Savannah Police detective under review over search warrants in Charles Vinson murder case

The Savannah Police Department has launched an internal investigation into Detective Ashley Wood for falsifying information, including security footage and text messages, in multiple search warrant applications tied to a 2021 murder case.

The probe stems from the killing of Charles Vinson and centers on whether the man charged with killing Vinson, Marquis Parrish, is seen in security footage purchasing cleaning supplies in a Walmart store following Vinson's disappearance.

In applying for a search warrant in the case, Wood claimed Parrish is seen on the security video. But both Parrish's defense lawyer and the assistant district attorney working the case asserted in court filings that Parrish is not present in the footage. On April 25, Parrish’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Katherine Kelly, filed a motion to suppress the search warrants.

According to records, Wood applied for five search warrants related to the investigation between early May and early June 2021. The requests included warrants to search Vinson’s residence, car, cell phone and his Facebook profile. Wood’s search warrants state that Parrish and others charged in the case purchased cleaning supplies at Walmart.

“The only evidence against the Defendant to support search warrants and create probable cause was fabricated by Detective Wood, therefore making all search warrants and accordingly all evidence obtained should be suppressed by this Court as fruits of the poisonous tree,” Kelly wrote in her motion to suppress.

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The internal investigation comes as Chatham County assistant district attorneys allege that homicide prosecutions are falling apart at trial partly because of a recurring problem regarding the quality and timely receipt of case files from the Savannah Police Department and other law enforcement agencies.

Assistant district attorneys allege in plea agreements that poor-quality police investigations are forcing them to reduce murder convictions to lesser charges, such as voluntary manslaughter. Defense attorneys blame the pleas on other reasons, such as the exodus of police officers, a shortage of prosecutors and the District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones' progressive philosophy.

What's the issue with securing warrants under false pretenses?

The allegations against Wood bring into question whether the detective met the probable cause requirement established under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The law dictates that police officers “must establish probable cause to the satisfaction of a judge, must make an “[o]ath or affirmation” as to the truth of the matters supporting probable cause."

Three days after Parrish's attorney filed the motion to suppress the search warrant, Chatham County Superior Court Judge John Morse granted Parrish $2,500 bail. He'd been held in custory for two years.

Parrish began raising questions about the warrants related to the security footage for at least a year prior the recent court filings. Incarcerated in the Chatham County Detention Center, Parrish sent five letters to the Superior Court. In one letter, sent on March 24, 2022, Parrish requested a mistrial.

“You neglected to ... retrieve the exculpatory evidence of video footage which would show me and my fiancé on camera at another location when the alleged murder was committed,” Parrish wrote.

In the other letters - sent from April through September 2022 - Parrish added that his defense attorney at the time, Solomon Amusan, failed to properly defend him, again citing the security footage.

How long has Wood been in law enforcement?

Long before the Parrish case, Wood started working with the Savannah Police Department.

According to her personnel file, Wood started working with the then-Savannah-Chatham Metro Police Department in 2015. Wood resigned in 2015, but re-applied to the Savannah Police Department in 2017, and started working as a police officer on Feb. 13, 2017.

Wood worked as a police officer with the Richmond City Police Department in Virginia from 2007 through 2015. When she was with the Richmond City Police Department, Wood was named in an excessive use of force lawsuit which was later dropped, she wrote in her SPD application.

The internal investigation is ongoing, and the results will be completed 10 days after the investigation's conclusion.

The Chatham DA, Cook Jones, anticipates the investigation to be completed "in the coming weeks,” according to an April 24 court filing.

“The results of the investigation would, presumably, be important to the defense in crafting their cross examination of the detective should this matter proceed to trial,” Cook Jones said.

A jury trial in Parrish’s case is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on May 8.

Drew Favakeh is the public safety and courts reporter for Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at AFavakeh@savannahnow.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah Police detective probable cause search warrants murder case