Nations v. State

145 So. 2d 259
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedOctober 3, 1962
Docket3103
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 145 So. 2d 259 (Nations v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nations v. State, 145 So. 2d 259 (Fla. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

145 So.2d 259 (1962)

Jerry Lee NATIONS, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 3103.

District Court of Appeal of Florida. Second District.

October 3, 1962.

*260 Julius G. Petruska, of Rowland & Petruska, Orlando, and Leo W. Haley of Haley & Cooper, Orlando, for appellant.

Richard W. Ervin, Atty. Gen., George R. Georgieff, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

WHITE, Judge.

Jerry Lee Nations appeals his conviction and sentence on an information charging him with unlawful assault with intent to procure a miscarriage.[1] The appellant also has moved to strike defense counsel's argument to the jury as set forth in the record on appeal. This portion of the transcript is alleged to be inaccurate and, in effect, a fabrication as indicated by supporting affidavits. In disposing of this motion, we need only observe that it is not properly before this court. Rule 3.6(l) Florida Appellate Rules, 31 F.S.A.[2] sets forth the method for correcting the record on appeal, and absent amendment by that procedure the record must be presumed correct. The prescribed procedure requires submission of the matter to the lower court. This was not done.

The principal witnesses for the state were Dorothy Yohn, wife of an Orlando Police Department Lieutenant, and William *261 Robinson of the Orlando Police Department. They testified that they were led to Bremer's Pizza Palace by one Margaret Lou Mount, a codefendant whose trial was severed from that of the instant defendant. The witnesses stated that after they and the said Margaret Mount were seated at a table in the Pizza Palace they were joined by the defendant Jerry Lee Nations. There were no introductions other than a statement by Margaret Mount: "This is the couple I was telling you about."

The defendant, according to the testimony, then and there explained to Dorothy Yohn his method of operation. He would inject a pituitary extract in her arm which would cause her uterus to contract and expel the foreign body. He stated that the injection would also ease dilation of the cervix which he would complete by the use of instruments in order to insert a tube and packing. He asked if she was allergic to sulfa. After receiving a negative answer, he stated that he would provide her with two kinds of pills to fight infection and control hemorrhaging. He affirmed that he was not a doctor but had four years medical training and that he guaranteed this method which he had used many times. The defendant conducted the group from the Pizza Palace to an adjacent building. He carried a large blue suitcase which he placed on a drafting table. He removed a pair of stirrups, a pan, a pillow, a quilt and a small brown suitcase. Dorothy Yohn handed him $300.00 cash and promised to pay the $200.00 balance.

The defendant swabbed Dorothy Yohn's arm with alcohol. At this juncture officer Robinson stated that he was not feeling well and would like to have some air. The defendant unlocked the door, let officer Robinson out, returned to Dorothy Yohn and hypodermically injected a liquid into her arm. He was about to examine her further when there was a knock at the door. The defendant opened the door and officer Robinson reentered accompanied by a deputy sheriff. Officer Robinson announced who they were, and they thereupon arrested the defendant.

The arresting officers, after searching the room and adjacent areas, seized articles considered by them potentially pertinent to the prosecution of the defendant. There were no warrants, so the validity vel non of the search and seizure depends upon whether or not the search and seizure were legally incident to the arrest. Four of the defendant's twelve points on appeal question the legality of the search and the competence of the seized articles as evidence. The remaining eight points pertain to the court's denial of defendant's request to interview a state's witness who had been excused by the county prosecutor without being called to the stand, the propriety of (1) testimony of a doctor that certain exhibits could be used in procurring a miscarriage and (2) testimony of two witnesses tending to show similar previous conduct on the part of the defendant; also the propriety of certain remarks by the county prosecutor to the jury and the propriety of the sentencing. The points on appeal will not be treated severally in the numerical order set forth in the briefs but will be grouped and discussed under the foregoing headings.

The defendant first contends that it was error to deny his motion to suppress the evidence obtained pursuant to the search. The motion, as indicated, was grounded on the circumstance that there was no warrant of arrest and no warrant of search. The arrest appears to have been clearly coincident with an overt act indicative of an intent to commit a crime. The arrest therefore was valid. See Florida Statutes § 901.15, F.S.A.; Lashley v. State, Fla. 1953, 67 So.2d 648. This leaves for determination the question of the validity of the search and seizure. In Collins v. State, Fla. 1953, 65 So.2d 61, the Supreme *262 Court, speaking through Justice Thomas, said:

"We have held that a reasonable search and seizure may be made as an incident to a lawful arrest, * * * so the validity of the search in the present case should be gauged by the circumstances surrounding it * * *."

See also Urso v. State, Fla.App. 1961, 134 So.2d 810; 29 Fla. Jur., Search and Seizure, § 13. Thus pertinent evidence obtained as the result of a search is admissible if the search was reasonable; and the question of reasonableness is determinable on the basis of the particular factual situation. Chacon v. State, Fla. 1958, 102 So.2d 578. In the instant circumstance it would have been impracticable to procure warrants between the time officer Robinson first became aware that ostensibly a felony was being committed and the time that the principals likely would have departed the scene. Upon observing that the defendant was attempting a felonious abortion, officer Robinson made a momentary exit to secure aid, returned, placed the defendant under arrest, searched the premises and seized those articles which he considered important to the future prosecution.

The record discloses that Dorothy Yohn and officer Robinson knew that they were going to the Pizza Palace only twenty minutes prior to their departure for that place. They had no notice that they were going to the particular address where the alleged crime occurred until the defendant led them there. They went directly from the Pizza Palace to the premises where the abortion was to be performed. The arrest of the defendant being valid, a reasonable search without a warrant was permissible.

The defendant argues that he was arrested and removed from the premises before the search was completed, that the search was not limited to the room in which he was arrested and that he was given no receipt for the articles seized. These arguments are effectively rebutted by the record and the law. The articles were seized within premises sublet to the defendant. The items allegedly seized in unproximate areas appear not to have been used by the prosecution. It is not vital that the defendant was not given a receipt for the articles. See Dunnavant v. State, Fla. 1950, 46 So.2d 871; 29 Fla.Jur., Search and Seizure, § 30.

We perceive no error in the denial of defendant's request to interview a certain witness for the state who was excused by the county solicitor without the defendant's knowledge and consent.

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145 So. 2d 259, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nations-v-state-fladistctapp-1962.