Court Opinion

ID: 9560275
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:46:27.470947+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:12:37.002469
License: Public Domain

BUSSEY, Judge,
dissenting:
Appellant managed two bail bonding businesses in Oklahoma City which were owned by his wife Charlene Fletcher. They were both located in downtown Oklahoma City within a few blocks of each other. Early in the evening of November 4, 1981, search warrants for each office were executed and appellant was arrested. The warrants were identical except for the addresses and the fact that the issuing judge personally endorsed at the bottom of one warrant authorization to execute anytime day or night. The second warrant also contained his authorization, but reflected the judge’s signature was attached by a police officer for the judge.
In each warrant, the objects of the search were identical and consisted of an inventory list by quantity and model number of office furniture which had been taken a few months earlier in a burglary of the authorized Scott Rice Office Furniture dealer in Oklahoma City. The warrant also recited that an unnamed informant had seen the items in the offices within the previous twenty-four hours and that appellant had told the informant the goods were stolen and that he was going to sell them for a profit. Items from the list were found at each location.
Appellant urged prior to the preliminary hearing and on appeal that the evidence recovered pursuant to the warrants should be suppressed on a number of grounds. He asserts the warrants were defective because the affidavits did not establish probable cause for the search. He hinges this contention on the fact that the informant said he had seen the items on the list at both places within the previous twenty-four hours. The argument is that the affidavits are necessarily inaccurate because they describe the property as being in multiple places, and that it could not have been at two places at once.
I do not see this as a fatal flaw in the warrants. Property listed in the warrants was found at both locations, as was other stolen property not listed therein. The construction which the majority gives the warrants is the hypertechnical interpretation which should be avoided when reviewing the probable cause finding of the magistrate. United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 85 S.Ct. 741, 13 L.Ed.2d 684 (1965). A common sense approach to the warrants allows one to agree that probable cause existed to believe some of the items listed could be found at one of the specified addresses, and to nonetheless accept the same of the second address, which is in fact what proved to be the ease.
At a pretrial motion hearing, the judge who issued the warrants was called and he testified that he did not recall issuing more than one warrant. The majority holds that this indicates the judge did not perform his judicial function in issuing them. The judge did acknowledge his signature on each and the officer who appeared before the judge testified that he presented both affidavits to the court at one time. I decline to assume that the judge failed to review the evidence for probable cause simply because he did not have total recall concerning the event. The everyday experiences of life militate against such a conclusion.
The majority holds that the District Court is bound by the ruling of the magistrate as the trier of fact. I disagree with this interpretation of Rule 6. None of the orders or rulings (see the majority opinion for a list of those) which may be appealed under this Rule could be dissected strictly into factual errors and legal errors for purposes of review.
For instance, the magistrate in this case made a finding that the warrants were executed in the nighttime. The issue of when nighttime occurs cannot be considered apart from the law, especially since it is a statute which forbids nighttime searches unless certain conditions are found to exist (22 O.S.1981, § 1230).
The testimony of the various witnesses given at the hearing on appellant’s motion *1196to suppress held prior to the preliminary hearing was generally consistent that the searches had begun at approximately 6:00 p.m. The trial court later considered evidence on the motion to suppress and at that time took judicial notice that on November 4, 1981, sunset occurred at 5:33 p.m. He recognized that it has been generally held that nighttime occurs thirty minutes after sunset and lasts until thirty minutes before sunrise. See 47 O.S.1981, § 12-201 and State v. Dougherty, 186 Kan. 820, 352 P.2d 1031 (1960). Thus, whether the search occurred at nighttime is not simply a finding of fact which is beyond the review of appellate courts.
Moreover, this Court has consistently held that the trial court is not bound by pretrial rulings on the admission of evidence. See Mosier v. State, 671 P.2d 62 (Okl.Cr.1983). It has been held that a pretrial order on a motion to suppress is interlocutory, and the trial court may err in not making an independent determination. State v. McLemore, 561 P.2d 1367 (Okl.Cr.1977). Rule 6 is specially designed for review by the district court of magistrates’ rulings on such motions, and would be meaningless if this Court rules that the district court is without authority to do so.
The majority supports its position that the magistrate’s findings of fact are not reviewable with cases of this Court in which the holding applies to a trial court’s findings of fact on a motion to suppress. The authority of a magistrate who is conducting a preliminary hearing is not the same as that of a district judge once a defendant is being bound over for trial. State v. Benson, 661 P.2d 908 (Okl.Cr.1983). Just as the magistrate may not order the prosecutor to produce exculpatory material, he or she cannot make orders which later directs the district court to suppress the evidence. The authority of a magistrate is to preside over the preliminary hearing, to determine if a crime has been committed, and to determine whether there is probable cause to hold defendant for trial. Benson. Search warrants should be served during the daytime unless the affidavit is positive that the property is located at the designated place and the issuing judge finds there is a likelihood the property will be destroyed, moved, or concealed. 22 O.S.1981, § 1230. The affidavits in support of the warrants herein were positive as to the location of the stolen property. They also warranted a finding that it was likely the property would be removed since the informant stated that appellant told him or her that he intended to sell the items at a profit. The affidavits did not state that appellant planned to sell the furniture at a “later time” as the special judge’s finding specifies. The issuing judge did not abuse his discretion in authorizing the execution of the warrants in the nighttime. See Filgueras v. State, 668 P.2d 1172 (Okl.Cr.1983); Kay v. State, 668 P.2d 1150 (Okl.Cr.1983); and, McGowan v. State, 662 P.2d 1389 (Okl.Cr.1983). The affidavits were sufficient to allow the admission of the evidence, and there being no other errors warranting reversal, I would affirm the conviction.