,]" who "indicated that Mr. Pettigrew would kill [Hunt] if he found out that he had given [Pettigrew] up, that he was inside the apartment Hunt confided that "there's also a little bit of marijuana in the apartment[,]" leading Nolan to "explain[] to Mr. Hunt that I was there to take Mr. Pettigrew into custody and return him to the Department of Corrections, that I wasn't worried about a little bit of marijuana.

Thereupon, Nolan and his team entered Apartment 301 with Hunt's key. Nolan immediately smelled "[t]he odor of spray paint[,]" the "obvious source" of which was a half bath with a "wide open" door to his "immediate right" as he entered the apartment. Nolan testified,"[t]here was a towel on the floor with a dissembled [sic] assault pistol that was obviously freshly spray painted black." There was also a "can of spray paint with a couple of pairs of rubber gloves next to it." Nolan explained that he could see the disassembled firearm after he crossed the threshold of the apartment and walked about three feet inside.

The officers then conducted a search of the apartment for Pettigrew, during which they opened a closed bedroom door adjacent to the half bathroom "to clear it, make sure there were no suspects or anybody inside the - inside the room." On the floor of that room was another firearm that "looked like it was being disassembled on the floor with a Dremel tool," all of which led Nolan to believe that "they were trying to remove a serial number[.]" These items may also have been "part of that weapon that was found in the bathroom." There was also a "large amount of currency" and "a digital scale out in plain view." Officers walked around the far side of the bed where they observed a large glass container filled with loose marijuana and an intact handgun on the floor.

Nolan testified that after the team cleared the rest of the apartment, he knocked on the door to the back bedroom "where Mr. Hunt said [Pettigrew] would be." Nolan identified himself and Pettigrew unlocked and opened the door. Nolan entered the bedroom and arrested Pettigrew on the latter's open arrest warrants. The officers secured the apartment and contacted the Harford County Sheriff's Office ("HCSO") to advise them of what they had observed. Detective Aaron Sandruck, a police officer of the Havre de Grace Police Department assigned to the Harford County Narcotics Task Force, obtained a search and seizure warrant.

On cross-examination, Nolan clarified the circumstances during the time he first approached Hunt outside of the apartment building. Nolan was on foot with "one or two [officers] near me and Mr. Hunt[,]" and four or five other officers "in the vicinity." Initially, Hunt was "cordial" but not "cooperative." After Hunt "indicated that [the team] could search his apartment[,]" they "escort[ed] him towards the apartment." However, when Hunt "took [them] towards a long hallway on the first floor past the staircase[,]" Nolan testified that he stopped Hunt and said, "Listen, we observed you come out. We observed you go in and come out of 301. We know Mr. Pettigrew is in 301." Nolan related, "[t]hat's when [Hunt] said [Pettigrew is] in the back bedroom." Thereupon, Hunt "[w]alked up to the third floor with [the team,]" which consisted of "seven or eight" other agents. Nolan explained that after Pettigrew was taken into custody, a member of the HCSO narcotic taskforce came to secure Apartment 301 and Nolan informed the taskforce member of his observations.

Hunt testified to a different version of events. According to Hunt, Nolan and his team arrived in two police cars as Hunt approached his own vehicle in the parking lot. Hunt said Nolan approached him on foot and searched Hunt and his companion while one of the police cars blocked in his vehicle. Hunt denied that he offered to let the team search his apartment and testified that Nolan took him by the arm and ordered him to take the team to the apartment Hunt had just exited. Hunt confirmed that he did not take Nolan directly to Apartment 301, but told Nolan that he lived in another complex beyond. Hunt testified that upon being asked persistently "why are you scared to take us in there?" he admitted to Nolan that he had "weed and stuff" inside the apartment. Nolan laughed and assured him that his team "do[es] not care about that stuff[.]" Hunt claimed that Nolan asked for his car keys, whereupon another detective took Hunt's key ring out of his hands where they were handcuffed behind his back. Hunt testified that officer tried to use them to open a first-floor apartment before leading Hunt upstairs to the third floor. The...