State v. Halgas

1

STATE OF NEW JERSEY, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. CHRISTOPHER R. HALGAS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. A-2851-23

Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division

October 24, 2024

This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court." Although it is posted on the internet this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.

Submitted October 10, 2024

On appeal from an interlocutory order of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Burlington County, Indictment No 23-12-1473.

Bruce L. Castor, Jr. (Van Der Veen, Hartshorn, Levin &amp Lindheim) of the Pennsylvania bar, admitted pro hac vice, and Kaitlin C. McCaffrey (Van Der Veen Hartshorn, Levin &Lindheim), attorneys for appellant (Bruce L. Castor, Jr. and Kaitlin C. McCaffrey, on the briefs).

LaChia L. Bradshaw, Burlington County Prosecutor, attorney for respondent (Nicole Handy, Assistant Prosecutor, of counsel and on the brief).

American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey Foundation and Jennifer N. Sellitti, Public Defender, attorneys for amici curiae American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and New Jersey Office of the Public Defender (Brian P. Keenan, Assistant Deputy Public Defender, of counsel and on the brief; Liza F. Weisberg and Jeanne M. LoCicero, on the brief).

Before Judges Mawla, Natali, and Vinci.

PER CURIAM

By leave granted, defendant Christopher R. Halgas appeals from the April 25, 2024 order denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained through a search of his home pursuant to a warrant. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I.

On September 3, 2023, at approximately 8:36 a.m., the Moorestown Police Department was dispatched to the area of defendant's home at 508 Westfield Road in Moorestown after receiving two reports of gunshots fired. The first report came from an officer patrolling in the area who heard possible gunshots.

The second report was made by a neighbor who called and reported approximately five "gunshots in the area of 508 Westfield Road." The caller "indicated that they heard a male on location screaming and yelling around [8:30 a.m.] just before they heard gunshots." According to the caller, "the argument was approximately [five] minutes long, and after hearing the gunshots, they heard a motorcycle leave ...." The caller "observed a subject operating a large black Harley-Davidson motorcycle with a black helmet and black jacket speeding off from the residence."

Officers arrived on scene and interviewed defendant's spouse, Rosemary Halgas, who was home with their two minor daughters.^[1] Rosemary reported defendant was not home, she did not hear any gunshots, and there were no active disputes at the residence. Officers located "several spent shell casings" on the ground in the driveway and "in the vicinity of the open garage door inside the garage." They also observed what they believed to be a bullet hole "in the roof of the garage." Officers then detained Rosemary and the daughters outside the residence while they "cleared the property." While doing so, they "observed numerous long guns inside the residence."

Based on this information, Detective Joseph Giorgi of the Moorestown Police Department applied for a warrant and certified there was probable cause to believe individuals engaged in the crimes of attempted murder, unlawful possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

The warrant application sought to search and seize, among other things: (1) the residence, garage, and all detached structures; (2) four vehicles registered to defendant and Rosemary; and (3) "[v]ideo and/or digital surveillance systems and all components thereof." The warrant application also sought to search and seize:

Any and all electronic devices with electronic messaging/social media/internet connection capability of any kind, including, but not limited to, cellular telephones, mp3 players, computers, tablets, smartwatches, smart televisions, streaming media players such as Roku boxes, [A]mazon firesticks, [A] pple TVs, and other similar devices, smart speakers including, but not limited to [A]mazon echo and other similar devices, laptop computers, video game consoles or systems with internet connection and messaging capability, cameras, and all other similar electronic devices along with all peripheral devices and storage media or hardware ....

The application was based on the following statement of probable cause:

On [September 3, 2023] at approximately [8:36 a.m.], the Moorestown Police Department was dispatched to 508 Westfield Rd, Moorestown, N.J. 08057 for a report of a shooting. Initially, Patrolman Paul Newman #3167 of the Moorestown Police Department was in the area of Westfield Road and Borton Landing Road at the time and advised of possible gunshots in the area. Central Communications received an additional call at the time for gunshots in the area of 508 Westfield Road, which may have been a result of an argument.

The second caller, a neighbor[,] indicated that they heard a male on location screaming and yelling around [8:30 a.m.] just before they heard gunshots. They indicated that the argument was approximately [five] minutes long, and after hearing the gunshots, they heard a motorcycle leave in the direction of Flying Feather Farm. The caller observed a subject operating a large black Harley-Davidson motorcycle with a black helmet and black jacket speeding off from the residence. The caller reported that they heard approximately five gunshots in total.

Patrols arrived on scene at 508 Westfield Road and made contact with [Rosemary], the homeowner, and her two daughters who are juveniles. Rosemary reported that she did not hear any gunshots and there were no active disputes at the residence. Rosemary stated that her husband Christopher Halgas was not home, only her two daughters. Prior to patrols making entry at the residence, several spent shell casings were located on the ground in the driveway and in the vicinity of the open garage door inside the garage. In addition, a bullet hole was located in the roof of the garage. Rosemary and her two daughters were detained outside of the residence as officers cleared the property. It should be noted that while Patrols were clearing the residence, they observed numerous long guns inside the residence.

Observed on the property of 508 Westfield Rd were three . . . shed structures in addition to the main residence with attached garage. Within the garage were two vehicles, a Chevrolet Corvette . . . and Aston Martin .... Located in the driveway are two vehicles Volkswagen Jetta . . . and a Dodge Durango ....

While on scene of 508 Westfield Road, electronic surveillance footage cameras were located on the exterior of the residence to include the garage door which may have captured the incident. Additionally, numerous cellular phones are known to be inside the residence at this time.

The warrant was issued by a Judge of the Superior Court and executed. Officers seized cell phones used by Rosemary and the daughters. Officers also seized various weapons and an alleged "large capacity magazine."

The State searched the contents of Rosemary's phone and located a text message defendant sent her approximately five weeks earlier that the State alleges constituted a terroristic threat. On September 3, 2023, defendant was charged in a complaint-warrant with third-degree making terroristic threats, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3(b), based on that text message to Rosemary. On September 15, the State's motion for pretrial detention was granted. On October 10, we affirmed the court's detention order.

On September 29, defendant was charged in a separate complaint-warrant with: (1) second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, N.J.S.A. 2C:39-4(a)(1); (2) fourth-degree possession of a prohibited weapons and devices - large capacity magazine, N.J.S.A. 2C:39-3(j); and (3) second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, N.J.S.A. 2C:24-4(a)(2). On October 4, the State's motion for pretrial detention on those charges was granted. On November 6, we affirmed the court's detention order.

On December 5, a Burlington County grand jury returned a four-count indictment charging defendant with all the above offenses. Defendant moved to suppress the evidence seized as a result of the search warrant issued and executed on September 3. On February 6, and April 4, 2024, the court conducted a hearing on defendant's motion. Defendant called Detective Giorgi, who testified as the only witness at the hearing.

Detective Giorgi stated he had no reason to believe a cell phone was used in the commission of any of the offenses listed in the warrant application. He then testified as follows:

[Defense Counsel]: What is it, then, that you were searching for on [Rosemary and the daughters'] phones?

[Detective Giorgi]: Any communications which might assist in the investigation to understand what happened.

[Defense Counsel]: And did you explain to [the issuing judge] in your warrant [application] why you thought that such information might be on these phones? ....

[Detective Giorgi]: . . . I did not put that information in the probable cause, sir.

Later, he testified as follows:

[Defense Counsel]: Did you write in the probable cause statement and explain to [the issuing judge] why you thought evidence of a crime would likely be found in the memory of anyone's cell phone at the . . . residence?

[Detective Giorgi]: I did not, sir.

[Defense Counsel]: In fact, you made no mention of the use of cell phones anywhere in the probable cause statement, did you?

[Detective Giorgi]: The use of cell phones? No, sir.

[Defense Counsel]: Similarly, . . . you made no mention in your probable cause statement concerning what

...