Butler v. State

212 So. 2d 573
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 8, 1968
Docket44914
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 212 So. 2d 573 (Butler v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Butler v. State, 212 So. 2d 573 (Mich. 1968).

Opinion

212 So.2d 573 (1968)

William Edward BUTLER, alias Peck Butler
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 44914.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

July 8, 1968.

*574 Lawrence D. Arrington, Hattiesburg, for appellant.

Joe T. Patterson, Atty. Gen., by, Guy N. Rogers, Asst. Atty. Gen. and Laurence Y. Mellen, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

JONES, Justice.

This case comes from the Circuit Court of Forrest County, in which appellant was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon. Having previously been convicted of a felony, he was sentenced to a term of three years in the penitentiary.

Mr. James E. Owen was a police officer with the Hattiesburg Police Department. On May 2, 1967, about 6:20 a.m., the appellant was alone, driving a 1967 yellow Lincoln sedan in the City of Hattiesburg. Mr. Owen testified that he participated in the arrest of appellant and as an incident to the arrest, searched the defendant's automobile, in the glove compartment of which he found a Smith and Wesson .32 caliber revolver. The following objection by the defense counsel was made to further questioning regarding the pistol:

We will object, if the Court please, to any introduction or any comment on any weapon obtained by an illegal search in the arrest of the Defendant.
BY THE COURT: Overruled.

The district attorney then examined Mr. Owen further:

Q. [D]id you have a warrant for the arrest of this Defendant?
A. There was a warrant on file at the police station —
Q. All right.
A. * * * and I had knowledge of the warrant, and —
Q. All right, just answer my questions. You had a warrant, did you?
A. Yes, Sir.

Officer Owen also testified that there were some cartridges in the glove compartment, and further said, "This is the revolver, those are the cartridges taken from the revolver, yes, Sir." At this point the district attorney offered for identification the revolver, one empty shell and five cartridges. The attorney for the defendant stated:

If the Court please, we would object to the marking of this evidence —
* * * * * *
BY THE COURT:
Let them be marked for identification only at this time.

On cross-examination the witness was asked:

Q. Mr. Owen, when you arrested the Defendant, Mr. Butler, did you have a warrant in your possession? I misunderstood *575 what you said. A warrant for his arrest.
A. There was a warrant on file at the police station.
* * * * * *
A. They have a clip board, and they advised me by radio.
* * * * * *
Q. Do you know exactly what that warrant was? What was the man charged with?
A. Assault and battery.
Q. Where was he sitting in the car when you drove up to him, or when you approached him?
A. The car was in motion. He was behind the wheel of the car. It was in motion.
Q. Did you pull up beside him and say pull over?
A. I pulled up behind him and turned on the red light and the siren.
Q. Did he then stop immediately?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Then what happened?
A. I asked him to get out of the car and asked him if he was Peck Butler, and he advised me that he was and I advised him that he was under arrest for assault and battery.
Q. Did he get out of the car when you asked him to?
A. Yes, Sir, he did.

He was also asked on cross-examination:

Q. Did you have a search warrant upon you at the time you searched the vehicle?
BY HON. JAMES FINCH:
Object. He didn't need one, Your Honor.
BY THE COURT:
Well he can answer the question.
A. No, Sir, I didn't.

Mr. Owen also was asked on cross-examination:

Q. When you told Mr. Butler he was under arrest, did you take him and then put him in your car, in your patrol car?
A. After I had finished, completed the search of his car, yes, I did.

The witness said after the arrest the car was impounded and appellant was carried to the police station, where he was booked on an assault and battery charge and with carrying a concealed weapon. This was the first time any charge was made for carrying a concealed weapon. At the police station, the pistol was delivered to Detective Creel.

The other officer participating in the arrest, Mr. Hopstein, testified, and there was no discrepancy between his testimony and that of Mr. Owen. The district attorney handed him the pistol and asked him to examine it. Thereupon attorney for the appellant again objected:

We would object to any testimony and the witness looking at the evidence as having been illegally obtained by illegal search and seizure.

This objection was overruled by the court.

Mr. Hopstein said that the arrest warrant for assault and battery was on file at the police station, and that neither he nor Mr. Owen had a warrant with them. He further testified that when they stopped appellant or started in pursuit, he was committing no crime of any sort. This witness also admitted they had no search warrant.

Mr. Creel, the detective, was introduced. In response to a question, he stated: "I received a thirty-two caliber —" and at this point another objection was made by attorney for appellant on the ground that it had been illegally obtained. The objection was overruled. After the detective had identified the pistol, it was offered into evidence *576 by the district attorney, and its introduction was objected to by attorney for appellant. The objection was overruled. When the State rested, the following motion was made by appellant:

The defendant respectfully moves the Court to exclude the evidence and testimony of the State and to direct a verdict for the defendant for the following:
The gun in question was illegally obtained from the defendant without a search warrant. * * * Number three, the arrest of the defendant without a warrant is illegal when no crime has been committed in the presence of the arresting officer.
BY THE COURT:
Overruled. * * *

This proof is uncontradicted and there is immediately presented the issue as to whether such evidence brings this case, as to arrest, without the purview of Smith v. State, hereafter discussed. We hold it does not.

The authority of an officer to arrest in Mississippi is fixed by Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated section 2470 (1956), as follows:

An officer or private person may arrest any person without warrant, for an indictable offense committed, or a breach of the peace threatened or attempted in his presence; or when a person has committed a felony, though not in his presence; or when a felony has been committed, and he has reasonable ground to suspect and believe the person proposed to be arrested to have committed it; or on a charge, made upon reasonable cause, of the commission of a felony by the party proposed to be arrested.

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212 So. 2d 573, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/butler-v-state-miss-1968.