FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
¶ 3 On September 19, 2012, Betancourth assembled a group of friends to look for Terrance Frank, whom Betancourth suspected of breaking his car windows a few days earlier. 8 Verbatim Report of Proceedings (VRP) (June 20, 2014) at 1211-12. Betancourth drove the group around in his pickup truck until they located Frank walking down the sidewalk with two other men, Jordan Lemus and Jose Rodriguez. Betancourth's group exited the truck and chased after Frank, Lemus, and Rodriguez. Betancourth turned back after realizing he had left his truck running, while his friends chased Lemus and Rodriguez into an alley. Betancourth's friend, Marco Cardenas, pulled out a pistol and fired twice, killing Rodriguez. 6 VRP (June 18, 2014) at 919.
¶ 4 On September 21, 2012, Toppenish police seized Betancourth's truck after witnesses identified the vehicle as having been used by Rodriguez's attackers. 1 VRP (Feb. 10, 2014) at 32-33. Betancourth arrived at the police station with his father and consented to an interview with Toppenish detectives. After the interview, Toppenish police obtained Betancourth's cell phone number. Later that afternoon, Detective Damon Dunsmore sent a preservation letter to Verizon Wireless to preserve records from September 19th to September 25th associated with Betancourth's number. Verizon preserved the phone records as requested.
¶ 5 On September 25, 2012, the Yakima County District Court granted a search warrant ordering Cellco Partnership, d/b/a Verizon Wireless, to provide Betancourth's cell
¶ 6 On October 9, 2012, Toppenish police called Betancourth back in for questioning. Betancourth denied any involvement in the crime. 8 VRP (June 20, 2014) at 1172. Police then showed Betancourth text messages from his cell, including a text message exchange with his girlfriend, Nancy Arriaga, where Betancourth told Arriaga he wanted to " 'beat the shit [out of] them.' " 7 VRP (June 19, 2014) at 1122. Toppenish police also played Betancourth an audio recording of Arriaga's statement. As the audio played, Betancourth stated, " 'Guess you know what happened then.' " 8 VTP (June 20, 2018) at 1179. Toppenish police arrested Betancourth the following day.
¶ 7 In September 2013, almost a year after Betancourth's arrest, a Yakima County Superior Court judge ruled in a separate case that RCW 10.96.060 authorizes only superior courts to issue warrants for the records of out-of-state companies.
1
Based on this ruling, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Soukup, who was assigned to Betancourth's case, contacted Toppenish Police Department Detective Jaban Brownell and requested that he obtain a new warrant for the Verizon phone records from a superior court judge. Soukup requested that Detective Brownell use exactly the same information he had used in obtaining the search warrant from the district court judge. Essentially, the new warrant
¶ 9 On October 15, 2013, Detective Dunsmore faxed the new warrant to the custodian of records at Verizon Legal Compliance located in Texas. The facsimile face page stated, " 'These records were requested by a district court warrant previously. Based on [a] recent court ruling they need to be based on a superior court warrant.' " CP at 216. The warrant did not request any additional information or records from Verizon. Verizon did not produce any records in response to the 2013 warrant because, as Verizon's executive relations analyst later testified, "[i]t would have been for the same information we had already provided." Id.; 2 VRP (June 2, 2014) at 147.
¶ 10 Before trial, Betancourth moved to suppress the Verizon cell phone records. Betancourth argued that the records were obtained as a result of an unlawful search and seizure because the 2012 district court warrant was invalid and Toppenish police failed to obtain a second set of records pursuant to the 2013 superior court warrant. The trial court denied Betancourth's motion to suppress the text messages. 2 VRP (June 2, 2014) at 185-87. Without expressly mentioning the independent source doctrine in its ruling, the trial court stated that producing the records again would be fruitless and any violation of the statute was technical in nature. Id. at 186-87. Betancourth was ultimately found guilty of second degree felony murder and first degree assault.
ANALYSIS
¶ 12 We review conclusions of law relating to the suppression of evidence de novo.
State v. Gaines,
¶ 13 The dispute in this case is over the scope of the independent source doctrine, an exception to the exclusionary rule recognized under article I, section 7. Betancourth argues that the Court of Appeals erred in holding that his cell phone records were properly admitted at trial under the so-called " 'invalidity correction corollary' " to the independent source doctrine. Pet. for Review at 8. He asserts the corollary is inconsistent with article I, section 7 and simply a guise for importing a good faith or reasonableness analysis
¶ 14 We start by recognizing that the exclusionary rule generally requires that evidence obtained from an illegal search and seizure be suppressed.
Gaines,
¶ 15 The independent source doctrine is a well-established exception to the exclusionary rule. Though initially applied under a federal Fourth Amendment analysis, we have repeatedly held that the independent source doctrine is compatible with article I, section 7 of the Washington State Constitution.
Gaines,
¶ 16 In applying the independent source doctrine, the determinative question is whether the challenged evidence was discovered through a source independent from the initial illegality.
¶ 17 In this case, the Court of Appeals held that Betancourth's cell phone records were admissible through the valid 2013 superior court warrant. According to the court, even though Toppenish police failed to physically reseize the records pursuant to the 2013 superior court warrant, the records were admissible under an "invalidity correction corollary" to the independent source doctrine because the first warrant did not contaminate the latter warrant and "it would be senseless to demand that Toppenish law enforcement require Verizon to send another copy of the text messages already forwarded once by Verizon." Betancourth, slip op. at 44, 46.
¶ 19 It is well established that article I, section 7 provides greater protection to individual privacy rights than the Fourth Amendment.
Winterstein,
¶ 21 In contrast, because the paramount concern of our state's exclusionary rule is protecting an individual's right of privacy, we have explicitly declined to adopt a good faith or reasonableness exception to the exclusionary rule under article I, section 7.
Id.
at 184,
¶ 22 In admitting Betancourth's phone records, the Court of Appeals did not create a good faith or reasonableness exception to the warrant requirement. While the good faith exception considers the police officer's belief at the time of the initial, illegal search, it was irrelevant to the Court of Appeals' analysis whether Toppenish police obtained the 2012 district court warrant in good faith. Instead, the court held that the 2013 superior court warrant was untainted by the 2012 warrant, and concluded that retrieving additional copies of the phone records under the
¶ 23 Because Toppenish police never physically reseized the phone records from Verizon pursuant to the valid 2013 superior court warrant, Betancourth's case differs from the standard independent source scenario. In its classic form, the independent source doctrine applies when the State procures the challenged evidence pursuant to a valid warrant, untainted by prior illegality.
Betancourth,
slip op. at 43. In the first type of independent source scenario, police conduct an initial unwarranted search of a constitutionally protected area, during which they discover but do not seize incriminating items. Police later obtain a search warrant for the area and seize the evidence during the warranted search. For example, in
Gaines,
the police performed an illegal warrantless search of the trunk of the defendant's car, during which officers saw what appeared to be the barrel of an assault rifle and numerous rounds of ammunition.
¶ 24 A different variation of the independent source doctrine involves police executing a valid warrant authorizing the seizure of evidence that had initially been seized illegally. For example, in
State v
.
Miles,
¶ 25 Betancourth's case is not exactly like either of these independent source scenarios because the phone records were not "ultimately ... obtained" pursuant to the valid 2013
¶ 26 The Court of Appeals accepted this argument, and we do too. The
Herrold
decision makes good sense and aligns with our reasoning in
Gaines, Coates,
and
Miles
. The purpose of the independent source doctrine is met here because Betancourth's text messages were required to be produced under the valid 2013 superior court warrant, which was untainted by any prior illegality. Toppenish police did not gain any information from the phone records initially supplied in response to the 2012 district court warrant that led them to seek the 2013 superior court warrant. Nor was the magistrate's decision to issue the 2013 superior court warrant affected by, or made in reliance on, information obtained from the illegal search. Assuming
¶ 27 Further, we have testimony from Verizon that tells us exactly why the records were never reproduced in response to the second warrant. The testimony shows that when Verizon received the 2013 superior court warrant, it understood the warrant to be a request for the same records already provided. 2 VRP (June 2, 2014) at 147. According to Verizon's executive relations analyst, no documents were sent after the second search warrant because "[i]t would have been for the same information we had already provided."
¶ 28 Applying the exclusionary rule in this case simply does not advance the objectives underlying the rule. To always require the physical reseizure of evidence initially seized unlawfully but later authorized would go beyond protecting the privacy interests of individuals in this state and would not serve the ends of justice. Toppenish police
¶ 29 While we affirm the Court of Appeals, we do not see this case as necessitating any "corollary" to the well-established independent source doctrine. The facts of this case simply represent a new application of the existing doctrine that does not diminish the constitutional protections guaranteed by
CONCLUSION
¶ 30 While we decline to embrace the Court of Appeals' "invalidity correction corollary" label, we hold that its application
WE CONCUR:
Fairhurst, C.J.
Johnson, J.
Madsen, J.
Owens, J.
Wiggins, J.
González, J.
Gordon McCloud, J.
Yu, J.
Notes
RCW 10.96.060 provides:
A judge of the superior court may issue any criminal process to any recipient at any address, within or without the state, for any matter over which the court has criminal jurisdiction pursuant to RCW 9A.04.030. This section does not limit a court's authority to issue warrants or legal process under other provisions of state law.
The Court of Appeals reversed Betancourth's felony murder conviction and remanded for a new trial, based on Betancourth's argument that the prosecutor prejudicially misstated the law in closing arguments. Betancourth, slip op. at 24.
Betancourth's argument also could be construed as criticizing the Court of Appeals' reasoning for being akin to the inevitable discovery doctrine, which we have rejected as incompatible with our exclusionary rule.
Winterstein,
