Court Opinion

ID: 9777281
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 20:06:02.068587+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:51.574440
License: Public Domain

John I. Purtle, Justice, dissenting. I disagree with the majority opinion in this, case because I think the search warrant was defective and therefore the items obtained pursuant to it should have been suppressed. The record contains a printed form entitled “Affidavit for Search Warrant” which has been partially filled in by the municipal judge. The affidavit states that there is reason to believe that there is located certain stolen goods upon the premises known as the Heard Twins Club run by Hollis and Ollis Heard located on Maple Street, Stuttgart, Arkansas, immediately north of Grapes’ Dairy Bar. No address is given for either establishment. The affidavit further states that there is now being concealed certain property, namely: two cases of 1/2 pint bottles of whiskey and two cases of 1/5 bottles of Seagram’s gin which is property stolen from the Stuttgart Liquor Store, Stuttgart, Arkansas, on or about March 18, 1978. The alleged grounds for search and seizure are as follows: stolen property as aforestated and held in violation of Arkansas law. The final paragraph relating to the facts tending to establish the grounds for the issuance of the search warrant were as follows: “See attached statement.” There was indeed attached to the affidavit for search warrant a statement but the statement was unsworn. The attached statement was signed by Sheriff Garrison but it was not dated nor was the place of its origination stated. In the body of the unsworn statement were words to the effect that a confidential informant, proven reliable in the past, told the sheriff that there was some whiskey in the Heard Twins Club on Maple Street and that it was under a tarpaulin in the bathroom. The informant stated there were several boxes of whiskey and gin in the bathtub. A statement from anyone could have been attached to the affidavit for a search warrant. Maybe this is the statement the municipal judge had in mind and maybe it is not. In addition to these deficiencies, there were seven changes, in type or ink pen. The search warrant was issued at 5:45 p.m. according to the judge’s jurat. However, in the body of the warrant it is stated that the affidavit was made at 6:00 p.m. One can conclude that there was an innocent mistake or that the judge issued a blank warrant which was filled in 15 minutes later by the sheriff. The search warrant itself is directed to the Heard Twins Club on Maple Street immediately north of Grapes’ Dairy Bar. Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 13, governs search and seizure pursuant to a warrant. The first requirement of Rule 13.1 is that the warrant may be issued only by a judicial officer. I think this is the only part of the rule which was complied with. The second requirement under the above rule is that application for a search warrant shall describe with particularity the place to be searched and the things to be seized and shall be supported by one or more affidavits or recorded testimony under oath before a judicial officer. There is no affidavit in this case, and there is no record of any testimony being given under oath before the municipal judge. Rule 13 2 requires the warrant to describe with particularity the date and place where the application for the warrant was made; the judicial finding of reasonable cause; location and designation of the place to be searched; the things constituting the object of the search; and the return date for the warrant. None of these were really strictly complied with. In the case of Gatlin v. State, 262 Ark. 485, 559 S.W. 2d 12 (1977), the warrant authorized a search for illegal drugs. The officers seized illegal drugs but they also seized a 19-inch color television, a plastic bag containing $807, silver tableware in a red velvet lined walnut case, triple beam balance scales, and several firearms. The officers seized the items other than illegal drugs on the claim of the “plain view” doctrine. In deciding that the other items seized were not legal, we cited from Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443 (1971). The citation was as follows: ... The plain view rule applies if (1) the initial intrusion resulting in the “plain view” was lawful, (2) discovery of the object was inadvertent, and (3) the incriminating nature of the object was “immediately apparent.” ... Therefore, even if the warrant were valid in the present case, it is obvious that the plain view doctrine is inapplicable because the box was under a counter and obviously not in plain view. Neither was the box immediately apparently incriminating in nature. One of the officers stated it looked like a box that could have come from another robbery. That is not close to being “immediately incriminating.” The place to be searched was located in the city of Stuttgart. No street address was given and no description of the building was included in any of the information. Unless the officers knew of their own knowledge that the Heard twins operated at this place, they would have been unable to locate it from the information on the search warrant. Another reason the search warrant was invalid, in my opinion, was that the warrant was improperly executed. The Heard twins were in jail at the time of the search and seizure. The return on the warrant simply states: “Served in Stuttgart, Arkansas, April 4, 1978, to Hollis Heard, time 6:55 p.m.” There was no copy of the warrant attached to the premises searched. Therefore, this is but one of many reasons why the search warrant was invalid. Since I find the search warrant to be invalid, I would suppress the evidence obtained through it. Even if it were valid, the evidence was not in plain view; and, if it were in plain view, it was not evidence of an immediately incriminating nature. Such evidence simply should not have been admitted.