Court Opinion

ID: 9569788
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:17:28.223819+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:04:02.340804
License: Public Domain

DONNELLY, Judge (dissenting). I respectfully dissent from the decision of the majority and would affirm defendant’s convictions. The majority reverses defendant’s convictions for aggravated assault and felon in possession of a firearm, contending that the affidavit submitted in support of the search warrant was insufficient to establish probable cause for its issuance. While I agree that the affidavit might have described in greater detail the nexus between the residence sought to be searched and the vehicle parked in front of the residence, which defendant and a companion were shown to have used at the time of the charged offenses, nevertheless, I conclude that the affidavit contained sufficient facts from which the magistrate could reasonably determine that probable cause existed for the issuance of the search warrant. Examination of the affidavit submitted in support of the search warrant and the facts detailed therein indicate that a proper inference could reasonably be drawn, connecting the truck used by defendant and his companion, Danny Calloway, to the residence described in the affidavit. Probable cause may be determined from the facts contained in an affidavit submitted in support of a search warrant and from inferences which may reasonably be drawn from the facts related therein. See State v. Cortez, 100 N.M. 158, 667 P.2d 963 (probable cause existed to believe that the defendant resided at a certain address where alleged co-participant in larceny, who knew where to locate the defendant, went to address to find the defendant, and address was same as address which police detective indicated the defendant was known to frequent), cert, denied, 464 U.S. 964,104 S.Ct. 402, 78 L.Ed.2d 343 (1983); State v. Snedeker, 99 N.M. 286, 657 P.2d 613 (1982) (considering facts set out in affidavit and reasonable inferences drawn therefrom, affidavit describing firearms and ammunition to be found in the defendant’s residence established probable cause for issuance of the search warrant). In the instant case, the affidavit submitted by the police indicated that the trailer house sought to be searched was located at “5409 Gramma Road, north of Roswell, in Chaves County New Mexico.” The affidavit also stated that Delores Whatley witnessed defendant and Danny Calloway assault David Hudson, that defendant used the butt of a rifle to beat Hudson, “breaking his nose, jaw and bones in the side of his head,” and that Whatley observed Calloway “take from his ... 1974 red and white GMC Pickup, with New Mexico License Number LC8767, a small black Uzi type sub-machine gun, which he pointed at Delores Whatley, and verbally threatened to kill her.” The affidavit recited that Whatley observed Calloway put the “Uzi ... and a .22 semi-automatic rifle into the GMC Pickup ... before leaving the area.” Additionally, the affidavit stated that the trailer house sought to be searched was located at “5409 Grmma Road, north of Roswell”; and that “on May 25, 1989, Deputy Robert H. Smith, acting on information received from Delores Whatley, located the 1974 red and white pickup parked in front of a trailer at 5409 Gramma Road, in Chaves County, New Mexico.” (Emphasis added.) The facts related above, I believe, were sufficient to create a reasonable inference that Whatley was familiar with the GMC pickup driven by Calloway,1 that she, along with David Hudson, identified defendant and Calloway as having perpetrated the charged offenses, and that she knew that one or both of them occupied or frequented the residence described in the affidavit. The affidavit herein indicates that the officers presented the magistrate with evidence that the vehicle described in the affidavit was parked in front of the residence2 the day following the commission of the charged offenses, thus permitting a proper inference to be drawn that defendant or Calloway, or both, occupied or frequented the residence and that the weapons used by them in assaulting Hudson, Whatley, and others might be found therein. See United States v. Moscatiello, 771 F.2d 589 (1st Cir.1985) (where truck linked to crime was parked in front of garage where suspicious activity had been observed; probable cause existed to search garage); State v. Holman, 109 Idaho 382, 707 P.2d 493 (Ct.App.1985) (where car linked to crime was observed parked near mobile home where suspect was purported to reside; probable cause existed to search mobile home). If the facts contained in the affidavit permit a reasonable inference that defendant lived or frequented the Gramma Road address, probable cause existed for the issuance of the search warrant. See State v. Cortez (where affidavit and supporting documents permit a reasonable inference that the defendant lived at described address, probable cause existed to search the residence for stolen goods); see also State v. Snedeker (all direct and circumstantial evidence alleged, as well as reasonable inferences drawn from the affidavit, may be considered). Thus, the affidavit was sufficient to satisfy the requirements for specificity required in State v. Herrera, 102 N.M. 254, 694 P.2d 510 (1985); and State v. Baca, 97 N.M. 379, 640 P.2d 485 (1982). Considering that Whatley was an eyewitness to the charged offenses, that she provided police with the location of the vehicle used by Calloway and defendant and gave a detailed description of the trailer house where the vehicle in question was parked, these facts provided a sufficient basis upon which the magistrate could reasonably determine that probable cause existed for the issuance of the search warrant. See State v. Elam, 108 N.M. 268, 771 P.2d 597 (Ct.App.) (degree of specificity required in affidavit in support of search warrant may vary depending upon circumstances), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 832, 110 S.Ct. 105, 107 L.Ed.2d 68 (1989); State v. Garcia, 90 N.M. 577, 566 P.2d 426 (Ct.App.1977) (affidavits are not to be construed in a technical manner, but are to be read with common sense). As observed in State v. Donaldson, 100 N.M. 111, 666 P.2d 1258 (Ct.App.1983), deference should be given to a magistrate’s determination of probable cause and consideration may properly be given, in any facial review of the affidavit, to the fact that affiant was a law enforcement officer, and to his experience and training, in determining the effect of his observations in the context of probable cause. Defendant raised two additional points on appeal: (1) a claim that the trial court erred in failing to provide him with a different court-appointed trial counsel; and (2) a claim that the trial court erred in refusing to grant a continuance so that he could take a polygraph test for use at his trial. Examination of the record indicates that the additional issues do not constitute reversible error. The record shows that defendant, on numerous occasions, missed scheduled appointments with his court-appointed counsel, and the record fails to support a proper basis for defendant’s claim that his counsel had a conflict of interest which affected his defense of defendant, or that counsel failed to render proper legal representation at trial on his behalf. See State v. Robinson, 99 N.M. 674, 662 P.2d 1341, cert, denied, 464 U.S. 851, 104 S.Ct. 161, 78 L.Ed.2d 147 (1983). Additionally, since the record shows that defendant missed two prior scheduled appointments for the administration of a polygraph examination, defendant has failed to establish that the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion for a continuance to allow him a further opportunity to take the examination. See State v. Pruett, 100 N.M. 686, 675 P.2d 418 (1984). I would affirm defendant’s convictions.  . The affidavit submitted by Detective Berry stated that Calloway took "from his * * * GMC Pickup" the sub-machine gun. (Emphasis added.)   . The affidavit described the premises to be searched as “[a] green trailer house with a white stripe around the top, facing west, with one yellow panel on the north side with stars and stripes, wind sock by the front door, located at 5409 Gramma Road, north of Roswell, in Chaves County New Mexico.” The affidavit also stated, as grounds for the search, that a deputy sheriff “located the 1974 red and white pickup parked in front of a trailer at 5409 Gramma Road, in Chaves County, New Mexico.”