dme court

The admissibility of drugs and guns found in the attic of a Butler apartment where a man was found dead on New Year’s Day was argued in court Tuesday.

A motion to suppress the drugs and guns as evidence against Jamal Abdoul Finley, 48, of Youngstown, Ohio, was the subject of a pretrial hearing in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

Public Defender Kolten Hilterman argued the items were not admissible as evidence because they were found during what he described as a warrantless search without exigent circumstances — such as a situation that requires such urgency it requires an exception to normal rules for obtaining a warrant.

Butler police said Finley was found in an attic being used as a bedroom in an upstairs apartment of a Walker Avenue duplex where officers also found Patrick Fitzpatrick, 60, dead Jan. 1.

Officer Benjamin Drake testified he and several other officers were dispatched to the apartment for a report of a probable dead person after being called by Fitzpatrick’s sister. Upon arrival, she told police she found her brother on the living room floor and believed he was dead, he said. A paramedic pronounced Fitzpatrick dead.

Police found two spoons covered with burned residue and a crack pipe in the living room, Drake said.

He said officers checked the apartment for other people, but didn’t notice steps leading from a bathroom to the attic. The steps were not visible from the bathroom door, he said.

Drake said he looked in the bathroom, discovered the steps, entered the attic and found Finley laying on a mattress with clothes and other items nearby. After Finley identified himself, police learned he was wanted by state police on a warrant. He was searched and found in possession of a bag of marijuana, Drake said.

After the apartment had been checked and cleared, the responding officers were waiting for the coroner to arrive. Drake said he decided to enter the bathroom “just to walk in there” and noticed the steps to the attic. He said the residence was known as a place where drugs are used and he was concerned another dead person or a person who needed help might be somewhere else in the apartment.

Sgt. Ryan Doctor testified he obtained a search warrant for the apartment and fentanyl, crack cocaine and guns were found in the attic.

Hilterman questioned the truthfulness of the testimony, saying there was a “discrepancy between words and actions.” He argued testimony about finding Fitzpatrick and clearing the apartment, but then waiting a half hour to check the bathroom didn’t add up.

He said the bathroom wasn’t technically cleared if officers couldn’t see the corner of the room where the door to the attic was located. Not clearing the bathroom and then waiting a half hour to search it does not meet the threshold of exigent circumstances, Hilterman said.

He noted Drake didn’t say he looked in the bathroom out of concern for the safety of the police officers, which would qualify as an exigent circumstance. The entire apartment would have been searched if officer safety was a concern, Hilterman argued.

He said the drugs and guns found in the attic were illegally obtained and should not be allowed as evidence as a result.

Assistant District Attorney Robert Zanella said the bathroom was searched out of concern for officer safety and the discovery of the drugs and guns was inevitable.

The bathroom is located between the living room and the stairs that exit the apartment. Someone in the bathroom could have attacked officers as they left the apartment, Zanella said. He said officers used the time they spent waiting for the coroner to arrive to look in the bathroom. The search warrant allowed officers to search the entire apartment and the officers would have found the drugs and guns, he said.

Finley is being held in Butler County Prison in lieu of $150,000 bail while facing three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and two counts of prohibited possession of a firearm — all felonies; and misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

During the same court appearance, arguments were held in a separate case in which Finley is facing drug charges from a Nov. 3, 2022, incident at the Pilot Travel Station in Muddy Creek Township.

Hilterman argued the confidential informant working with state police who allegedly purchased drugs for $400 from Finley should be identified because Finley wasn’t arrested until January of this year.

The name of the informant is material to the case and imperative for the defense because Finley’s arrest did not occur at the time of the crime, Hilterman argued.

Zanella said troopers from the vice unit at the Butler barracks watched the exchange and the troopers can be questioned by the defense, but the informant’s identity must be protected.

Judge Joseph Kubit said he will issue rulings in both cases.