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THE FIRM, ATTORNEYS AT LAW – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
THE STATE OF RIDGEWAY
RIDGEWAY COUNTY COURT
The People of Ridgeway County,
-against-
TomDonovanSmith,
Defendant.
Case No. CCRC-CM-1424
Presiding Judge:
The Honorable spencernixon
MOTION TO SUPRESS
SUBMISSION FROM DEFENSE
A MOTION TO SUPRESS EVIDENCE
COME NOW, the Defense hereby submits to the Court’s consideration a motion to
suppress Exhibit M submitted by the Prosecution in this case.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
On July 3rd, the Defendant was communicating to numerous other county officials on
Discord, a third-party communications application, via a group chat. On July 5th, the
District Attorney’s Office contacted the Defendant demanding that the Discord Group
Chat (hereinafter “the Group Chat”) be turned over as evidence for an investigation
into an incident that happened on July 4th. In the course of the demands, the
Defendant was threatened by the Government to be charged with multiple criminal
violations of the Ridgeway Criminal Code, specifically § 2.07 Obstruction of Justice
and § 1.01 Tampering with Evidence, if the evidence was not turned over to the
District Attorney’s Office within a certain time. See Appendix A, B, C, & D. During
this forced seizure of the Group Chat, no writ, warrant, subpoena, or other lawful
TaxesArentAwesome
Firm Associate
The Firm LLP
Ridgeway County
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THE FIRM, ATTORNEYS AT LAW – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
order was entered into the record or shown to the Defendant that would legally
compel such evidence be turned over. See Prosecution’s Exhibit A. On July 7th, the
Government entered into evidence the forcefully seized Group Chat. These messages
are displayed in Prosecution’s Exhibit M in this case.
ARGUMENT
1 – THE GOVERNMENT INTIMIDATED THE DEFENDANT AND FORCED A
SEIZURE OF EVIDENCE, VIOLATING THE FOURTH AMENDMENT.
The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America reads
that each person has a right to avoid “unreasonable searches and seizures.” The
Supreme Court of the United States has held that the Fourth Amendment applies to
conversations and other communications held where one “seeks to preserve as
private”. See Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 351 (1967). The defense contends that
the privacy standard held in Katz applies to the Discord Group Chat that was seized
by the Government on July 5th. The chat was held in-private between all participants
of the chat. The contents were not made accessible by the public and therefore a
reasonable expectation of privacy was held. As such, the Government forcing the
Defendant to allow all messages of the Group Chat be viewed by the District
Attorney’s Office constituted a search and seizure of those messages. This search and
seizure, however, was done without any present writ, warrant, or other legal doctrine
that would satisfy the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment.
Pursuant to Rid. R. Evid. #7(a), any evidence that is not admissible in-line with the
Constitution of the United States is considered inadmissible within the jurisdiction of
Ridgeway County. In the application of the Fourth Amendment through the privacy
standard held in Katz, the Defense asserts that the seized messages were obtained in
a matter not in-line with the Constitution of the United States, and therefore is
inadmissible to be admitted into the Court’s record as evidence for this case.
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THE FIRM, ATTORNEYS AT LAW – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
CONCLUSION
In the modern western world, it is nearly unbelievable to hear a case in which the
Government forced a criminal defendant to turn over evidence considered
detrimental against their case. Cases like these are akin to those in banana republics
where the will of the Government triumphs over the human rights of all. The Defense
contends that, as the Government forced the evidence be turned over without any
lawful source of authority present to demand such, the evidence is considered
“poisoned” and inadmissible. To allow such poisoned evidence to remain on the record
would undermine the basic protections of the Fourth Amendment against intrusions
by the Government by threatening arrest or other means. Therefore, the Defense
prays that the Court strikes and suppresses Prosecution’s Exhibit M from
consideration during this case.
WHEREFORE, the Defense requests that the Court so order.
DATED: July 13, 2021
Respectfully submitted,
/s/
TaxesArentAwesome
Firm Associate
The Firm LLP
Ridgeway County
Attorneys for the Defense
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EVIDENCE APPENDIX
Appendix A
Assistant District Attorney Conjman notes to the Defendant that failure to turn over the
chats that constituted the Prosecution’s Exhibits A-E is a violation of sections “§ 2.07
Obstruction of Justice” and “§ 1.01 Tampering with Evidence” of the Ridgeway Criminal
Code.
Appendix B
Assistant District Attorney Conjman threatens to “come after” the Defendant if they are not
added to the Discord Group Chat that held the messages that constituted the Prosecution’s
Exhibits A-E.
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Appendix C
District Attorney siteowner, the representative for the Government in this case, speaking to
the Defendant, acknowledges that the Government threatened him to seize the Group Chat.
Appendix D
Trooper devGralius of the Ridgeway State Police’s State Investigations Bureau refers to the
actions by the Government as a threat, when asking why the Defendant had to be
threatened with arrest in order to hand over the evidence.
