Warrant covers items that relate to crime.

Byline: Barbara L. Jones

A search warrant may extend beyond items described in the warrant, the Court of Appeals ruled last week. The warrant also may encompass seized items that have a strong relationship to things described in the warrant or that definitely and clearly relate to the suspected criminal conduct that gave rise to the issuance of the warrant, the court said in State v. Sexter.

In a pretrial appeal brought by the state, the court reversed a Steele County District Court judge's order suppressing a towel that contained the defendant's DNA. The towel was striped blue and white and the search warrant described a white dish towel-like cloth.

Judge Matthew Johnson authored the opinion for the unanimous panel, which also included Judge Kevin Ross and Judge Denise Reilly.

Suppression reversed

The defendant, Jesse Sexter, is charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. In February of 2018, he lived on a farm in Steele County with his wife and three children, including a then 17-year-old girl. On Feb. 27, 2018, the girl reported to her school's social worker that Sexter had forced her to engage in oral sex. She later recounted other incidents of abuse over a period of several years.

The girl told police that she and Sexter went to a red shed on the farm, that he told her to get on her knees, and that he inserted his penis into her mouth. The girl said that Sexter then asked her to grab "a white cloth, similar to a dish rag" so that he could use it to wipe his penis. She said that she gave the item to him and that he threw it down when he was finished using it.

Police executed a search warrant that covered a "white dish towel-like cloth used by suspect following the sexual assault which is believed to be located in the red shed." They seized among other things, four towel-like items: two that are entirely white, one that is white with a floral design, and one that is both light blue and white in a striped pattern. Forensic testing of the blue-and-white striped towel revealed the presence of semen that matches Sexter's DNA sample.

In another interview with police, the girl said that in the same incident Sexter held a green folding knife to her neck and threatened her. She said that the knife is kept on top of an electrical box in an animal barn. Based on this additional information, officers sought and obtained a second search warrant. Officers executed the second search warrant and...