State v. Baker (1997)

In State v. Baker, 956 S.W.2d 8 (Tenn. Crim. App.), perm. app. denied (Tenn. 1997), the defendant was a suspect in a rape case which had occurred in Tipton County, and officers had obtained a search warrant to collect "a quantity of blood, saliva and pubic and head hairs from the person of Bobby Rydale Baker . . . suitable for testing." Id. at 13. The victim in Baker had been awakened at approximately 3:00 a.m., by an intruder who had entered her residence through a back bedroom window, disabled the telephone, and discarded on the floor of the bedroom a cigarette which he had been smoking. He placed a knife to the victim's throat as she was sleeping in her bed, threatened to kill her if she did not cooperate, and then sexually assaulted her. The victim's two children, ages eleven months and two years, as well as a friend's ten-year-old child, were also in the residence but slept through the attack. The intruder left the residence though the back door. Investigating officers found a footprint in the rear bedroom. Because of a heavy dew, officers discovered tracks of footprints leading to the window which was the point of entry as well as leading from the back door of the residence. Aided by one of the officers who was a certified tracking instructor, they followed the footprints to the residence of the defendant's aunt and uncle. One witness, who knew the defendant, had seen him in the neighborhood the morning of the rape. Another witness had seen the defendant running "shirtless" from the victim's residence, while another had seen him knocking on the window at the residence of one of his relatives, trying to get someone to let him in. These were the details which officers set out in the search warrant in Baker to establish probable cause. In State v. Baker, after reviewing the investigative efforts of police officers, as detailed in the search warrant affidavit, in a case similar to this, the court concluded: "The affidavit given to support the issuance of the search warrant meets the requirements of the United States Constitution, the Tennessee Constitution, and the common law rules created by the appellate courts of this state. The affidavit recites in minuscule detail the nature of the crimes the appellant is alleged to have committed, the steps taken during the course of the investigation, and the information received from the independent witnesses having knowledge of the facts. The affidavit was clearly sufficient to justify the issuance of the search warrant." (956 S.W.2d at 13.)