DC Superior District Court Judge Neal Kravitz declared an executed search warrant illegal the day before jury selection begins in a non-fatal shooting trial on Oct. 1.
Daquawn Lubin, 30, is charged with two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, conspiracy, two counts of aggravated assault, and seven counts of possession of a firearm. The charges are in connection to a non-fatal shooting that occurred on July 24, 2023 at the 4600 block of Benning Road SE. Two individuals were injured.
Defense attorney Kevin O’Sullivan filed a motion to suppress evidence collected from Lubin’s cell phone, on the basis that the evidence obtained was gathered from an illegal search warrant.
The warrant, O’Sullivan argued, was executed without the required probable cause establishing that there would in fact be evidence on Lubin’s cell phone.
O’Sullivan stated that each piece of information a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) detective was looking for was too “overbroad and unparticularized”, not evidentiary as required.
The prosecution argued that the MPD detective working the case provided probable cause in the affidavit. “Based on my training and experience, I know that perpetrators often communicate between themselves before, during, and after a crime,” the detective wrote in a report.
After reviewing the warrant, the judge ruled with the defense that the warrant did not have probable cause.
A “reasonably well trained officer… would have known it was illegal to execute this warrant even though it was signed by a judge,” Judge Kravitz stated in his ruling.
“There are no facts cited. There are no facts listed,” he continued; “There’s got to be some accountability for this stuff.”
Judge Kravitz also stated that the justification provided by the MPD detective was likely a template copied and pasted into the warrant, which he called a “danger” to search warrants.
He did rule that the actual seizure of the phone was legal, even if the search through its contents were not.
The prosecution asked Judge Kravitz for a “good faith exception,” which means even if a warrant was ruled illegal, if an officer was acting in good faith while executing the order, evidence from the search would still be introduced into a trial as evidence.
Judge Kravtiz denied this motion as well. “Nothing ever changes,” he said in his decision, describing how often he sees overboard cell phone warrants brought to him by MPD and the United States Attorney’s Office, which are said to infringe on the constitutional right to privacy stated in the Fourth Amendment.
After hia rulings, Judge Kravitz asked both parties what evidence was actually found in the phone. The prosecution revealed that the only evidence they were actually planning on submitting at this point was Lubin’s phone number.
Judge Kravitz slammed his palm into his face when he heard this answer.
Parties concluded by discussing jury selection proceedings, which will occur Oct. 2.
