Jones v. State

429 A.2d 308, 48 Md. App. 726, 1981 Md. App. LEXIS 285
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedMay 13, 1981
DocketNo. 1321
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 429 A.2d 308 (Jones v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jones v. State, 429 A.2d 308, 48 Md. App. 726, 1981 Md. App. LEXIS 285 (Md. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

Liss, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Wayne Arthur Jones, appellant, wa: charged by indictment on April 22, 1980 in the Circuit Court for Calvert County with: assault with intent to rape (count 1); assault with intent to maim (count 2); assault and battery (count 3); and attempted rape (count 4). Appellant was tried by a jury on June 9-10,1980, and was convicted of counts 1 and 3. The court granted appellant’s motion for judgment of acquittal on count 2 and the State nol prossed count 4. On July 28, 1980, appellant was sentenced to serve two concurrent fifteen year sentences. From these judgments, he takes this appeal. Three issues are raised to be determined by this Court:

1. Whether the trial court erred in denying appellant’s motion to suppress the admission of his tennis shoes into evidence?
2. Whether the trial court erred in denying appellant’s motion to suppress oral and written statements given to police?
3. Whether there was sufficient evidence to sustain appellant’s convictions?

1.

Pursuant to appropriate motion, a suppression hearing was held prior to trial and out of the presence of the jury. At the hearing, appellant sought to have all physical evidence, i.e., his tennis shoes, and statements made by appellant to the Maryland State Police, suppressed as a violation of his constitutional rights.

The record indicates that on the evening of April 11,1980, Sergeant Stinnett of the Maryland State Police, Prince Frederick Post, responded to a complaint of an attempted rape which allegedly occurred on a parking lot of a High’s store in Prince Frederick, Maryland. He interviewed the [728]*728victim and attempted to get a description of her assailant. During the course of his investigation, Sergeant Stinnett learned that the assailant fled into the woods behind the High’s store. After a brief search of the area, he found footprints leading from the parking lot into the woods. On the following morning, at approximately 7:00 a.m., Sergeant Stinnett found similar footprints leading out of the other side of the woods in the vicinity of a house occupied by appellant’s father, Charles Jones. Near the house was a gutted bus, which was being used as a residence by the appellant and his girl friend. Sergeant Stinnett approached the bus with appellant’s father and explained to appellant that he was investigating an assault which took place the night before.

Appellant stated that he was aware of the incident because of a conversation he had had the previous evening with another State trooper. The Sergeant then told the appellant that he had found footprints in the area and asked if he could look at the appellant’s shoes. It is conceded that prior to that point in the conversation, the appellant had asked the Sergeant to wait outside the bus because his "old lady” was asleep inside. While appellant was in the back of the bus gathering his shoes together, Sergeant Stinnett, without permission, stepped upon the platform of the bus, placing himself in a position from which he could observe appellant and see into the interior of the vehicle. Sergeant Stinnett testified that the following then occurred:

Q Did you ever enter the Trailer?

A Yes sir, I was standing at the entrance way.

Q All right, he brought the tennis shoes to you as a result of a conversation that you had with him. You indicated that you were—

A —I asked him if he minded if I checked the shoes and he showed me several pairs of shoes; I asked him if he had a pair of tennis shoes and he stated that he did.

Q Okay, and once you got the tennis shoes, what occurred then?

[729]*729A I told him that I would like to take the shoes back and check them with those found at the scene and that I would like him to come with me also. And I would like to ask him some questions and I told him that he wasn’t under arrest and he agreed to come, he said he had nothing to hide.

Q Was anyone else present at that time?

A His father was there.

Q Only the three of you there.

A Yes sir. Well there was a white female asleep in the bus. I assume she was asleep. She never aroused at the time I was there.

Q How long did you stay in the Trailer?

A Approximately five minutes.

Q Did you go through the Trailer?

A No sir, I just stood at the entrance way.

Appellant remained at the Prince Frederick Post while Sergeant Stinnett took the tennis shoes and compared them with the footprints previously discovered. Upon verification that the shoes fit the footprints, Stinnett returned to the Post and notified the appellant that he was under arrest.

Appellant argues vigorously that his motion to suppress the admissibility of the tennis shoes should have been granted because they were seized in a warrantless search in violation of his fourth amendment rights under the United States Constitution, and that the search and seizure was not permissible as being pursuant to a valid consent given by the appellant.

Appellee contends that there was no search and seizure and urges that we adopt the conclusion of the trial judge that there was, in fact, no illegal taking of the tennis shoes; rather, they were voluntarily surrendered to Sergeant Stinnett without duress or coercion, either express or implied.

It is well established that "searches conducted outside the judicial process, without prior approval by judge or magis[730]*730trate, are per sé unreasonable under the fourth amendment — subject only to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions.” Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 357, 88 S. Ct. 507, 19 L. Ed. 2d 576 (1967). The burden is on the State to establish that the warrantless search and seizure is within one of these exceptions. Smith v. State, 33 Md. App. 407, 365 A.2d 53 (1976). It is clear to us that the action of the police officer in invading the privacy of the appellant’s bus without a warrant was a trespassory invasion and if the possession of the tennis shoes had been the result of a search and seizure by the officer while he was so trespassing, it would have been required that the physical evidence and the evidence flowing from it be suppressed. There was, however, in this case testimony from which the trier of fact could reasonably conclude that there was in fact no search, and that the seizure of the tennis shoes was permissive. The trial judge declined to suppress the tennis shoes because there was "no search — made at all.”

The record shows that at the suppression hearing the appellant testified as follows:

A I showed him a pair of my shoes and I went back in the bus to get the shoes and that is when he came in and say, yeah I want to see them shoes right over there, get me them.

Q You were going to bring him those shoes anyway, weren’t you?

A Yes sir.

Q And he didn’t have a gun at you to make you do that, did he?

A Now wait a minute, there is a whole lot of difference when you—

Q —Now just answer my question. Did he have a gun on you?

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Related

Sampson v. State
744 A.2d 588 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2000)

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Bluebook (online)
429 A.2d 308, 48 Md. App. 726, 1981 Md. App. LEXIS 285, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-state-mdctspecapp-1981.