Judge rules to allow evidence from Chandler Kania's iPhone in trial

An Orange County judge ruled that evidence from Chandler Kania’s iPhone can be used in the upcoming trial.

Authorities say Kania, now 21, was involved in a wrong-way collision on I-85 in July 2015 that killed three people.

In an Aug. 16 pre-trial hearing, Roger Smith Jr., one of Kania’s defense attorneys, filed a motion to suppress evidence from Kania’s iPhone because of issues with how it was obtained from his parents.

At the pretrial hearing, Sgt. John Collins of the N.C. Highway Patrol said Kania’s phone wasn’t found at the crash scene.

A search warrant was drafted for the phone that granted officers the right to search Kania’s UNC Hospitals room and the people in it on July 23, the day of his release.

Trooper Michael Stuart said when he arrived at UNC Hospitals, Kania’s parents said the phone was at their Asheboro home, but they could retrieve it.

Randolph County Trooper Christopher Azelton retrieved the phone from Michael Kania, the defendant’s father, without argument in the driveway of the Kania home.

During the pretrial hearing, Smith said the evidence should not be allowed in court because the warrant was improperly served.

“The fatal flaw is that you can’t search somebody with a search warrant for a hospital room in Orange County, in Asheboro,” he said.

Prosecutors said the search warrant was valid and Michael Kania consensually handed the iPhone to authorities.

Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour has now denied the motion to suppress the iPhone evidence.

Court documents said because Michael Kania volunteered to retrieve the phone from his home, his actions from then on were voluntary, including allowing the Randolph County trooper to collect the phone.

According to documents, “the court concludes that it is not rational to believe that Michael believed his volunteering to get the phone was in direct acquiescence to the search warrant.”

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