Title: State v. Pickens

State: louisiana

Issuer: Louisiana Supreme Court

Document:

160 So. 2d 577 (1964) 245 La. 680 STATE of Louisiana v. James PICKENS and Sylvester Alexander. No. 46819. Supreme Court of Louisiana. January 20, 1964. Rehearing Denied February 24, 1964. Wilson, Abramson, Maroun & Kaplan, Isaac Abramson, Shreveport, for defendants-appellants. Jack P. F. Gremillion, Atty. Gen., M. E. Culligan, Asst. Atty. Gen., Ragan D. Madden, Dist. Atty., for appellee. HAMLIN, Justice: The defendants, James Pickens and Sylvester Alexander, were jointly charged by bill of information with the commission of the crime of simple burglary,[1] an offense prohibited by LSA-R.S. 14:62; they were tried, found guilty, and sentenced to serve six years at hard labor in the state penitentiary. *578 From their convictions and sentences they appeal to this Court, presenting for consideration three bills of exceptions. Prior to trial, defendants filed Motions to Suppress Evidence in the instant prosecution and in another prosecution in which they were named as defendants. The cases were consolidated for the purpose of the trial of the Motions to Suppress, which motions were overruled. The defendants applied to this Court for Writs of Certiorari, Prohibition, and Mandamus, which were refused with the notation: "Relators have an adequate remedy by appeal in the event of their conviction." 244 La. 221, 151 So. 2d 693. The State and counsel for defendants agreed that the testimony taken on the trial of the Motions to Suppress Evidence would be attached to and made a part of the present bills of exceptions. Bill of Exceptions No. 1 was reserved to the trial court's overruling the Motion to Suppress Evidence filed in the instant prosecution by counsel for the defendants prior to trial and the court's holding that the evidence obtained herein was secured with probable cause, although without a search warrant. The Motion to Suppress Evidence recites in part: Bill of Exceptions No. 2 was reserved to the trial court's overruling the objection of counsel for the defendants to the introduction of evidence taken by police officers from the automobile driven by the defendants, as the evidence was taken without a search warrant, illegally and without probable cause. Bill of Exceptions No. 3 was reserved to the overruling by the trial court of defendants' motion for a new trial, which incorporated the same matters raised in Bills of Exceptions Nos. 1 and 2. Since the three bills are interrelated and raise the same issues, they will be discussed together. The transcript of evidence taken on the trial of the Motions to Suppress and during the trial of the instant prosecution discloses that on Sunday, March 31, 1963, Joseph L. Glasgow, owner of a men's clothing business (Glasgow's) located in Ruston, Louisiana, visited his place of business around 2:15 P.M. (he had been there previously that day and found the premises in order) and immediately discovered that the office had been ransacked, all of the money had been taken out of the safe, and twenty-four suits were missing (the suits were later found hidden in the boiler room of an adjoining building). Glasgow also found that the back door to his premises was open (it had been closed) and that the bottom plywood panel had been broken out. After a few minutes of observation and making a determination that his business had been burglarized, Glasgow called the police. The burglary was reported to a desk sergeant, who telephoned the Manhattan Cafe where Captain Robert L. Goss, Lt. Willie Howard, and Patrolman Edward L. Lester were having coffee. The message that Glasgow's had been burglarized and that he should get to the store as fast as he could was communicated to Captain Goss, who in turn communicated the message to the other officers. The three officers left the cafe immediately in a patrol car for the investigation. Upon arrival at Glasgow's, which faces east (west side of the street) on North Trenton Street (a thoroughfare running north and south), Patrolman Lester alighted from the patrol car and was stationed at the front of the store; the officers felt that the burglars might still be in the premises. Captain Goss and Lt. Howard proceeded in the patrol car to the corner of North Trenton and then turned west on Park Avenue. As they neared an alley which ran behind Glasgow's, paralleled North Trenton Street, and opened into Park Avenue, the officers saw a 1960 black Chrysler automobile approach; it was being driven three to five miles an hour in an easterly direction and was about 100 feet from the rear entrance to the Glasgow store; it was driven by the defendant Sylvester Alexander, who was accompanied by the defendant James Pickens, and Alexander was looking up the alley. Lt Howard, who had been with the Ruston Police Department for eleven years, testified that he knew the colored and white people around Ruston pretty well, and that he had never seen the defendants nor their automobile before March 31, 1963. From their actions Lt. Howard sensed and suspected that the defendants were not local boys, and he suggested that Captain Goss flag them. Captain Goss called to the men to stop their car; he parked the patrol car and ran down the alley, leaving Lt. Howard on Park Avenue *580 in the patrol car. Lt. Howard alighted and yelled to the defendants, whereupon they stopped their car. During the trial Lt. Howard testified as follows: On trial of the Motion to Suppress, Lt. Howard had testified: Captain Goss returned from the alley, searched the defendants, assisted in handcuffing them, and radioed to Chief of Police O. O. Osbourne to come to the scene. Captain Goss and Patrolman Lester drove the men to City Hall in the patrol car, and Lt. Howard followed in the defendants' Chrysler. Chief Osbourne testified that when he arrived at the scene, the two subjects were in the patrol car, and that he saw therein a box containing some underwear and two bank bags; that he took possession of the articles and had had them in his possession since that time. All of the above events are timed as between 2:45 P.M. and 3:00 P.M. on March 31, 1963approximately one-half hour to forty-five minutes after Mr. Glasgow had reported the burglary. Defendants' Motion to Suppress Evidence was directed to the introduction in evidence of the above described objects found in their Chrysler car. Among these objects were a money bag, two one dollar bills bearing certain markings made by J. L. Glasgow, and a box of underwear. There was positive uncontradicted testimony identifying the evidence as the property of J. L. Glasgow. Defendants contend herein that their arrest was unlawful, and that the evidence taken from their automobile was the result of an illegal search and seizure and therefore not admissible in evidence. The State argues that the arrest of the defendants was lawful, and that the search and seizure of the articles of evidence were incidental to *581 the arrest and, hence, also lawful and admissible. We will first discuss the legality of the arrest. LSA-R.S. 15:60 provides: In contending that defendants' arrest was unlawful, their trial attorney urges that it was without probable or reasonable cause since no warrant of arrest had issued prior thereto. "(b) Suspicion From the facts of record, supra, we find that Glasgow's had been burglarized; a felony had been in fact committed; the fact of the burglary had been communicated to Captain Goss, and such fact was transmitted by him to Lt. Howard and Patrolman Lester; the defendants were not local boys of Ruston, and the officers had general knowledge and intuition as to who were residents of this relatively small community; the defendants' car was not a local car, and it was being driven at an unusually slow speed; the demeanor of Sylvester *583 Alexander in looking up the alley which was in the back of Glasgow's, when about 100 feet from the rear entrance thereto, was suspicious; when Lt. Howard peered into the defendants' car before ordering the men to alight, he saw a box which he suspected was stolen property and contained stolen property; on trial, the defendants were proven guilty of committing the instant felony. An application of the above law and jurisprudence to our findings in this matter leads us to conclude that sufficient and specific information was communicated to the arresting officers, and that the facts and circumstances surrounding the accused would have lead a cautious, reasonable, and prudent man to believe that the defendants had burglarized Glasgow's. We find that the arresting officers, especially Lt. Howard, had probable cause and reasonable grounds to arrest James Pickens and Sylvester Alexander. We conclude that such arrest was therefore lawful under Louisiana statutory law and jurisprudence and our interpretation of the other authorities above cited and quoted. We now approach counsel's contention that the search of defendants' automobile and the seizure of the articles found therein, under the circumstances, since it was done without a search warrant, was without probable cause and therefore in violation of Article I, Section 7,[2] of the Constitution of Louisiana and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. Initially, we state that defendants' contention will be determined in the light of the following rule set forth by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Ker v. State of California, (1963), 374 U.S. 23, 83 S. Ct. 1623, 1628, 10 L. Ed. 2d 726, to which we shall adhere: *584 State police authorities are prohibited from making unreasonable searches, and ordinarily a search warrant issues upon probable cause for the search for stolen property. LSA-R.S. 15:42. However, in the case of moving vehicles whose drivers may be carrying contraband or stolen property, and flight and escape are imminent, probable cause can exist for search without a search warrant, time being of the essence. If the vehicle or automobile were not searched, apprehension of the criminal would be unnecessarily delayed and perhaps never take place. We have previously reiterated the facts in the present matter. We now find from such facts that Lt. Howard and Captain Goss had probable cause and reasonable grounds to search defendants' car without a search warrant; a burglary had taken place and the officers were ordered to investigate; Lt. Howard saw, in defendants' car, the box which had been stolen and which contained stolen underwear; during trial, defendants were proved guilty of the instant felony; money was discovered in the car,[4] and it was identified as that of J. L. Glasgow, proprietor of the burglarized premises; the officers apprehended the defendants on probable cause and reasonable grounds, and it was thereafter that their car was searched for stolen property. We conclude that the search and seizure were valid and lawful; under such findings, the confiscated evidence was admissible during trial. Additionally, we find *585 that the search and seizure were incidental to a legal arrest; under this finding, the confiscated evidence was admissible during trial. State v. Aias, 243 La. 945, 149 So. 2d 400. The Motion to Suppress Evidence was properly denied; the rulings of the trial judge were correct. Bills of Exceptions Nos. 1, 2, and 3 are without merit. For the reasons assigned, the convictions and sentences are affirmed. [1] "* * * did wilfully and unlawfully commit simple burglary of the store building which houses the business establishment known as Glasgow's belonging to J. L. Glasgow by entering said building without authority to do so and with intent to commit a theft therein, * * *" [2] "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no such search or seizure shall be made except upon warrant therefor issued upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized." Art. I, Sec. 7, LSA-Const. of 1921. [3] "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." Amend. 4 to the Const. of the U.S. "* * * No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Amend. 14 to the Const. of the U.S., Sec. 1. [4] Burglary tools were also discovered in the car.