NOTICE: This opinion is subject to modification resulting from motions for reconsideration under Supreme Court Rule 27, the Court’s reconsideration, and editorial revisions by the Reporter of Decisions. The version of the opinion published in the Advance Sheets for the Georgia Reports, designated as the “Final Copy,” will replace any prior version on the Court’s website and docket. A bound volume of the Georgia Reports will contain the final and official text of the opinion.
In the Supreme Court of Georgia
Decided: June 10, 2025
S25A0255. THE STATE v. MICKEL.
COLVIN, Justice.
On June 23, 2023, law enforcement officers, acting without a
warrant, approached Appellee David Mickel with their guns drawn,
ordered him to get on the ground, handcuffed him, searched his
person and his bag, placed him in the back of a patrol car, and
transported him to the East Point police station for an interview. In
response to Mickel’s many questions, officers assured him that he
was merely being detained and that he had not been charged with
any crime. During the subsequent interview, Mickel waived his
Miranda rights 1 and made statements that the State now seeks to
use against him at trial for malice murder and other crimes related
1 See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (86 SCt 1602, 16 LE2d 694)
(1966).
to the shooting death of Michael Anthony Thomas.
The trial court conducted a pretrial evidentiary hearing in
which law enforcement officers testified that they did not have
probable cause to arrest Mickel at the time of his seizure. The trial
court agreed. It issued a written order concluding that law
enforcement’s warrantless encounter with Mickel amounted to a
“full-blown custodial arrest,” and that although the evidence “raised
[a] reasonable suspicion that would have been sufficient for [a]
second-tier detention of” Mickel, it fell short of the probable cause
necessary to arrest him. The trial court accordingly concluded that
officers had violated Mickel’s Fourth Amendment rights and
suppressed his statements “as fruit of the poisonous tree of his
illegal seizure.”
In its sole enumeration of error, the State contends that
Mickel’s arrest was supported by probable cause. We cannot
determine whether the trial court erred in this regard, however,
because, as explained further below, its two orders addressing
Mickel’s statements, dated August 19 and August 28, 2024, do not
2
allow for meaningful appellate review of the trial court’s decision.
We accordingly vacate the portions of the trial court’s orders
concerning its probable cause determination and its associated
ruling suppressing Mickel’s statements, and we remand for further
proceedings consistent with this opinion.
1. Prior to trial, the State moved in limine for a ruling that
Mickel’s statements to law enforcement were admissible, and Mickel
filed a cross-motion to suppress. The trial court held pretrial
evidentiary hearings related to the parties’ motions on August 6 and
August 16, 2024, during which the State presented the testimony of
Sergeant Richard Michaud and Assistant Detective Carlos Leary of
the East Point Police Department.
(a) Sergeant Michaud testified that on Friday, June 9, 2023,
the East Point Police Department received a 911 call from an
unknown male caller, later identified as Thomas, who reported that
he had been shot, that he was in the trees off of Camp Creek
3
Parkway, and that he was dying. 2 According to Sergeant Michaud,
the caller did not respond to further questions from the 911
dispatcher.
Sergeant Michaud was in the office when the call came in.
According to Sergeant Michaud, he and other officers made an
“incident request” to the network carrier associated with the caller’s
cell phone number and pinged his phone to determine the nearest
cell tower. Officers then “saturated the area” from which the ping
originated and employed K-9s and drones to find the caller, but they
were unable to locate him.
According to Sergeant Michaud, a passerby called 911 five days
later (on June 14, 2023) to report finding a body near Camp Creek
Parkway. When officers responded, they found that the decedent
still had his wallet on his person, which they used to identify him as
Thomas. Further investigation prior to Mickel’s arrest revealed a
shell casing near Thomas’s body that officers believed was linked to
2 Thomas’s 911 call was not played for the trial court or entered into
evidence at the pretrial motions hearing and is not a part of the record on
appeal.
4
his death.
Sergeant Michaud testified that his office received a tip that
Thomas’s death may have been related to an altercation on a
MARTA bus which took place shortly before Thomas’s 911 call.
Sergeant Michaud contacted MARTA police, and on June 22, 2023,
MARTA police provided him with security footage from the bus’s
interior and exterior cameras. The bus’s interior cameras recorded
both audio and video, but the exterior cameras only recorded video.
The State did not play the security footage from the MARTA
bus at the hearing or admit it into evidence. Instead, the State
solicited testimony about the video from Sergeant Michaud.
According to Sergeant Michaud, the footage showed that as the bus
pulled up to the bus stop, Thomas “r[an] up in front of” a young man
and got on the bus, and then the young man got on after Thomas.
Though Thomas got on first, he remained standing and let the other
man pass. According to Sergeant Michaud, the video shows that the
young man was holding a gun in his hand but that he was not
pointing it at Thomas or at anyone else. Then, as the young man
5
passed Thomas, Thomas “be[gan] striking” him. Sergeant Michaud
testified that during the altercation, the young man dropped his cell
phone and the magazine from his gun. According to Sergeant
Michaud, “[t]he altercation then roll[ed] out the middle side door of
the bus, where they both [went] to the ground, and then the bus
dr[ove] off.” Sergeant Michaud clarified on cross-examination that
the recording did not reveal any threats from the young man to
Thomas; that Thomas struck the young man first; and that the
footage did not provide officers with any reason to think that the
young man had done anything to start an argument with Thomas.
Sergeant Michaud testified that officers also obtained
additional surveillance footage of the surrounding area from several
sources that captured the time period shortly after the altercation
on the bus. Like the footage from the bus, these recordings were not
played for the trial court or entered into evidence. According to
Sergeant Michaud, one recording captured the “muzzle flash” of a
gunshot, which illuminated “very faint silhouettes” of those
involved. According to Sergeant Michaud, one of these videos
6
showed the man “divert[ing] his direction” to avoid police, whose
lights, Sergeant Michaud testified, were visible on the recording.
Sergeant Michaud further explained that Mickel had a mask 3 on at
the time of this recording, but he did not have a mask when on the
bus. Sergeant Michaud clarified on cross-examination, however,
that there was no way to tell from the video why Mickel changed
course and that any theories about his change of direction would be
speculative.
Using a still image of the young man from the MARTA security
footage provided by Sergeant Michaud, Detective Leary canvased
nearby businesses for further information. Detective Leary testified
that on June 23, 2023, he contacted a local warehouse employee, who
recognized the young man and stated that the man would be coming
in later for his shift. 4
Detective Leary testified that later that day he was in his
3 In the body-camera footage of Mickel’s arrest, which is described
further below, Mickel can be seen wearing a medical-style mask.
4 Though the employee identified the young man from the photo as a coworker, the employee apparently did not give the man’s name.
7
patrol car with Officer Smith when they observed the young man
from the MARTA footage walking on North Commerce Drive toward
the warehouse. They radioed for backup, and pulled their car
adjacent to the man, who later identified himself as Mickel. They
then got out of the car and approached him on foot with guns drawn
and ordered him to get on the ground, where he was handcuffed.5
Because neither Detective Leary nor Officer Smith were wearing
body cameras, this portion of the encounter was not recorded.
According to Detective Leary, officers then stood Mickel up,
patted him down, and searched his person. Detective Leary testified
that shortly after the search, one responding officer said to another,
“That’s the guy,” and Mickel interjected, “I shot him in self[-]defense.” But on cross-examination, Detective Leary conceded that
his police report documenting the encounter did not mention any
5 Notwithstanding Detective Leary’s testimony that he drew his gun and
told Mickel to get on the ground, Detective Leary equivocated about whether
Mickel was free to leave. On cross-examination Detective Leary initially
testified that Mickel was not free to leave. But he later explained that he was
“asking” rather than commanding Mickel to get on the ground, and that “it
would have been okay if he chose not to get on the ground.” On redirect
examination, Detective Leary changed his answer again and testified that
Mickel “was not free to leave.”
8
statements made by Mickel.
According to Detective Leary, Officer Jenkins arrived in his
patrol car approximately 30 seconds to one minute after the call for
backup went out. Unlike Detective Leary, Officer Jenkins wore a
body camera, which recorded the events immediately after Mickel
had been handcuffed. The video from Officer Jenkins’s bodycam was
entered into evidence, and the first two minutes and 14 seconds of
the video were played for the court.
As the video begins, Mickel is standing, handcuffed, and being
held up by Detective Leary and another officer. Mickel can be heard
in the first second of the recording saying, “I didn’t kill nobody,
alright? I shot his a** ’cause he tried to take my gun for no reason.”
Because the video begins with Mickel’s statement, it does not reveal
what, if anything, prompted him to make it. Officers then led Mickel
to Officer Jenkins’s patrol car, where they removed his cell phone
and other items from his pockets and placed him, still handcuffed,
in the back seat. As explained above, officers can be heard telling
Mickel that he was merely being detained and that he had not been
9
charged with any crime.
Officers then transported Mickel to the police station, where
they took him to an interrogation room, read him his Miranda
rights, and proceeded to question him for about an hour. According
to Sergeant Michaud, officers obtained an arrest warrant for Mickel
after the interview, pursuant to which they formally arrested him.
Sergeant Michaud testified on cross-examination that officers
had the “reasonable suspicion” necessary to detain Mickel prior to
confronting him, but they “had more questions to answer before
definitively saying that [they were] going to charge this person for
murder.” Though, at the time of the encounter, officers had
determined that the young man on the bus was an employee at the
warehouse, Sergeant Michaud testified that they did not yet know
his name, his date of birth, his criminal history, whether Mickel
“was a victim himself,” or whether a crime had even been committed.
In Sergeant Michaud’s view, he obtained the probable cause
necessary for an arrest warrant from Mickel’s statements during the
interview.
10
Detective Leary initially testified that, in his view, officers had
“probable cause to charge” Mickel at the time they detained him, but
he clarified under questioning from the judge that he meant there
was “probable cause to detain him” and that they “detained him
because [they were] building up more probable cause for the
homicide detective[.]”
Mickel presented no evidence of his own at the evidentiary
hearing, but as alluded to above, his counsel subjected the officers
to cross-examination.
(b) Following the hearing, the trial court issued a series of two
written orders. In its first order, dated August 19, 2024, the trial
court found that “a layperson identified the defendant from still
images” of the MARTA bus’s surveillance footage; that officers
“encountered the defendant walking down the street”; and that,
upon encountering him, officers “restrained [Mickel] to a degree
associated with formal arrest.” The trial court concluded that
because officers restrained Mickel to this degree, probable cause was
required “at the point the police encountered him walking down the
11
street and took him into custody.” The trial court noted Sergeant
Michaud and Detective Leary’s testimony about the absence of
probable cause and concluded, without further analysis, that officers
lacked probable cause to arrest Mickel; that Mickel had therefore
been “seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment”; and that his
subsequent statements to law enforcement must accordingly be
“suppressed as fruit of the poisonous tree of his illegal seizure.”
The State filed a motion for reconsideration, arguing that the
trial court’s apparent reliance on Sergeant Michaud and Detective
Leary’s subjective beliefs about the absence of probable cause was
improper. See e.g., Brigham City, Utah v. Stuart, 547 U.S. 398, 404
(126 SCt 1943, 164 LE2d 650) (2006) (“[B]ecause the assessment of
probable cause is reviewed from a purely objective perspective, an
officer’s subjective state of mind is irrelevant.”).
On August 28, 2024, the trial court granted the State’s motion
for reconsideration, but it did so in an order that once again
suppressed Mickel’s statements, albeit using reasoning that
expressly “[e]xclud[ed] the officers’ subjective belief[s]” from its
12
analysis. The trial court’s second order, which did not vacate the
original order, added the following factual findings: (1) Thomas
attacked Mickel on the bus; (2) Mickel “was armed” at the time
Thomas attacked him; and (3) Thomas was “found dead a short time
later.” Though the trial court’s factual findings were limited in this
way, it did not expressly reject any of the officers’ testimony, and it
made no explicit findings about their credibility. As it had in its first
order, the trial court concluded that these facts raised a “reasonable
suspicion” sufficient to briefly detain Mickel but fell short of the
probable cause necessary to arrest him, as officers had done.
Following the court’s second order, the State filed a notice of appeal
challenging the probable cause determination on which the court
based its suppression of Mickel’s statements.
2. The State argues that Mickel’s arrest was supported by
probable cause and that the trial court therefore erred by
suppressing Mickel’s statements. As explained further below, the
trial court’s orders preclude us from determining whether this is so,
and so we must vacate the court’s ruling and remand for further
13
proceedings.
(a) We have explained that “there are at least three types of
police-citizen encounters: verbal communications that involve no
coercion or detention; brief stops or seizures . . . ; and arrests[.]”
State v. Copeland, 310 Ga. 345, 351 (2) (b) (850 SE2d 736) (2020).
Though a brief stop or seizure requires only “a reasonable
articulable suspicion that the citizen is committing or has committed
a crime,” an arrest “can be supported only by probable cause.” Id.
351-352 (2) (b). See also U.S. Const., Amend. IV.
Probable cause to arrest exists where there are “facts and
circumstances within the officer’s knowledge that are sufficient to
warrant a prudent person, or one of reasonable caution, in believing,
in the circumstances shown, that the suspect has committed, is
committing, or is about to commit an offense.” Westbrook v. State,
308 Ga. 92, 95 (2) (839 SE2d 620) (2020) (quoting Michigan v.
DeFillippo, 443 U.S. 31, 37 (99 SCt 2627, 61 LE2d 343) (1979)). “To
determine whether an officer had probable cause for an arrest, we
examine the events leading up to the arrest, and then decide
14
whether these historical facts, viewed from the standpoint of an
objectively reasonable police officer, amount to probable cause.” Id.
(quoting District of Columbia v. Wesby, 583 U.S. 48, 56-57 (III) (138
SCt 577, 199 LE2d 453) (2018)). Though probable cause is a “fluid
concept” that is “not readily . . . reduced to a neat set of legal rules,”
id., we have explained that the “quantum of evidence” necessary to
support a finding of probable cause is the “‘fair probability’ on which
‘reasonable and prudent people, not legal technicians, act[.]’” Caffee
v. State, 303 Ga. 557, 561 (2) (814 SE2d 386) (2018) (quoting Florida
v. Harris, 586 U.S. 237, 243-244 (133 SCt 1050, 185 LE2d 61)
(2013)). “Because the standard for probable cause depends on what
a reasonable officer could have concluded from those facts and
circumstances, the standard of probable cause is an objective one,
and the subjective thinking of the actual officers in a particular case
is not important.” Hughes v. State, 296 Ga. 744, 749 (2) (770 SE2d
636) (2015).
(b) When “reviewing a ruling on a motion to suppress, we
review the trial court’s factual findings for clear error and its legal
15
conclusions de novo.” Lumpkin v. State, 310 Ga. 139, 150 (3) (849
SE2d 175) (2020). In doing so, we “construe the evidence most
favorably to the upholding of the trial court’s findings and
judgment.” Douglas v. State, 303 Ga. 178, 181 (2) (811 SE2d 337)
(2018) (citation and punctuation omitted). But though “we owe
substantial deference to the way in which the trial court resolved
disputed questions of material fact, we owe no deference at all to the
trial court with respect to questions of law, and instead, we must
apply the law ourselves to the material facts.” Hughes, 296 Ga. at
750 (2).
Here, the trial court’s findings of fact with respect to probable
cause were extremely limited: the court found only that a layperson
identified Mickel as the young man in the MARTA surveillance
footage; that Thomas attacked Mickel on the bus; that Mickel was
armed at the time of the attack; and that Thomas was found dead a
short time later.
The State contends that these facts, coupled with the
surveillance footage — which it claims is “undisputed” — establish
16
probable cause, i.e., that the officers possessed information at the
time of Mickel’s arrest suggesting with at least a fair probability
that Mickel “shot and killed Thomas.” But this misstates the record.
The State did not submit the surveillance footage from the MARTA
bus or the surrounding businesses into evidence; instead, the trial
court heard only the officers’ testimony about such footage, which
the trial court was not obligated to believe. See Hughes, 296 Ga. at
747 (1) (“The trier of fact is not obligated to believe a witness even if
the testimony is uncontradicted and may accept or reject any portion
of the testimony.”).
Thus, we are left with only those limited facts found by the trial
court. See State v. Lopez-Cardona, 319 Ga. 222, 223 (1) n.1 (903
SE2d 18) (2024) (“[A]ppellate courts generally must limit their
consideration of the disputed facts to those expressly found by the
trial court.” (citation and punctuation omitted)). Based on these
facts, the trial court concluded that the officers had only the
reasonable suspicion necessary to detain Mickel, rather than the
probable cause necessary to arrest him. But in applying the law to
17
the facts, the trial court did not explain which of its findings gave
rise to the officers’ reasonable suspicion and why those findings fell
short of probable cause. Moreover, the court’s limited findings leave
open the possibility that its conclusion was determined in part by
additional unstated findings of fact and credibility determinations.
Other than the limited findings presented, we do not know what
portions of Sergeant Michaud’s testimony and Detective Leary’s
testimony the trial court credited to find that there were “specific
and articulable facts that provide a reasonable suspicion that the
individual being stopped is engaged in criminal activity,” Jones, 291
Ga. at 38, and what portions of their testimony the trial court relied
upon or discredited to determine that there were insufficient facts
and circumstances “to warrant a prudent person, or one of
reasonable caution, in believing in the circumstances shown, that
the suspect has committed, is committing, or is about to commit an
offense,” Westbrook, 308 Ga. at 95 (2).
Though we have an obligation to “construe the evidentiary
record in the light most favorable to the factual findings and the
18
judgment of the trial court,” we find ourselves unable to do so in this
case because it is unclear how the trial court reached its conclusion
from its limited findings and whether the trial court made any
additional unstated findings of fact that would explain its decision.
Hughes, 296 Ga. at 746 (1).
This uncertainty leaves us unable to provide meaningful
appellate review. Accordingly, we vacate the portions of the trial
court’s August 19 and August 28, 2024 orders concluding that
officers lacked probable cause to arrest Mickel and its associated
ruling suppressing Mickel’s statements. We remand to the trial
court for additional fact-finding and analysis. See Tatum v. State,
319 Ga. 187, 196 (2) (b) (903 SE2d 109) (2024) (“If the trial court has
made express findings of fact, but not with sufficient detail to permit
meaningful appellate review, an appellate court may remand for
further findings.”); Williams v. State, 301 Ga. 60, 62 (799 SE2d 779)
(2017) (same); Hughes, 296 Ga. at 746 (1) n.6 (same). Though we
mandate no specific findings on remand, we note that it would be
particularly helpful to identify what, if any, of the officers’ testimony
19
the trial court found not to be credible, and whether and to what
extent the trial court’s probable cause analysis was affected by a
finding that Mickel acted in self-defense.6
Judgment vacated and case remanded. Peterson, CJ, Warren,
PJ, and Bethel, Ellington, McMillian, LaGrua, and Pinson, JJ,
concur.
6 The State argues that the possibility that Mickel acted in self-defense
does not negate probable cause. Mickel agrees but argues that officers lacked
probable cause to arrest him for killing Thomas in the first instance, apart
from any theory of self-defense. Neither this Court nor the United States
Supreme Court has squarely addressed whether self-defense negates probable
cause, and we express no opinion about the matter here. See generally Ryan P.
Sullivan, Revitalizing Fourth Amendment Protections: A True Totality of the
Circumstances Test in Sec. 1983 Probable Cause Determinations, 105 Iowa L.
Rev. 687 (Jan. 2020) (noting conflicting caselaw across multiple jurisdictions
and the absence of controlling Supreme Court precedent “on the probable
cause-affirmative defense issue”). See also Davis v. City of Apopka, 78
F4th 1326, 1336-38 (I) (B) (11th Cir. 2023) (reviewing circuit court precedent
regarding self-defense and probable cause).
20