Georgia v. Arroyo
Annotate this CaseJerry Arroyo was charged with trafficking cocaine. He filed a pretrial motion to suppress evidence obtained pursuant to a search warrant for his apartment, arguing the warrant was not supported by probable cause because it relied upon evidence illegally obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, namely, a drug-sniffing dog’s positive alert for illegal drugs within the curtilage of his apartment. The trial court reserved ruling on the motion pretrial but denied the motion after the jury was impaneled and sworn. Then, after the State rested its case, the court sua sponte changed course, granting the motion to suppress and ordering a mistrial without prejudice based on a finding that the dog had entered the curtilage of the apartment when it sniffed immediately in front of Arroyo’s door. The State appealed but the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court. The Georgia Supreme Court granted certiorari review to address: (1) whether the Court of Appeals had jurisdiction to hear the merits of the State’s appeal, and (2) if so, whether the Court of Appeals erred in affirming the trial court’s ruling on the motion to suppress. Because OCGA § 5-7-1 (a) (4) did not authorize the State’s appeal, the Supreme Court concluded the Court of Appeals lacked jurisdiction over the case. Accordingly, the Court of Appeals’ judgment was vacated and the matter remanded with instructions to return the case to the trial court for further proceedings.
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