Court Opinion

ID: 9673113
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:06:25.814178+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:20.266073
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing and to Transfer to Court en Banc.
PER CURIAM.
Defendant, acting pro se, has filed with his motion for rehearing, a motion to transfer this case to the court en banc on the ground that a federal question is involved.
*148Section 9, Article V, Constitution of Missouri, V.A.M.S., provides that a cause shall be transferred to the court en banc when (a) the members of a division are equally divided in opinion, (b) the division shall so order, (c) on the application of the losing party when a member of the division dissents from the opinoin therein, (d) “a federal question is involved,” and (e) pursuant to supreme court rule. This court has held that the term “federal question” as used in Section 9 of Article V is to be “interpreted according to the standard” contained in Section 3 of Article V, pertaining to jurisdiction of the supreme court, which refers to “cases involving the construction of the Constitution of the United States or of this state, the validity of a treaty or statute of the United States, or any authority exercised under the laws of the United States, * * McAllister v. St. Louis Merchants’ Bridge Terminal Ry. Co., 324 Mo. 1005, 25 S.W.2d 791. See also Irwin v. Globe-Democrat Publishing Company, Mo., 368 S.W.2d 452, 459.
The issue presented on the appeal was whether narcotics were wrongfully introduced in evidence at defendant’s trial on the ground that they had been obtained by an unreasonable search and seizure. If so, it was because the arrest of defendant was made without probable cause. However, if the arrest was with probable cause, and therefore lawful, the search and seizure made as an incident thereto admittedly was not unreasonable, and the evidence thus obtained was properly admitted. The only possible “construction” of either the federal or state constitution would be whether a search and seizure without a warrant made as an incident to a lawful arrest violates the applicable constitutional provisions against unreasonable searches and seizures. However, it has long been decided that it does not. Ker v. State of California, 374 U.S. 23, 83 S.Ct. 1623, 10 L.Ed.2d 726; State v. Phelps, Mo., 384 S.W.2d 616. This court does not take jurisdiction on the ground that the construction of the constitution is involved when the precise constitutional question has been priorly adjudicated by decisions of this court, Swift & Co. v. Doe, Mo., 311 S.W.2d 15, 20, and when that prior adjudication is not in good faith challenged. See State v. Harris, Mo., 321 S.W.2d 468. The issue for decision on appeal did not require the “construction” of the federal or state constitution. At most, there was involved only the application of constitutional principles and not the construction of the federal or state constitution. “A real substantive federal question should exist for the transfer of a cause to Banc. The mere allegation of the existence of a federal question is not sufficient.” State v. Johnstone, Mo., 335 S.W.2d 199, 207.
In defendant’s motion for rehearing he attempts to raise for the first time the contention that after the police officers knocked on the door and thought they heard a woman screaming, there resulted an unlawful entry into the house when Sergeant McKinney removed the window screen and looked in the house. He cites and relies on the recent case of Sabbath v. United States, 391 U.S. 585, 88 S.Ct. 1755, 20 L.Ed.2d 828, and asserts that this contention presents a federal question requiring a transfer to the court en banc.
Constitutional questions to be preserved for appellate review must be raised at the first opportunity consistent with orderly procedure. State v. Smith, Mo., 310 S.W.2d 845, 850. They cannot be first presented in a motion for rehearing. However, in any event this contention would not call for the “construction” of the state or federal constitution, but only the application of constitutional principles, and in addition, there is no merit to the contention. Sergeant McKinney identified himself to defendant, and the defendant voluntarily opened the door to the house and admitted the police officers.
Other contentions consist only of rear-gument. The motion for rehearing and the motion to transfer to the court en banc are overruled.