Lee v. State

1983 OK CR 41, 661 P.2d 1345, 1983 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 220
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 29, 1983
DocketF-82-13
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 1983 OK CR 41 (Lee v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lee v. State, 1983 OK CR 41, 661 P.2d 1345, 1983 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 220 (Okla. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinions

OPINION

CORNISH, Judge:

The appellant, Johnnie Edgar Lee, was convicted in the District Court of Tulsa County, of Murder in the First Degree for the killing of his wife. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Evidence at trial showed that his wife’s corpse was discovered at noon, Saturday, November 22, 1980, in a vacant house from which the couple had recently been evicted. The victim, who suffered a contact gunshot wound to her head, was found lying beneath a blanket on the bedroom floor. Police investigating the scene observed what appeared to be a trail of broken automobile glass, blood, and body tissue from the curb outside of the residence into the house.

The police canvassed the neighborhood and learned the appellant and his wife had been seen there together the evening before at about 7:30 p.m. A state medical examiner and forensic pathologist testified he was of the opinion that death occurred within ten to eighteen hours before the victim was found. The appellant’s car, which was seized upon his arrest the next day, was bloodstained and had a shattered window on the passenger’s side. The blood stains were shown to be of the same type as the victim’s. The State also entered into evidence the murder weapon on which blood of the same type was found.

The appellant asserts that the police lacked probable cause to effect his warrant-less arrest; that they illegally searched the trailer house at which he was arrested; and, that they illegally seized his automobile. On these grounds he contends that the resulting evidence should have been suppressed.

At the hearing held on his motion to suppress the State presented evidence that the officers, based on evidence at the scene, believed the homicide had taken place in an automobile and that the victim then had been dragged out of the vehicle into the house. They also had information that the appellant and his wife had been seen together in the neighborhood on Friday evening near the time death was estimated by a field medical examiner to have occurred. Additionally, they knew that the appellant had been previously convicted for the shooting death of his prior wife. All of these facts and circumstances, the arresting officer knew before the arrest. Initially the officers sought to arrest the appellant as a material witness; however, as they approached the trailer house they saw the appellant’s car with its broken window and what appeared to be blood stains. This observation, made from a place where the officers had a lawful right to be, corroborated their theory of how the homicide occurred and established probable cause.

The appellant attacks the existence of probable cause on the basis that there was conflicting testimony at the suppression hearing on whether Lily Mae Owens had told Detective McMichael on Saturday that her grandson, Tony, had seen the Lees in the neighborhood the night before at 7:30. We first observe that a police officer may arrest a person without a warrant upon facts communicated to him by others. Howell v. State, 530 P.2d 1371 (Okl.Cr.1975). Second, reception of hearsay evidence at a suppression hearing is not infirm under 12 O.S.1981, § 2103(B)(1), which provides that the rules of evidence do not apply, except those that relate to privileges, where the judge is to determine questions of fact preliminary to admissibility of evidence. For an excellent discussion on this point, see United States v. Matlock, 415 U.S. 164, 173-175, 94 S.Ct. 988, 994-995, 39 L.Ed.2d 242 (1974). And third, this Court will not reverse a trial court upon findings of fact in connection with a motion to suppress where there is competent evidence in [1350]*1350the record reasonably tending to support its findings. Mahan v. State, 508 P.2d 703 (Okl.Cr.1973).

The test of a valid warrantless arrest is whether, at the moment of the arrest, the officer had probable cause to make it, i.e., whether at that moment he had reasonably trustworthy knowledge of facts and circumstances sufficient to warrant the belief of a prudent person that the suspect had committed or was committing a felony. Swain v. State, 621 P.2d 1181 (Okl.Cr.1980). This Court has also held that the term “probable cause” imports that there may not be absolute irrefutable cause. Reynolds v. State, 575 P.2d 628 (Okl.Cr.1978). We are of the opinion that probable cause did exist in the instant case under this test.

On the morning of the arrest the officers had learned from an informant that the appellant could be found in the informant’s trailer house. Within forty-five minutes the police arrived there, ordered the appellant to step outside, and arrested him. At the suppression hearing the State presented hearsay testimony that the police had been given consent to search the trailer house, asserting the owner’s privilege from testifying by reason of his status as a confidential informant. A police officer also testified that the owner had signed a consent to search form; however, in his haste to immediately apprehend the suspect before he had a chance to flee, the officer had failed to fill out all of the blanks on the form.

The appellant contends that this was insufficient evidence of consent to search. Again during another pre-trial motion hearing, the State presented testimony that the informant had been advised of his rights prior to agreeing to the search and that he gave his consent voluntarily.

In an analogous situation, the Supreme Court refused to compel disclosure of a confidential informant’s identity in every preliminary hearing to determine probable cause for an arrest or search, where it appears that the officers made the arrest or search in reliance upon facts supplied by an informer they had reason to trust. McCray v. Illinois, 386 U.S. 300, 87 S.Ct. 1056, 18 L.Ed.2d 62, reh. denied, 386 U.S. 1042, 87 S.Ct. 1474, 18 L.Ed.2d 616 (1967). The Court held that “[njothing in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state court judge in every such hearing to assume the arresting officers are committing perjury.” As in McCray, the arresting officers relying on the informant’s consent, testified in open court, in detail as to what the informant had told them. Each officer was under oath and subject to searching cross-examination. The judge was obviously satisfied that each was telling the truth, and for that reason he exercised the discretion conferred upon him under 12 O.S.1981, § 2105, to respect the informant’s privilege.

We recognize that the State has the burden to establish the legal sufficiency of voluntary consent. However, as a factual matter to be resolved by the lower court, and supported by the evidence, the determination will not be disturbed. See Mahan, supra.

The appellant also challenges existence of exigent circumstances arguing that his warrantless arrest was not justified because the police had ample time to secure a warrant beforehand. In support, the appellant relies on Steagald v. United States, 451 U.S. 204, 101 S.Ct. 1642, 68 L.Ed.2d 38 (1981), in which the Supreme Court stated that except where there is consent or exigent circumstances, entry into a home to conduct a search or to make an arrest is unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment unless done pursuant to a warrant. Here both exceptions were triggered.1

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Bluebook (online)
1983 OK CR 41, 661 P.2d 1345, 1983 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 220, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lee-v-state-oklacrimapp-1983.