Prosecutors, however, said “the search warrants were properly issued” and police “acted in good-faith reliance on the warrants’ validity,” court records show.
Williams, 30, faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, patient abuse, and tampering with evidence stemming from Duskey’s death.
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He was indicted in August 2019 for the death of Duskey, 65, at the ResCare Inc. facility on Redbluff Drive.
A not guilty plea has been entered for Williams. He remains in the Montgomery County Jail on $100,000 bond, records show.
Prosecutors said Williams was employed as a caregiver by ResCare Inc. when Duskey was injured in February 2018.
About three weeks after his injuries were reported, Duskey died from complications of multiple blunt force injuries to his head, torso and left upper extremity, the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office has said.
Following Duskey’s death at Kettering Medical Center, the coroner in May 2018 issued the homicide ruling.
The search warrant involving the electronic devices described the items to be searched by brand name, type, and serial number, according to prosecutors’ filings.
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But “these warrants and affidavits brazenly usurp the function of an independent judiciary by expecting a rubber stamp of the mere conclusions of law enforcement in affidavits and warrants that are overbroad and lacking in particularity,” defense attorney Anthony Cicero stated in court records.
The warrants and affidavits “offer nothing to the judge responsible for independently evaluating the facts,” the filing states.
“There are no facts concerning defendant other than his employment at the care facility. Certainly, the state, armed with such a flimsy affidavit, cannot now rely on that very flimsiness to circumvent” the defendant’s rights, according to Cicero.
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Prosecutors said a co-worker of Williams was involved the night Duskey suffered the injuries in question and “that the investigation revealed there was communication” between them, court records show.
“In this day and age, communication between persons most often occurs via cell phone or social media communication, so it is reasonable to search for such communications on electronic devices,” according to court records filed by prosecutors.
A ruling on the defense’s motion to suppress the evidence has not yet been filed by Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Dennis Adkins.
A trial date has not been set.
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