State v. Tuttle

515 S.W.3d 282

STATE of Tennessee

v.Jerry Lewis TUTTLE

No. M2014-00566-SC-R11-CD.

Supreme Court of Tennessee, AT NASHVILLE.

October 5, 2016 Session

Filed April 5, 2017

Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Andrée S. Blumstein, Solicitor General; Andrew Craig Coulam, Assistant Attorney General; Brent Cooper, Assistant District Attorney General; T. Michel Bottoms, District Attorney General, for the appellant, State of Tennessee.

John S. Colley III (at trial and on appeal) and Kevin S. Latta (at trial), Columbia, Tennessee, for the appellee, Jerry Lewis Tuttle.

Cornelia A. Clark, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Jeffrey S. Bivins, C.J., and Sharon G. Lee and Holly Kirby, JJ., joined. Roger A. Page, J., Not Participating.

OPINION

Cornelia A. Clark, J.

We granted the State's appeal primarily to determine whether the intermediate appellate court erred in finding the search warrant affidavit insufficient to establish probable cause, and in doing so, to revisit the continuing vitality of State v. Jacumin , 778 S.W.2d 430 (Tenn. 1989). In Jacumin , this Court refused to follow Illinois v. Gates , 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983), which adopted a totality-of-the-circumstances analysis for determining whether an affidavit establishes probable cause for a search warrant, and instead embraced, as a matter of Tennessee constitutional law, another test derived from two earlier United States Supreme Court decisions, Aguilar v. Texas , 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964) and Spinelli v. United States , 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969). For the reasons explained herein, we overrule Jacumin and adopt the totality-of-the-circumstances analysis for determining whether an affidavit establishes probable cause for issuance of a warrant under Article I, section 7 of the Tennessee Constitution. Applying this standard, we reverse the Court of Criminal Appeals' decision holding the search warrant invalid. We also reverse the intermediate appellate court's conclusion that the evidence was insufficient to support the defendant's convictions for conspiracy to possess over 300 pounds of marijuana with intent to sell or deliver and conspiracy to commit money laundering and reinstate the trial court's judgment approving the jury's verdict. Finally, we affirm, on separate grounds, the Court of Criminal Appeals' decision upholding the trial court's judgment ordering forfeiture of the $1,098,050 cash seized when the search warrant was executed.

I. Factual and Procedural Overview

In 2012, the Maury County Grand Jury returned two separate indictments charging the defendant, Jerry Lewis Tuttle, with multiple offenses in connection with a drug trafficking conspiracy. The indictments were issued after officers executed a search warrant on April 24, 2012, for property located at 4571 Dugger Road, Culleoka, Tennessee, in Maury County ("4571 Dugger Road property").¹ The property consisted of "5.77 acres," and the defendant resided in a mobile home on the property with his wife, Tammy A. Tuttle, who was the record owner of the property.² The warrant authorized officers to search the defendant's "single wide mobile home gray in color with an attached wood constructed covered front po[ ]rch" and "all outbuildings, outhouses and storage buildings, and all vehicles found thereon." Officers were authorized to seize "[m]arijuana, all equipment, devices, records, computers and computer storage discs ... used for the purpose of producing, packaging, dispensing, delivering or obtaining controlled substances, or recording transactions involving controlled substances, [and] any indicia of ownership, dominion, or control over the premises to be searched ...."

When the warrant was executed, officers found, inside the residence, eight pounds of marijuana, almost a half an ounce of cocaine, and between $95,000 and $98,000 cash, in $100 and $50 bills, as well as multiple guns, a large scale capable of weighing items up to thirteen pounds, a small scale capable of weighing items up to two pounds, a money counter, a device used to grind marijuana into a powder, and a pipe and other items associated with smoking marijuana. Just outside the residence in the trunk of the defendant's Honda Civic, officers located a number of additional guns and an ammunition can containing $1,000,300 cash, all in $100 bills that were issued prior to the year 2000. Officers also located marijuana plants growing in an Igloo cooler and various items of personal property, including vehicles and farming equipment, believed to be derived from the defendant's involvement in drug trafficking.

The defendant moved pre-trial to suppress the evidence seized during the search, arguing that the affidavit supporting the search warrant failed to establish probable cause and contained false information. The defendant also moved to dismiss the forfeiture count of the indictment, arguing that the forfeiture was barred by the five-year statute of limitations and by the State's failure to comply with the forfeiture statute. After a hearing on March 19, 2013, the trial court denied the motions.

The case proceeded to trial, and the jury found the defendant guilty of the following six offenses: (1) simple possession of cocaine in an amount of over .5 grams; (2) possession of marijuana in an amount of not less than one-half ounce nor more than ten pounds with intent to sell; (3) conspiracy to possess over 300 pounds of marijuana with intent to sell or deliver; (4) conspiracy to commit money laundering; (5) money laundering; and (6) unlawful possession of a firearm with intent to go armed during the commission of or attempt to commit a dangerous felony.³ The day after the jury rendered its verdict, the trial court held a hearing on the forfeiture count of the indictment, Tenn. Code Ann. § 39–11–708(d) (2010), and ordered forfeiture of the cash and other personal property found during the search.⁴

The defendant appealed, challenging the trial court's ruling on his motion to suppress, the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conspiracy convictions, and the trial court's decision ordering forfeiture of the cash. A majority of the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the trial court's ruling on the defendant's motion to suppress and vacated the defendant's conspiracy convictions for insufficient evidence but affirmed the trial court's decision ordering forfeiture of the cash.⁵ We granted the State's application for permission to appeal.

Because the issues before us involve facts presented in the affidavit and evidence introduced at separate hearings, we will separately summarize the facts and analyze the law related to each of the following issues: (1) whether the search warrant affidavit sufficiently established probable cause for issuance of the warrant; (2) whether the evidence presented at trial was sufficient to support the defendant's conspiracy convictions; and (3) whether, given the proof offered at trial and at the post-trial forfeiture hearing, the courts below properly ordered forfeiture of the cash seized on the 4571 Dugger Road property.

II. Search Warrant Affidavit

A. Facts Recited in the Search Warrant Affidavit

Trooper Shawn Boyd, a Tennessee Highway Patrol ("THP") officer, prepared the April 23, 2012 affidavit that resulted in the issuance of the April 24, 2012 search warrant allowing officers to search the 4571 Dugger Road property.⁶ When he prepared the affidavit, Trooper Boyd had worked as a THP officer for ten years and had been assigned to the Nashville Drug Enforcement Agency Task Force ("Nashville DEA") for two years.

The investigation culminating in the request for this warrant began after another THP officer stopped a motorist, Adrian Davis, on March 2, 2012, for a routine traffic violation. When a consensual search of Mr. Davis's vehicle yielded a small amount of marijuana and Lortab pills, Mr. Davis offered to provide law enforcement with information concerning a marijuana trafficking organization. The THP officer issued Mr. Davis a citation for possession of drugs, released him, and gave him Trooper Boyd's telephone number. Mr. Davis called Trooper Boyd the next day, and two days after that, March 5, 2012, Trooper Boyd interviewed Mr. Davis.

During this interview, Mr. Davis admitted to Trooper Boyd that he had previously received marijuana from an Atlanta, Georgia based marijuana distribution organization operated by a Hispanic man named Martinez. Mr. Davis stated that the defendant's son, Christopher Tuttle ("Son"), known to Mr. Davis as "Red," received large quantities of marijuana—approximately 600 to 700 pounds—from this same drug trafficking organization ("DTO") on a weekly basis. When shown the photograph from Son's driver's license, Mr. Davis identified Son, stated that he had seen Son picking up marijuana from couriers of the DTO about a year earlier, stated that Son drove a white Nissan truck and lived in South Nashville (although Mr. Davis did not know the exact location), and, relevant to the case, stated that Son's "whole family [was] involved with selling drugs." Mr. Davis also provided Trooper Boyd with his own telephone number and with two addresses at which he resided.

Using this information, Nashville DEA learned that Mr. Davis's telephone number was connected to ongoing DEA investigations in Atlanta, Georgia, and Birmingham, Alabama, into marijuana distribution organizations. Atlanta DEA already had a wiretap on Mr. Davis's phone number, and, on January 14 and 15, 2012, intercepted Mr. Davis "discussing multi[-]hundred pound marijuana deals" with the target of its investigation. Birmingham DEA had tracked a suspected drug dealer, Cleto Medina, the target of its investigation, to one of the addresses Mr. Davis gave Trooper Boyd as his residence and had information, via wiretap, that another suspect, known as "The Red," was "believed to be receiving large shipments of marijuana in Tennessee." Birmingham DEA...