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Ernest James Myers v. Maryland, No. 132-05

HEADNOTE: A Pennsylvania police officer stopped petitioner in Pennsylvania on suspicion of a traffic violation and of involvement in various burglaries in Carroll Valley, Pennsylvania. After the stop, it was discovered that petitioner had an outstanding arrest warrant. Petitioner was arrested pursuant to that warrant. During the search, incident to the arrest, evidence of items stolen from burglaries in both Maryland and Pennsylvania was discovered. Maryland authorities were notified and, based on the information, they obtained and executed a search warrant for a residence located in Hagerstown, Maryland. Later, Maryland authorities obtained and executed two other search warrants, one for a vehicle parked near the residence and one for petitioner's blood sample. A Pennsylvania court later determined that the initial stop was illegal and in violation of petitioner's Fourth Amendment rights. Petitioner filed a motion to suppress evidence at his Maryland trial, arguing that the initial stop was illegal and tainted the evidence seized subsequent to his arrest. Assuming arguendo, that the initial stop was illegal, we hold that any taint from the unconstitutional seizure was dissipated by the subsequent discovery of an outstanding warrant for the person and the subsequent legal arrest on that warrant and search incident thereto. Therefore, the evidence obtained during the search of the petitioner and his vehicle was admissible as a search incident to a lawful arrest. In addition, the search of the Hagerstown residence and the search of petitioner's person to obtain blood samples were sufficiently attenuated from the illegal stop.

In the Circuit Court for Washington County Case No. 21-K-04-034537

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 132 September Term, 2005 ____________________________________ ERNEST JAMES MYERS v. STATE OF MARYLAND ____________________________________ Bell, C.J. Raker Wilner Cathell Harrell Battaglia Greene, JJ. ____________________________________ Opinion by Greene, J. ____________________________________

Filed: October 24, 2006

This case stems from a stop, arrest, and search of petitioner, Ernest Myers, on February 12, 2003, in Pennsylvania. The stop and detention of Myers led to the discovery of an outstanding arrest warrant and the discovery of stolen goods located in his vehicle.1 Eight days after the stop, but prior to Myers's conviction in Pennsylvania, Maryland law enforcement agents used information gained from the stop and search of Myers's vehicle in Pennsylvania to obtain a Maryland search warrant. A subsequent search of a Maryland residence yielded evidence that linked Myers to several burglaries in Maryland.2 The Circuit Court for Washington County denied Myers's motion to suppress and admitted into evidence several stolen items which were recovered from a residence in Hagerstown ("Hagerstown residence"). Myers was convicted by a jury of theft of property having a value of five hundred dollars ($500.00) or greater,3 and was sentenced to ten-years imprisonment. He appealed to the Court of Special Appeals challenging the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence, the alleged illegality of his arrest, and the legal sufficiency of the evidence to sustain his conviction. Myers v. State, 165 Md. App. 502, 885 A.2d 920 (2005). The Court of Special Appeals affirmed Myers's conviction, and he filed

Myers was convicted in Pennsylvania for "theft by receipt of stolen goods." The Superior Court of Pennsylvania ("Superior Court"), that state's intermediate appellate court, held that the Pennsylvania trial court incorrectly failed to suppress evidence obtained as a result of an illegal search and reversed Myers's conviction. Commonwealth v. Myers, 858 A.2d 1278 (Pa.Super.Ct.2004) (unpublished). Mail for Myers was addressed to a "Hagerstown residence," but it is unclear whether Myers owned the home, paid rent or even lived there at all, or whether he only received mail at that address.
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Md. Code (2002),

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