Opinion ID: 1265006
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Admissibility of Evidence Obtained by Search of Warehouse.

Text: Captain Jackson of the Greensboro Police Department testified that on 26 or 28 June, approximately one week after the discovery of Pennisi's body in Lake Gaston, the defendant came to the Police Office, being fearful for the safety of his children, the cause of this uneasiness being undisclosed in the record. Captain Jackson and Lieutenant Gibson talked with him and the defendant consented for them to look through his warehouse and his flower shop. They did so, the defendant accompanying them. They searched the warehouse in the presence of the defendant. Over objection to testimony as to the fruits of the search, without conducting a voir dire examination, the court permitted Captain Jackson to testify that, in the course of such search, the officers found, stored in the warehouse, three gold drapes used to cover articles of furniture stored there, which they took with the defendant's permission. These drapes were admitted in evidence over objection. On 18 July, Captain Jackson again searched the warehouse, then having in his possession a search warrant, issued by a magistrate 18 July 1969. In the course of this search the officers discovered an additional drape similar to the ones previously taken and, upon the ceiling and walls of one corner of one room of the warehouse, numerous spatters of blood, some of which contained hair. These were removed from the warehouse. The drapes, the blood stains and hair were sent to the FBI laboratory in Washington for examination. Expert witnesses, who there made such examination, testified that in their opinion the drapes and linings were similar in composition, construction, design and stitching to the drape found upon Pennisi's body when it was taken from Lake Gaston and that the blood stains were human blood and the hair was human hair, microscopically like hair taken from the head of Pennisi's body after its removal from the lake. After the selection of the jury, but in its absence and before any evidence was offered, the defendant moved to suppress the evidence so taken from the warehouse pursuant to the search warrant. This motion to suppress did not include the drapes taken on the officers' first visit to the warehouse. The court heard argument of counsel upon this motion but conducted no examination of witnesses with reference to the circumstances of either search, none being offered. It had before it the search warrant and the affidavit of Captain Jackson upon the strength of which the warrant was issued by the magistrate. The defendant's contention at the hearing of the motion was that the affidavit was, upon its face, insufficient to show probable cause for issuing the warrant. The affidavit of Captain Jackson stated that he had reliable information and reasonable cause to believe that the defendant had fibers, bloodstains, hairs, body fluids, drapes, personal effects of Angelo S. Pennisi, which constitute evidence of a felony, to-wit: murder in the first degree, and blunt instruments which were used in the commission of a felony, to-wit: murder in the first degree in his warehouse, the location of which warehouse was specified. The affidavit further stated the following facts (summarized) which establish reasonable grounds for issuance of a search warrant; Pennisi disappeared from Greensboro at some time after 7:05 p. m. on 15 June 1969, at which time he was last seen alive by his family; his body was recovered from Lake Gaston on 21 June wrapped in a gold colored drape, bound with chains, with severe head wounds and bearing evidence of obvious murder; prior thereto the defendant had informed Detective Jenkins of the Greensboro Police Department that he had been with Pennisi at approximately 8 p. m. on 15 June at the defendant's home; Pennisi was last seen by any known witness at approximately 8 p. m. in the immediate vicinity of the defendant's flower shop, two blocks from the warehouse proposed to be searched; on 28 June, the defendant invited police to accompany him to the warehouse and there voluntarily turned over to the affiant three gold colored drapes, which were then located in the warehouse; these, together with the drape found upon Pennisi's body, were submitted to the FBI laboratory in Washington and were found to be similar in construction, composition and design to the drape in which Pennisi's body was wrapped when found; after being advised of his constitutional rights, the defendant told the affiant that Pennisi had a key to the warehouse. The affidavit is attached to the warrant issued by the magistrate and is referred to therein as being so attached. The warrant states that the magistrate examined the affiant under oath and was satisfied that there is probable cause to believe that the named person has such property on his premises described in the attached affidavit. The warrant was served and duly returned to the magistrate's office with a list of items taken from the warehouse in the course of the search made pursuant to the warrant. In the argument of the motion to suppress, counsel for the defendant directed the court's attention to the fact that the affidavit, upon which the search warrant was issued, recited that the defendant voluntarily turned over to Captain Jackson the three gold colored drapes upon Captain Jackson's first visit to the warehouse. Counsel contended that the affidavit was insufficient as to this obtaining of the drapes in that it did not show by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant's consent was voluntarily and specifically given and was not the result of actual or implied coercion. In this argument defendant's counsel did not deny that the officers' first visit to the warehouse was with the consent of the defendant. No evidence on that point was offered by the defendant either upon the hearing of the motion to suppress or when the drapes were offered in evidence. Article 4 of Ch. 15 of the General Statutes, which relates to search warrants, was rewritten by Ch. 869, § 8, of the Session Laws of 1969, which became effective 19 June 1969, approximately one month prior to the issuance of the search warrant in question. As so rewritten, G.S. § 15-25 authorizes any magistrate to issue a warrant to search for evidence, or instrumentality of crime upon finding probable cause for the search. G.S. § 15-26, as so rewritten provides:  Contents of Search Warrant. (a) The search warrant must describe with reasonable certainty the person, premises, or other place to be searched and the contraband, instrumentality, or evidence for which the search is to be made. (b) An affidavit signed under oath or affirmation by the affiant or affiants and indicating the basis for the finding of probable cause must be a part of or attached to the warrant. (c) The warrant must be signed by the issuing official and bear the date and hour of its issuance above his signature. It is not contended that there is any failure of the warrant here in question to comply with the requirements of paragraph (a) and (c) of the statute. The affidavit complies with the requirements of paragraph (b). A valid search warrant may be issued upon the basis of an affidavit setting forth information which may not be competent as evidence. State v. Bullard, 267 N.C. 599, 148 S.E.2d 565, cert. den., 386 U.S. 917, 87 S.Ct. 876, 17 L.Ed.2d 789. The affidavit is sufficient if it supplies reasonable cause to believe that the proposed search for evidence of the commission of the designated criminal offense will reveal the presence upon the described premises of the objects sought and that they will aid in the apprehension or conviction of the offender. Warden, Maryland Penitentiary v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294, 87 S.Ct. 1642, 18 L.Ed.2d 782; State v. Howard, 274 N.C. 186, 162 S.E.2d 495; State v. Bullard, supra. The police officer making the affidavit may do so in reliance upon information reported to him by other officers in the performance of their duties. State v. Banks, 250 N.C. 728, 110 S.E.2d 322. Similarly, he may state in his affidavit reports made to him by competent experts, such as the personnel of the FBI laboratories, concerning their examinations of materials forwarded by him to them for such examination and report. In Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 175, 69 S.Ct. 1302, 1310, 93 L.Ed. 1879, the Supreme Court of the United States said: In dealing with probable cause    as the very name implies, we deal with probabilities. These are not technical; they are the factual and practical considerations of everyday life on which reasonable and prudent men, not legal technicians, act. In Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081, it was established that the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States forbids the admission in a criminal action, in a state court, of evidence obtained by an unreasonable search and seizure; i. e., a search made without a valid search warrant under circumstances requiring a warrant. That amendment provides that no search warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation. As we said in State v. Colson, 274 N.C. 295, 163 S.E.2d 376, cert. den., 393 U.S. 1087, 89 S.Ct. 876, 21 L.Ed.2d 780, this was the law in North Carolina long before the Mapp decision. G.S. § 15-27(a), as rewritten in 1969, provides: No evidence obtained or facts discovered by means of an illegal search shall be competent as evidence in any trial. In Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723, the Supreme Court of the United States dealt with questions concerning the Fourth Amendment requirements for obtaining a valid state search warrant. It said: [W]hen a search is based upon a magistrate's, rather than a police officer's, determination of probable cause, the reviewing courts will accept evidence of a less `judicially competent or persuasive character than would have justified an officer in acting on his own without a warrant,'    and will sustain the judicial determination so long as `there was substantial basis for [the magistrate] to conclude that [the articles searched for] were probably present.'    Although an affidavit may be based on hearsay information and need not reflect the direct personal observations of the affiant, Jones v. United States, 362 U. S. 257, 80 S.Ct. 725, 4 L.Ed.2d 697, 78 A.L.R.2d 233, the magistrate must be informed of some of the underlying circumstances from which the informant concluded that the [articles to be searched for] were where he claimed they were, and some of the underlying circumstances from which the officer concluded that the informant, whose identity need not be disclosed,    was `credible' or his information `reliable.' Thus, there is no variance between the law of this State as declared by the decisions of this Court, above cited, and the requirements of the Fourth Amendment as interpreted by the Supreme Court of the United States. The contention of the defendant that the search warrant in the present case was invalid upon its face due to the insufficiency of the affidavit of Captain Jackson is without merit. At the hearing of the motion to suppress the evidence seized by the search pursuant to the search warrant, the defendant offered no evidence nor did his counsel deny, in his argument in support of his motion, Captain Jackson's sworn statement in his affidavit that the draperies, taken by him on his first visit to the warehouse, were voluntarily turned over to him by the defendant, the defendant having invited police to accompany him to his warehouse on that occasion. The defendant's sole contention in his argument of the motion to suppress the evidence was that the affidavit was insufficient upon its face, in that it did not set out any other facts showing that the defendant acted voluntarily on that occasion. Having before it this statement under oath by this police captain, not contradicted or denied, the court properly overruled the motion to suppress the evidence. When the trial got under way, Captain Jackson was called by the State as its witness. He testified that the defendant, of his own initiative, came to the police headquarters. He talked with Captain Jackson and Lieutenant Gibson and while there he consented for [them] to go and look through his warehouse. He accompanied them as they searched the warehouse. At that point the defendant interposed his first objection to evidence as to what the officers found in the course of that search without a warrant. Had there been no prior consideration of the validity of the searches of the warehouse, this objection would have necessitated an inquiry by the court, in the absence of the jury, to determine the validity of the search of the warehouse without a search warrant. Upon such voir dire hearing, the court should receive evidence and make findings of fact. The objection raised a preliminary question of fact for the determination of the trial judge, which it is his duty to resolve. State v. Moore, 240 N.C. 749, 83 S.E.2d 912. See also State v. Gray, 268 N.C. 69, 150 S.E.2d 1, cert. den., 386 U.S. 911, 87 S.Ct. 860, 17 L.Ed.2d 784. In this respect there is no distinction between the admissibility of a confession and the admissibility of evidence obtained by a search without a warrant. The determining fact in each of these instances is whether the confession or the consent to the search was given voluntarily and without compulsion by the officers. If the first search without a warrant was a violation of the defendant's constitutional right to be free from an unreasonable search and seizure, the second search was also unlawful because the affidavit upon which the warrant was issued recited and was largely based upon the fruits of the first search. It is the defendant's contention that the search warrant and the evidence produced by the second search, which it purports to authorize, were unlawful and inadmissible because they were fruit of a poisonous tree. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441; Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States, 251 U.S. 385, 40 S.Ct. 182, 64 L.Ed. 319. We, therefore, must consider the validity of the first search of the warehouse. The owner of the premises may consent to a search thereof and thus waive the necessity of a valid search warrant so as to render the evidence obtained in the search competent. State v. Colson, supra; State v. Moore, supra. To have such effect, the consent of the owner must be freely and intelligently given, without coercion, duress or fraud, and the burden is upon the state to prove that it was so, the presumption being against the waiver of fundamental constitutional rights. State v. Little, 270 N.C. 234, 154 S.E.2d 61. However, the warnings required by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, in order to make competent a confession made in custody, need not be given by officers before obtaining the consent of the owner to a search of his premises. State v. Craddock, 272 N.C. 160, 158 S.E.2d 25. When the defendant consented to the first search of his warehouse by Captain Jackson and Lieutenant Gibson, he was not under arrest or otherwise in custody. He was charged with no criminal offense. He, not the officers, sought the interview. There is no suggestion that his concern for the safety of his family stemmed from any action by or fear of the police. At the hearing of his motion to suppress the evidence seized in the second search of the warehouse, the defendant did not move for suppression of the evidence seized in the first search and offered no evidence to contradict the sworn affidavit of Captain Jackson that it was with his consent and that he voluntarily surrendered to the officers the three drapes then taken. Had there been such evidence he could then have offered it with no prejudice whatever to the presentation of his case. When, at the trial, he objected to the introduction in evidence of the fruits of the first search, he made no request for the examination of the witness on voir dire and gave no intimation of a desire to offer thereon evidence that his consent was other than voluntary. While, ordinarily, as above noted, an objection to the admission in evidence of the fruits of a search without a warrant is sufficient to require an inquiry by the court, in the absence of the jury, into the validity of the search, under the circumstances of this case, the law does not require the trial judge to interrupt the progress of the trial for such purpose. As Justice Branch said in State v. McCloud, 276 N.C. 518, 173 S.E.2d 753, [O]rderly administration of justice demands that this rule [requiring a voir dire examination upon the interposing of an objection] be carefully applied so that planned, piecemeal defenses do not destroy certainty of punishment by causing the criminal courts to deteriorate into an endless series of voir dire hearings and mistrials. We, therefore, hold there was no error in the admission of the drapes obtained in the first search of the warehouse and, consequently, the search warrant, valid upon its face, and the fruits of the search thereunder were not rendered invalid and incompetent by reason of the inclusion in the affidavit, upon which the search warrant was issued, of the statements concerning the finding of these drapes and their similarity to the one wrapped around the body of Pennisi.