Application of Kiser

158 N.W.2d 596, 83 S.D. 272, 1968 S.D. LEXIS 98
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedMay 1, 1968
DocketFile 10464
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 158 N.W.2d 596 (Application of Kiser) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Application of Kiser, 158 N.W.2d 596, 83 S.D. 272, 1968 S.D. LEXIS 98 (S.D. 1968).

Opinion

WUEST, Circuit Judge.

The Appellant, Melvin F. Kiser, was charged, tried and found guilty of two counts of grand larceny in the Circuit Court of Codington County, South Dakota. Count One of the Information charged him with stealing "One (1) Remington automatic 12-gauge shotgun" from the Gamble Store of Watertown, South Dakota, on November 17, 1965.

Count Two of the Information charged him with stealing "one (1) Remington automatic, 20-gauge, model 1100 shotgun" from Mahowald's Hardware, of Watertown, South Dakota, on November 17, 1965.

*275 Appellant, by stipulation, was tried jointly with one Trice Morrill, who was charged by a like Information and found guilty of both counts. Each was sentenced to the penitentiary. No appeal was taken from this judgment.

Kiser, in custody at the state penitentiary, made an application for a writ of habeas corpus to the Circuit Court of Minnehaha County, South Dakota, which after a hearing on the writ, entered its judgment quashing the same. Kiser appeals from this judgment.

On appeal, he urges three grounds for reversal: (1) Improper arrest; (2) insufficiency of the Information describing the guns alleged to have been stolen; and, (3) conviction by use of evidence obtained by illegal search and seizure.

The record shows Appellant and Trice Morrill entered the Gamble Store at Watertown, South Dakota, on November 17, 1965, between 10:00 and 10:30 a. m. Kiser was carrying a blue overcoat on his arm when he entered the store, which attracted the attention of Karl Bates, serviceman for Gambles, because it was cold outside. Morrill purchased some lamp cord from Harold Schmitz, a clerk employed at the store. In the meantime, Kiser was standing at the end of the counter and according to Bates, "* * * his head was like on a swivel, going back and forth looking at everything." Bates, still suspicious of the pair, went to a balcony in the store where he could observe their actions. He stood behind 'some Venetian blinds where it would be difficult to be seen. Morrill then purchased a "G. I. Joe doll" from Schmitz and as Schmitz and Morrill were walking toward the till, Kiser turned and walked down the south side of the toy racks and as he walked, he hung the blue coat over his shoulder. When he reached the gun rack, according to Bates, "he turned around and bent down and he looked all through these holes that he could see through back towards the till, and then he turned around and with his right hand, reached up and took a gun from the rack and put it underneath his coat and turned and walked out." In the meantime, Morrill had paid for the "G. I. Joe doll" and he and Kiser arrived at the front door at about the same time, leaving the store together. Bates reported the theft *276 to the clerk, Schmitz, and proceeded to follow Kiser and Morrill. The pair went south and upon observing Bates following them, quickened their gait. They went around a corner and Bates next saw them in a dark Oldsmobile with a black and white license, which was driven out of sight.

Bates gave a description of the automobile to Bob Stohr, Gamble's appliance salesman, who in turn gave the description to the Watertown Police.

Between 10:30 and 11:00 a. m., on November 17, 1965, Armond Vik, Sheriff of Deuel County, South Dakota, received a radio message from the Watertown Police to proceed to the junction of Highways 212 and 77, which is twenty-one miles east of Watertown and commonly referred to as Tunerville Junction. When Vik arrived at the Tunerville Junction, he saw Kiser and Morrill standing beside a 1959 Oldsmobile. At the trial he described the automobile as "* * * dark green, it was a dirty green, it looked almost black, but it was dark green." He further testified the rear license plate was a black and white Indiana plate.

Vik held Appellant and Morrill until other officers arrived. The first officer to arrive was Highway Patrolman Lofswold. Shortly thereafter, Codington County Deputy Sheriff Homer Rawlins, Watertown Police officer Arlo Brenden and Karl Bates arrived. Bates identified the two men as the same persons he saw in the Gamble Store and identified the automobile as the same he saw them in at Watertown. Patrolman Lofswold searched the Oldsmobile, finding two shotguns under a blanket in the back seat, and handed the shotguns to Deputy Rawlins. The two men were instructed to return with the officers to Watertown. Kiser rode with Rawlins and Morrill with Lofswold. Officer Brenden drove the Oldsmobile. When the party arrived at Watertown, the pair were taken to the Sheriff's office where Rawlins advised them they were under arrest "for taking a gun out of Gamble's."

Deputy Rawlins testified that he removed a blue coat from the Oldsmobile "* * * just after we got back to town with the car", which was laying over the front seat of the Oldsmobile. *277 He further testified that a blanket he observed over the guns in the back seat of the car at Tunerville was removed at the same time.

Officer Brenden testified he drove the Oldsmobile to Water-town. When he got into the Oldsmobile to drive it, he saw a large sack sitting in the front seat, which was partially covered with the blue overcoat. Other evidence established the large sack contained a smaller sack containing a piece of lamp cord. Also found in the larger sack was another small sack containing two small sacks of screws, a sales slip from Gambles, a sack of nails, another piece of lamp cord, a sack of screws and bolts, a sack containing sandpaper and a sales slip from Mahowald's Hardware, which showed a sale of 33 screws, 4 bolts, washers, sandpaper, nuts and electric cord. One of the smaller sacks containing nails had the imprint upon the outside "Our Own Hardware", which was known in Watertown as Mahowald's Hardware. In the rear seat of the Oldsmobile was a "G. I. Joe doll."

Officer Brenden did not examine these articles when he got into the automobile, but did subsequently when they were removed to the Sheriff's office. On cross-examination he said they were on the seat where anyone could see them. The record does not specifically establish the time when the articles were taken to the Sheriff's office. However, Brenden testified he showed the articles to Deputy Sheriff Rawlins who called "Our Own Hardware". Mr. Mahowald, proprietor of "Our Own Hardware", testified he was at the Sheriff's office "* * * between ten and eleven or eleven-thirty", to examine one of the shotguns found in the back seat. It may be reasonably inferred the articles were removed at approximately the same time as the blue overcoat and blanket.

Mr. Archie Patzer, manager of the Gamble Store at Water-town, South Dakota, identified one of the shotguns removed from the back seat of the Oldsmobile at Tunerville Junction as a Remington Model 1100 12-gauge automatic shotgun; that most shotguns have serial numbers and the serial number on this particular shotgun was 201054M. He testified his store maintained *278

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Bluebook (online)
158 N.W.2d 596, 83 S.D. 272, 1968 S.D. LEXIS 98, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/application-of-kiser-sd-1968.