Clyatt v. State

192 S.E.2d 417, 126 Ga. App. 779, 1972 Ga. App. LEXIS 1266
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJuly 7, 1972
Docket47078
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 192 S.E.2d 417 (Clyatt v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clyatt v. State, 192 S.E.2d 417, 126 Ga. App. 779, 1972 Ga. App. LEXIS 1266 (Ga. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinions

Stolz, Judge.

On February 2, 1971, at 4:25 p.m., Atlanta Police Officer C. L. Ellington presented Judge T. C. Little of the Atlanta Municipal Court an application for a search warrant containing the following affidavit: "Received information from a reliable and confidential informant who has furnished me information in the past 90 days that resulted in one arrest and recovery of marijuana, opium derivatives and dangerous drugs, furnished the following information on February 1, 1971. Informant was personally in the above apartment on one occasion in January 1971. Informant states that he personally saw David Cyott [sic] selling and storing narcotics and drugs at 964 Charles Allen Dr., N. E. Apt. 12 during the week of January 25, 197'1. Informant further states that he has observed several persons going to and from the above described location that had been observed by him as being known drug abusers.” After considering the application, Judge Little found probable cause existed and signed the warrant. Approximately 9 hours later at 1:16 a.m. on February 3, Detective Ellington and other officers executed the warrant and found marijuana, 42 capsules of LSD, 80 tablets of LSD, and hashish.

Defendant contends that the credibility of the informant whose information was offered as probable cause was not established in the affidavit by a satisfactory showing of underlying circumstances; that the informant’s conclusions [781]*781were not satisfactorily shown to be credible; that the magistrate issued the warrant without making the required informed and deliberate determinations; and that the trial court considered information not brought to the magistrate.

The affidavit of Detective Ellington showed that the informant had been in defendant’s apartment on one occasion during the week of January 25, 1971; that the informant had personally observed the defendant selling narcotics and drugs; that the informant personally observed persons known to him as drug abusers going to defendant’s premises; and that within the past 90 days the informant had furnished information which resulted in the arrest of one person and the recovery of various illegal drugs.

The informant’s reliability was established by the affiant’s statement to the effect that he had information from a reliable and confidential informant who had given him reliable information in the recent past (90 days). See Marshall v. State, 113 Ga. App. 143, 144 (147 SE2d 666); Pass v. State, 227 Ga. 730 (6b) (182 SE2d 779); Thrall v. State, 122 Ga. App. 427, 428 (177 SE2d 192). The underlying circumstances by which the informant gained his information were established by his personal observations of the defendant’s selling and storing narcotics and the presence of known drug abusers at his apartment within a week of the execution of the search warrant. See Sams v. State, 121 Ga. App. 46 (172 SE2d 473); Steele v. State, 118 Ga. App. 433 (3c) (164 SE2d 255); Thrall v. State, supra, p. 428; Johnston v. State, 227 Ga. 387, 389 (181 SE2d 42); Burns v. State, 119 Ga. App. 678, 683 (168 SE2d 786).

The information in the affidavit on which the warrant was based was not stale. The phrase, "the week of January 25th,” was used to protect the informant’s identity. See Scull v. State, 122 Ga. App. 696, 700 (178 SE2d 720). The search warrant was taken out the day after receiving the information. Even if the informant’s observations were made on the earliest day possible, the 25th, the execution was still within the 10-day period after issuance allowed by Code Ann. § 27-306 (Ga. L. 1966, pp. 567, 569).

[782]*782The trial court did not consider any evidence other than that considered by the issuing magistrate. The judge’s statement, that his practice is to talk to the officer a little bit and make a notation of that so he can refresh his memory, apparently referred to the judge’s own policies in issuing search warrants generally, and does not indicate that he privately interrogated the affiant as to matters not presented to the issuing magistrate. The magistrate read the affidavit before issuing the warrant, which was tendered in evidence without objection.

The affidavit met the standards set out in Spinelli v. United States, 393 U. S. 410 (89 SC 584, 21 LE2d 637), as quoted in Johnston v. State, 227 Ga. 387, supra, pp. 390, 391, to wit: "that the magistrate is obligated to render a judgment based upon a common-sense reading of the entire affidavit . . .” and "that only the probability, and not a prima facie showing, of criminal activity is the standard of probable cause.”

The magistrate’s determination of probable cause must, accordingly, be given great deference by this reviewing court. Enumerated errors 1 and 2 are without merit.

As stated in Hughes v. State, 228 Ga. 593, 594 (187 SE2d 135) and cit., "generally there are four factors to be considered in determining whether a failure to proceed swiftly to trial assumes due process proportions: . . .”

(a) The length of delay.—Here, a period of only approximately 6 months elapsed between the date of the defendant’s indictment on May 7, 1971, and the date of his trial on November 17, 1971. "The mere passage of time is not enough, without more, to constitute a denial of due process.” Hughes v. State, supra, p. 595.

(b) The reason for delay.—Apparently the case was called for trial several times and continued on the State’s motion based on the absence of a material witness.

(c) The prejudice to appellant.—The appellant alleges prejudice in that the person who had been arrested with him and had been present when the case was initially called for trial, was serving a prison sentence for marijuana [783]*783possession in another State when the case came on for trial. Although the defendant, by innuendo, attempted to interpose that the drugs found in his apartment must have belonged to the missing witness since they did not belong to him, he had previously testified that he knew that the drugs did not belong to the missing witness.

(d) Waiver by appellant.—There was no evidence that the defendant ever objected to the continuances or filed a demand for trial within the meaning of Code § 27-1901. See Spurlin v. State, 228 Ga. 2 (1) (183 SE2d 765). Furthermore, the defendant made no motion for continuance to secure the missing witness’s attendance, nor was there evidence presented that the witness was under subpoena. Compare Spurlin v. State, supra, Hn. 2. Nor did he attempt to call as witnesses his alleged two friends, one the alleged owner of the money found in his apartment on February 3, the other the lessor of his apartment at the time of the October, 1971 raid.

Enumerated error 3 is not meritorious.

Enumerated error 5 complains of the demonstration in the courtroom of a bag containing what was subsequently identifed as hashish and marijuana, which the defendant’s landlady testified she observed him carry from his apartment, on the day before the trial commenced, and leave in a vacant lot, and which she retrieved.

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Bluebook (online)
192 S.E.2d 417, 126 Ga. App. 779, 1972 Ga. App. LEXIS 1266, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clyatt-v-state-gactapp-1972.