Case Title: State v. Bonhart

Citation: 448 S.W.2d 669

Docket Number: 

State: tennessee

Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

Date: 1969-12-15T00:00:00Z

Document:
448 S.W.2d 669 (1969) STATE of Tennessee, Petitioner, v. Charles W. BONHART, Respondent. Supreme Court of Tennessee. December 15, 1969. David M. Pack, Atty.Gen., Paul E. Jennings, Asst. Atty.Gen., Nashville, and Donald D. Strother, Asst.Dist.Atty.Gen., Memphis, for petitioner. J. Harold Ellis, Memphis, for respondent. DYER, Chief Justice. This case comes to this Court by grant of writ of certiorari. After consideration of the matter we are of the opinion that the holding of the Court of Criminal Appeals is correct and are pleased to adopt the opinion of that court written by Judge Oliver as the opinion of this Court. The opinion of the Court of Criminal Appeals is as follows: This is an appeal by the State. In separate indictments, the defendant Bonhart was indicted for unlawful possession of marijuana and for carrying a pistol. In a pre-trial hearing of a motion to suppress evidence (relating specifically to weapons, cartridges, and marijuana cigarettes) filed pursuant to T.C.A. § 40-519, the trial court sustained the motion and suppressed use of the specified items as evidence. The District Attorney General filed a motion for a new trial or a rehearing, in connection with which he also filed his affidavit stating that the court's order suppressing the evidence was in effect a *670 final judgment in the case because without that evidence the State was unable to proceed with the prosecution. The motion for a new trial being overruled, the State excepted and prayed and was granted an appeal to this Court. The vital question presented here is whether the State has a right to appeal from the trial court's interlocutory order suppressing the evidence. In its brief and argument the State recognizes that this is the presiding issue in this case. Actually, the question raises a two-fold issue; (1) the appealability of interlocutory orders and judgments, and (2) the right of the State to appeal in criminal cases. It was decided long ago in this State, consonant with the general law, that interlocutory orders and judgments are not appealable, except as provided by statute in equity causes. T.C.A. § 27-305; Payne v. Satterfield, 114 Tenn. 58, 84 S.W. 800 (1904); Warfield v. Thomas' Estate, 185 Tenn. 328, 206 S.W.2d 372; Carmichael v. Hamby, 188 Tenn. 182, 217 S.W.2d 934; Dykes v. Meighan Construction Co., 205 Tenn. 175, 326 S.W.2d 135; Boyce v. Williams, 215 Tenn. 704, 389 S.W.2d 272. The rule and its undergirding principles were well stated in Payne v. Satterfield. supra: T.C.A. § 27-305, referred to and quoted in Payne v. Satterfield, supra, now reads as follows: However, this statute permitting appeals from interlocutory orders or decrees in equity cases has no application in criminal cases. State v. Vaughn. 155 Tenn. 343, 1 S.W.2d 527; Allen v. State, 194 Tenn. 296, 250 S.W.2d 539; Cogburn v. State, 198 Tenn. 431, 281 S.W.2d 38. In Cogburn, the plaintiffs in error appealed from a judgment based upon a jury verdict finding them presently insane. Sustaining the State's motion to strike the appeal, our present Chief Justice wrote for the Court: The general rule is stated in 4 C.J.S. Appeal & Error § 92, p. 238: In State v. Bass, 153 Tenn. 162, 281 S.W. 936, the Court sustained the defendant's preliminary motion to quash the search warrant and suppress the evidence seized. The State appealed. Dismissing the appeal, the Court said: We turn now to the phase of the inquiry concerning the right of the State to appeal in criminal cases. The applicable statutes are T.C.A. secs. 40-3401, 40-3402, and 40-3403, which provide: Construing T.C.A. § 40-3401 (then Code Section 5245), the Supreme Court of this State held in 1868 that this section secures to the State the right of an appeal except when the defendant has been acquitted. Nolin v. State, 46 Tenn. 12. In State v. Malouf, 199 Tenn. 496, 287 S.W.2d 79, upholding the right of the State to appeal from dismissal of a prosecution upon a plea of double jeopardy, the Court held that under T.C.A. secs. 40-3401 and 40-3403, "Reading the two sections together obviously it appears that the only place in which the State is forbidden to appeal is when the defendant has obtained a `judgment of acquittal.'" In State v. Felts, 220 Tenn. 484, 418 S.W.2d 772, the Court sustained the State's appeal in the nature of a writ of error from the order of the trial court sustaining a plea in abatement to the indictment. So, unquestionably it is the settled law of this State that the only limitation upon the right of the State to appeal in criminal cases is that it does not exist in any case where the accused is acquitted. However, this rule and the decisions affirming it do not in any way alter or vitiate the validity of the equally fundamental and well-settled rule, considered above, that *673 there is no right of appeal from an interlocutory order or judgment in criminal cases. As pointed out above, the Court applied this rule in State v. Bass, supra, a case involving a trial court's preliminary and interlocutory order suppressing evidence, just as in the present case. Indeed, close analysis of the cases sustaining the State's right of appeal, such as Malouf and Felts, supra, demonstrates conclusively that the order appealed from was to all intents and purposes a final judgment in the sense that, if unchallenged and unchanged, it effectively terminated that particular prosecution. Nor is it material that an interlocutory order may appear to present difficulties in the way of proceeding further with prosecution of the case. When confronted by such interlocutory order of the trial court which may seem to foreclose the possibility of convicting the defendant in whose favor the order was made, the State can have no right to try to forestall a possible eventual acquittal by undertaking to invalidate the interlocutory order by appeal. The law precluding appeal from interlocutory orders in criminal cases is not to be circumvented and nullified by such considerations. It results that the defendant's motion to strike the State's appeal from the trial court's interlocutory evidence suppressing order must be sustained. The appeal is dismissed and the case is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings. The State relies upon the following opinions of this Court: State v. Brooks, 210 Tenn. 12, 356 S.W.2d 272 (1962); State v. Sircy, 215 Tenn. 1, 383 S.W.2d 37 (1964); State v. Calvert, 219 Tenn. 534, 410 S.W.2d 907 (1966). While the issue decided in the case at bar was not discussed in the published opinions in any of these three cases, we will agree they could support the position of the State since in each of them the State did appeal under almost identical circumstances as in the case at bar. This was an error of this Court and so far as these three cases are in conflict with the holding in the case at bar same are so modified. The State ably and earnestly argues the denial of a right of appeal under the circumstances of this case would work an injustice, particularly if the State is forced to go to trial without use of the suppressed evidence and it later be determined the trial judge was in error in sustaining the motion to suppress the evidence. We agree this result could be possible, but, absent legislation, we are not constrained to change a long standing rule of procedure. The judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals is affirmed. CRESON, J., and JENKINS and BOZEMAN, Special Judges, concur. McCANLESS, J., not participating.