State of Tennessee vs. Stephen Udzinski and Donna Stokes a/k/a Donna Story

The defendants, Stephen J. Udzinski and Donna Stokes a/k/a Donna Story, present a certified question of law following Udzinski’s conditional guilty plea to a Class E felony of possession of marijuana for resale and Stokes’s guilty plea to a Class A misdemeanor for possession of marijuana. Udzinski entered judicial diversion, and Stokes received a conviction and a suspended sentence of eleven months and twenty-nine days. Both defendants attempted to reserve the right to pursue a certified question of law of whether the search warrant under which Udzinski's house was searched was supported by probable cause. In this appeal, the defendants present that question, and the state raises the issue of whether the defendants have properly preserved the question for our review. For the reasons explained below, we affirm the judgment of the trial court on the suppression issue raised by the defendants’ certified question.