Hoggard v. State

640 S.W.2d 102, 277 Ark. 117, 1982 Ark. LEXIS 1516
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedOctober 4, 1982
DocketCR 82-25
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 640 S.W.2d 102 (Hoggard 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
Hoggard v. State, 640 S.W.2d 102, 277 Ark. 117, 1982 Ark. LEXIS 1516 (Ark. 1982).

Opinions

Steele Hays, Justice.

Edwin Hoggard appeals his conviction of rape by engaging in deviate sexual activity with a six-year-old boy. The state’s case was based on the testimony of the boy that during a number of visits to appellant’s apartment he had been shown pictures of homosexual acts between young men and boys with the suggestion that he and the appellant engage in similar acts. The child said he was fondled and on two occasions appellant put the child’s penis in his mouth.

These charges were reported to the police by the boy’s mother, and a search warrant was issued, producing an abundance of homosexual pornography, primarily of adolescent boys. One of the two counts was dismissed and the jury convicted appellant on the remaining count, resulting in a sentence of ten years and a fine of $7,500.

Appellant raises numerous points for reversal, but we affirm the trial court.

I.

Appellant attacks the search warrant from several standpoints: first, that Arkansas’ obscenity statute, Ark. Stat. Ann. § 41-3565 (2) (Repl. 1977), making possession of obscene material a criminal offense, is unconstitutional. He asserts mere possession of such materials is protected by the First Amendment and cannot be made a criminal offense. The simple answer is that appellant is not charged with a violation of the statute on obscenity and, hence, he has no standing to attack the constitutionality of the statute. Swaim v. State, 184 Ark. 1107, 44 S.W.2d 1098 (1933).

Second, he challenges the nighttime search. A.R.Cr.P. 13.2 (c) provides that search warrants shall be executed between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. unless the issuing judicial officer finds reasonable cause to believe the objects to be seized are “in danger of imminent removal.” This warrant was executed at 9:00 p.m. upon such a finding and we think the affidavit provided reasonable cause to believe the material was in danger of imminent removal. Appellant cites State v. Broadway, 269 Ark. 215, 599 S.W.2d 721 (1981), where we affirmed a trial court’s suppression of evidence seized in a nighttime search. But the cases are distinguishable. There, no facts were given the issuing magistrate supporting the need for a nighttime search; the arresting officers simply stated that reasonable cause existed for an immediate search. Here, the affidavit stated that appellant was expected to leave the following morning for Conway and that he had said he sometimes took the materials, or part of them, to Conway and Little Rock. On that basis the circuit judge issuing the warrant found sufficient authority under Rule 13.2 (c) (ii), A.R.Cr.P., and we cannot say his finding was clearly erroneous.

Appellant challenges the search warrant on the ground that the affiant did not appear before the issuing judicial officer as required, he argues, by Rule 13.1 (c), A.R.Cr.P. We disagree. Rule 13.1 (c) does not require that the judicial officer interview witnesses, simply that he “may” examine them.

The argument that the affidavit does not establish the reliability of the witness under the two-fold test of Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108 (1964), must also fail. There the Supreme Court rejected a search warrant which stated only that “affiants have received reliable information from a credible person and do believe that heroin [and other drugs] are being kept at the above premises for purposes of sale____” In contrast, this affidavit goes into detail in establishing the reliability of the witnesses and the basis of their knowledge. It reveals the identity of the informants, explains their association with the appellant, states when and where the contacts occurred, and gives specific details about the materials said to be kept on the premises and their location in appellant’s apartment and in his pick-up truck. The affidavit is more like one upheld in U.S. v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102 (1965) than the one struck down in Aguilar. We find it to be sufficient, when viewed with common sense.

II.

Appellant charges error in the refusal to order a discovery deposition of the young victim. The trial court did allow an interview with the child and his mother, with the prosecuting attorney present, and granted appellant’s motion for psychiatric examinations into the child’s competency. Appellant concedes our A.R.Cr.P. Rule 17.4 makes it discretionary with the trial court, but he insists that due process entitled him to take the discovery of the prosecution’s witnesses. Appellant cites only dictum from Wardius v. Oregon, 412 U.S. 470 (1973). But the fallacy is the Wardius court was not dealing with the issue of whether the Due Process Clause gives an accused a right of discovery, but whether an Oregon statute giving the prosecution the right of discovery from the defendant’s alibi witnesses was constitutional. The test was said to be whether Oregon law gave an accused reciprocal rights of discovery from prosecution witnesses and, finding such rights to be lacking,1 the Oregon statute was struck down. Obviously, that is not the issue here. The Wardius court made it clear it was not suggesting the Due Process Clause of its own force required Oregon to adopt discovery procedures in criminal cases, citing U.S. v. Augenblick, 393 U.S. 348 (1969) and Cicenia v. Lagay, 357 U.S. 504 (1958), rather it was holding that where a state imposes discovery against a defendant, equivalent rights must be given to a defendant.

We do not imply that there are never instances where due process may entitle a defendant to discovery rights, but we are unwilling to hold that due process invariably requires that an accused have the right to take the discovery deposition of the state’s witnesses, including the victim. We prefer to leave the decision, as our Rule 17 A.R.Cr.P. provides, to the trial judges to be exercised on a case-by-case basis, subject to a limited review on appeal. Here, the trial judge gave the appellant the right to interview the child and his mother and granted broad permission to have the child examined as to testimonial capacity. We cannot say he should have done more.

III.

During the interview session defense counsel asked the mother whom she had dated, which prompted the prosecuting attorney to instruct her not to answer. Appellant argues a violation of Rule 19.1 A.R.Cr.P., which provides that neither side will instruct persons, other than the defendant, to refrain from discussing a case with opposing counsel.

Whether Rule 19.1 was breached is debatable; however, the prosecutor later withdrew his objection and told the witness she could answer if she wanted. Presumably she did not, as the trial court later denied a motion to order her to answer, finding the question improper. Appellant contends he was prejudiced, because his theory of the accusations against him was that they were a figment of the child’s fantasies, induced, perhaps, by a movie he was thought to have seen.

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Bluebook (online)
640 S.W.2d 102, 277 Ark. 117, 1982 Ark. LEXIS 1516, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hoggard-v-state-ark-1982.