Easley v. State

498 S.W.2d 664, 255 Ark. 25, 1973 Ark. LEXIS 1304
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedSeptember 10, 1973
DocketCR 73-75
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 498 S.W.2d 664 (Easley v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Easley v. State, 498 S.W.2d 664, 255 Ark. 25, 1973 Ark. LEXIS 1304 (Ark. 1973).

Opinion

Carleton Harris, Chief Justice.

According to appellant’s statement of the case, on November 17, 1970, in the Holly Island Community, a few miles from Rector, an automobile occupied by four men was seen entering and leaving the driveways of several homes, and a resident of the community approached the car and, observing several items in the back seat, inquired as to their business. After an argument, the men left and the Clay County Sheriff’s Office was notified. About ten minutes later, Deputy Sheriff Liddell Jones, who had received the earlier call, received another from a resident of the community stating that several items of property were missing from his home. The Dunklin County Police Department (Kennett, Missouri) was sent a general description of the car, make, model, license number, and number of persons occupying the vehicle, and about thirty minutes later, the police located an automobile fitting the description parked at a grocery store in Kennett, the occupants, including appellant, at the time eating sandwiches. All four were arrested and the car was driven by an officer to the county courthouse. Deputy Jones from Clay County arrived about twenty minutes later, and with a member of the Missouri State Police, conducted a warrantless search of the car. Several items of personal property later established as stolen property were found on the front and back seat, and other items were found in the trunk after a search was made while the car was parked at the courthouse. Thereafter, the Prosecuting Attorney of the Second Circuit in Arkansas charged Richard Easley, appellant herein, with burglary and grand larceny of the property of Birtlee Statler (who had advised Deputy Sheriff Jones of the missing items), unlawful possession of that stolen property, along with grand larceny and unlawful possession of property allegedly belonging to Charles Grimes. A bench warrant was issued and Easley was extradited from the State of Missouri, pleaded not guilty, and was tried before a jury. He was found guilty on all four counts and was sentenced to a term of ten years in the Arkansas State Department of Correction.1 On September 17, 1972, appellant filed a motion for relief under Criminal Procedure Rule 1, and several amendments were subsequently added. The Clay County Circuit Court, on the basis of the record in the case, denied relief to the petitioner, and from such denial appellant brings this appeal. Seven alleged errors are asserted, though not all are here argued, and it is admitted that some are of doubtful merit.

The principal asserted error is that there was no probable cause to warrant a search of the Easley automobile. Prior to trial, the court heard, in chambers, a motion filed on behalf of appellant to suppress the evidence obtained during the search, and this motion was denied. It is contended by appellant that the court erred in finding that probable cause existed for the search, but even if there was probable cause at that time, the warrantless search of the car at the station was improper and illegal. As to probable cause, the Missouri officers had been notified by Clay County Deputy Sheriff Jones of the burglary, a description of the automobile, including the license number, and information concerning certain items of stolen property. Some of these items were visible in the back seat and back floorboard. Certainly, there was probable cause for believing that the occupants of the car had committed a felony and appellant recognizes that the case of Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132 stands for jthe proposition that an officer can search a motor vehicle without a warrant if probable cause exists to believe the vehicle contains that which by law is subject to seizure. Appellant states, however, that if “exigent” circumstances existed at the time of the arrest (while the car was parked at the grocery store), such “exigency” justifying a warrant-less search ceased after the men were there arrested and the car driven to the courthouse. Accordingly, the search conducted at the latter location, says appellant, could only have been authorized by obtaining a proper search warrant.

We do not agree. In Cox v. State, 254 Ark. 1, 491 S.W. 2d 802, decided on March 12 of this year, the facts were similar, and the identical arguments were made. In that case, there was a comprehensive discussion of federal cases relating to search of automobiles and seizure of evidence therein and we pointed out that Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 29 L. Ed. 2d 564, a case relied upon by appellant in the present litigation, was not controlling, but rather that the key case was Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 26 L. Ed. 2d 419 (1970), and we quoted from Chambers as follows:

“ ‘In terms of the circumstances justifying a warrant-less search, the Court has long distinguished between an automobile and a home or office. In Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132 (1925), the issue was the admissibility in evidence of contraband liquor seized in a warrantless search of a car on the highway. After surveying the law from the time of the adoption of the Fourth Amendment onward, the Court held that automobiles and other conveyances may be searched without a warrant in circumstances that would not justify the search without a warrant of a house or an office, provided that there is probable cause to believe that the car contains articles that the officers are entitled to seize.’ ”

The court held that where the police are justified in stopping and searching an automobile as in Carroll, they may also seize and search it later at the police station. The court, in Coolidge v. New Hampshire, supra, did hold as unconstitutional a warrantless police station search of an automobile under circumstances very dissimilar to those in Chambers, but pointed out continuing approval of Chambers by stating:

“There is no suggestion that, on the night in question, the car was being used for any illegal purpose, and it was regularly parked in the driveway of his house. The opportunity for search was thus hardly ‘fleeting.’ The objects that the police are assumed to have had probable cause to search for in the car were neither stolen nor contraband nor dangerous. (403 U.S. at 460).
“Since Carroll would not have justified a warrantless search of the Pontiac at the time Coolidge was arrested, the later search at the station house was plainly illegal, at least so far as the automobile exception is concerned. Chambers, supra, is of no help to the State, since that case held only that, where the police may stop ‘and search an automobile under Carroll, they may also seize it and search it later at the police station (403 U.S. at 463).
“It is true that the actual search of the automobile in Chambers was made at the police station many hours after the car had been stopped on the highway, when the car was no longer movable, any ‘exigent circumstances’ had passed, and, for all the record shows, there was a magistrate easily available. Nonetheless, the analogy to this case is misleading. The rationale of Chambers is that given a justified initial intrusion, there is little difference between a search on the open highway and a later search at the station.

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Bluebook (online)
498 S.W.2d 664, 255 Ark. 25, 1973 Ark. LEXIS 1304, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/easley-v-state-ark-1973.