Smolka v. Delaware

In August 2013, officers from New Castle County Police Operation Safe Streets searched a home in Bear. During the search, the officers found Mark Smolka inside the house and a Taurus .38 special revolver in a closet. Smolka, who was a person prohibited from possessing a firearm, admitted at the scene that he had moved the gun to a closet and placed a lock on it. Smolka was arrested and charged with, among other offenses, possession of a firearm by a person prohibited. Before trial, Smolka moved to suppress evidence he claimed was illegally obtained during the search as well as his statements to the officers. The Superior Court denied Smolka's motion because Smolka failed to appear at the suppression hearing. The State then introduced at trial the evidence subject to the suppression motion. The jury found Smolka guilty of the firearm possession offense, and the trial judge sentenced him to three years imprisonment at Level 5 suspended for six months at Level 4 home confinement and one year at Level 3 probation supervision. Smolka claimed on appeal that the trial court erred when it found that he waived his right to suppress the evidence in question because he failed to appear at the suppression hearing. Upon review, the Supreme Court held that a defendant's voluntary failure to appear at a suppression hearing waived his right to be present at the hearing, but did not waive the defendant's constitutional right to challenge evidence as unlawfully obtained. The Court therefore remanded the case to Superior Court to conduct a suppression hearing. View "Smolka v. Delaware" on Justia Law