Commonwealth v. Souza

675 N.E.2d 432, 42 Mass. App. Ct. 186, 1997 Mass. App. LEXIS 28
CourtMassachusetts Appeals Court
DecidedFebruary 4, 1997
DocketNo. 96-P-329
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 675 N.E.2d 432 (Commonwealth v. Souza) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Appeals Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Souza, 675 N.E.2d 432, 42 Mass. App. Ct. 186, 1997 Mass. App. LEXIS 28 (Mass. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

Lenk, J.

The defendant, Douglas Souza, was tried before a jury and convicted in the Wareham District Court of carrying a dangerous weapon in violation of G. L. c. 269, § 10(b), and illegal possession of a class D substance (marihuana) in [187]*187violation of G. L. c. 94C, § 34. He was sentenced to a mandatory minimum one year period in a house of correction on the charge of carrying a dangerous weapon and the charge of possession of a class D substance was filed.1 The defendant appeals both his convictions.

This case arises out of a search of an apartment at 53R Centre Street in Middleborough. The police conducted the search pursuant to a warrant authorizing a search of the designated apartment, the tenant of the apartment, and “any person present” who may be found to have under his control or on his person controlled substances or related materials. During execution of the search warrant, the defendant, a forty-three year old adult male, entered the premises. A State police officer at the scene identified himself to the defendant, pat frisked him, and then searched him.2 The officer found a small caliber derringer in the defendant’s right pocket and marihuana seeds in his left front pocket.

The defendant was initially charged with carrying a dangerous weapon, to wit a handgun, in violation of G. L. c. 269, § 10(6), and illegal possession of a class D substance in violation of G. L. c. 94C, § 34. Prior to trial, the trial judge allowed, over the defendant’s objection, the Commonwealth’s motion to amend the complaint by striking the phrase “§ 10(6)” and inserting the phrase “§ 10(a),” thereby altering the offense charged from “carrying a dangerous weapon” to “knowingly possessing a firearm.” In his final charge, the judge instructed the jury that the defendant was charged with “knowingly possessing a firearm unlawfully,” the offense set forth in G. L. c. 269, § 10(a). The verdict slip, however, contained the language “carrying a dangerous weapon,” thereby describing the offense set forth in G. L. c. 269, § 10(6). In open court, the clerk read and the jury assented [188]*188to a verdict of guilty of “carrying a dangerous weapon.” Nonetheless, the defendant was sentenced to the house of correction for the mandatory one-year period required by G. L. c. 269, § 10(a). Section 10(h) does not provide for a mandatory sentence upon conviction.

The defendant raises several arguments on appeal. He claims that neither the “any person present” language of the search warrant nor a self-protective pat-frisk by police justify the search conducted of him and that it was consequently error to deny his motion to suppress the fruits of that search. The defendant also claims that the trial judge erred in amending the complaint over his objection, in denying his motion for a required finding of not guilty, and in failing to instruct the jurors that the Commonwealth had to prove that the defendant possessed the firearm outside his residence or place of business. The defendant further claims that it was error for the judge to have sentenced him for a crime neither reflected on the verdict slip nor in the jury verdict given and assented to in open court.

The search warrant. The defendant contends that the search of his person pursuant to the “any person present” language of the warrant violated his rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, art. 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, and G. L. c. 276, § 1. The defendant argues that the facts stated in the affidavit do not provide a basis for the “any person present” language and that, as applied to him, the search warrant was constitutionally defective as a general warrant. The warrant, affidavit, and circumstances fail to support the pat-frisk and search of his person, the defendant claims, because he entered the premises while the search was in progress, did not fit the description of the alleged occupants or marihuana purchasers described in the affidavit, and did nothing to suggest that he was armed or engaged in criminal conduct. We agree and reverse on this basis.

The affidavit here describes information obtained from a confidential informant who advised the affiant that he observed a man in his twenties selling marihuana on a regular basis to Middleborough junior and senior high school students. The police conducted two controlled buys through the informant who purchased marihuana at the subject premises. We note as an initial matter that the affidavit in support of [189]*189the application for a search warrant did not request a search of all persons present although the warrant issued permits such a search.

Appellate review of a search based exclusively upon the “any person present” language of a search warrant demands strict scrutiny of the warrant’s supporting affidavit in order to determine whether the search was valid. Commonwealth v. Smith, 370 Mass. 335, 344, cert, denied, 429 U.S. 944 (1976). Only in special circumstances will a search warrant aimed principally at the premises also be held validly to include the search of any person present. See Commonwealth v. Baha-roian, 25 Mass. App. Ct. 35, 38, 40 (1987) (“Any person present language” in otherwise valid warrant did not empower the police to search persons in the store not named or described in the warrant where there was no “reasonable basis for anticipating that everyone present” was engaged in the illegal gaming operations). Only a “narrowly circumscribed range of searches,” based upon “any person present” language, are consistent with the Fourth Amendment. Smith, 370 Mass, at 342. See also Commonwealth v. Pettier, 362 Mass. 621, 625 n.3 (1972) (any persons present clause “lacks specificity and is of dubious meaning”).

In Smith, the court upheld a search of the defendant pursuant to “any person present” language where the affidavit sufficiently established probable cause to believe that any person in the apartment was a participant in the illegal transactions (trafficking in heroin) occurring therein. 370 Mass, at 339. Using the guidelines set forth in People v. Nieves, 36 N.Y.2d 396, 404-405 (1975), Smith concluded that an application for this type of warrant must (a) “carefully delineate the character of the premises, for example, its location, size, the particular area to be searched, means of access, neighborhood, its public or private character and any other relevant fact”; and (b) “specifically describe the nature of the illegal activity . . . [alleged] at the location, the number and behavior of persons observed . . . during the times of day or night [for which] the warrant is sought,” and “whether any person apparently unconnected with the illegal activity has been seen at the premises.” 370 Mass, at 345. Further, “the warrant itself must limit the locus of the search to the area in which the criminal activity is believed to [occur] and, according to the circumstances, may also specify the time for the [190]*190search.” Id. at 345-346. It is also appropriate to consider the need for and purpose of this kind of search, taking into account both the difficulty, of providing a more specific description of the persons to be searched as well as the risk that an innocent person may be swept up in a dragnet and searched. Id. at 345. The affidavit supporting the search of the defendant’s person is of insufficient particularity to satisfy this standard.

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Bluebook (online)
675 N.E.2d 432, 42 Mass. App. Ct. 186, 1997 Mass. App. LEXIS 28, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-souza-massappct-1997.