Case Title: State v. Richardson

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: vermont

Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Date: 1991-11-01T00:00:00Z

Document:
ENTRY ORDER

                       SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 90-240

                             NOVEMBER TERM, 1991


 State of Vermont                  }          APPEALED FROM:
                                   }
                                   }
      v.                           }          District Court of  Vermont,
                                   }          Unit No. 2, Chittenden Circuit
                                   }
 Ray G. Richardson                 }
                                   }          DOCKET NO. 2711-7-88CnCr


              In the above entitled cause the Clerk will enter:

      Defendant appeals his conviction for first-degree murder, asserting (1)
 that the trial court should have not have allowed a rifle into evidence
 because it was seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United
 States Constitution and Chapter I, Article 11 of the Vermont Constitution,
 and (2) it was plain error for the trial court to permit expert testimony on
 the manner of the victim's death.  We affirm.

      Driving alone with a suspended license and after he had been drinking,
 defendant pulled into a driveway late at night.  A police officer, who had
 noticed that one of defendant's headlights was out, followed and turned on
 his blue lights.  Defendant got out of the car and shut the door, and then
 reentered the car to turn on the lights so that he and the officer could
 inspect them.  When he got out of the car again, he left the door open,
 allowing the officer to see a rifle protruding from under the driver's seat.
 The officer smelled alcohol and asked defendant to perform a dexterity test,
 which he failed.  The officer arrested defendant for driving under the
 influence and driving with a suspended license.  A pat-down search of
 defendant revealed a pipe and a bag of marijuana, and defendant was hand-
 cuffed and placed in the cruiser of another officer who had arrived at the
 scene.  Without obtaining a warrant, the officers seized the rifle and
 briefly searched the car, which they then had towed away.  They learned
 later that defendant was a murder suspect in the death of a friend, whose
 body was discovered subsequent to the arrest.

      In Cady v. Dombrowski,