Nix v. State

530 S.W.2d 524, 1975 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 279
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedMarch 18, 1975
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 530 S.W.2d 524 (Nix v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nix v. State, 530 S.W.2d 524, 1975 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 279 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinions

OPINION

OLIVER, Judge.

Represented by retained counsel, Nix was convicted of possessing more than one-half ounce of marijuana with the intent to sell it, for which he was sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than one nor more than five years and to pay a fine of $3,000. (TCA § 52-1422, Schedule VI; TCA § 52 — 1432(a)(1)(F)). He has perfected an appeal in the nature of a writ of error to this Court.

We address first the defendant’s second, third, fourth and fifth Assignments of Error which, collectively, charge that he was illegally arrested without probable cause, that he was interrogated without being advised of his constitutional rights, and that the trial court erred in failing to suppress the defendant’s pre-trial custodial statements and evidence obtained by a warrant-less search of his apartment to which he did not freely and voluntarily consent. All of these questions were properly raised by defense motions to suppress evidence, which were heard and overruled by the trial court before selection of the jury.

We summarize the material evidence adduced in the suppression hearing, which consumed two days and occupies 292 pages of this record. It was developed that information reached the Knoxville FBI office that a young white man driving a blue Volkswagen bus, bearing Texas license plates, had exchanged a number of small denomination bills for larger bills at several banks; and that about 2:00 p. m. on February 1, 1873, as the defendant parked his Volkswagen bus on the University of Tennessee campus, three FBI agents approached the bus on the driver’s side and identified themselves to the defendant.

FBI Agent Phillips testified that the defendant was not placed under arrest; that he was advised of all of his Miranda rights with the exception of the right to have the court appoint a lawyer for him if he could not afford one; that he was asked to sit in [526]*526the FBI car (it was raining slightly) and talk with them about the money; that in the car the defendant explained that he had won the money gambling and felt he would have a better chance to exchange it for larger bills if he went to several banks rather than just one; that he did not reply when asked why he did not do that at the place he won the money gambling; that he said some of the money was in his apartment; that he told the agents he was a senior at UT majoring in psychology, and that he had been dropped from the football squad because he admitted to Coach Battle that he had smoked marijuana; that he was then asked whether he had any contraband or any illegal narcotics at his residence, and he replied he only had a margarine butter dish of marijuana for his personal use, and said he also had there a .22 caliber derringer; that the agents explained to him they would like to check the serial numbers on the bills and asked him if he would consent to a search of his apartment and he agreed; that, after dismissing the defendant’s wife to go to her classes at the university, they went to the defendant’s apartment, the defendant driving his bus and accompanied by one agent and the other two agents following in the FBI car; that enroute to the apartment, the defendant stopped at a filling station and bought gasoline, and that he was under no restraint and was not under arrest or being held in custody; that it is FBI procedure to always place a suspect in handcuffs after arresting him, and that the defendant was never handcuffed or searched or restrained in any way by the FBI agents and he was never arrested by any of them; that when they got to the apartment and entered the living room Agent Phillips read to the defendant a consent-to-search form and asked him to sign it, and the defendant read the form himself and inquired what would happen if he did not sign it and Agent Phillips replied that a request would be made for a search warrant; that the defendant asked the agents to step outside for a few minutes and when he was told they could not do so he signed the form; that the agents then asked him for the marijuana and he produced a very small amount of it which he said was for his own use, and he showed them where the derringer was when they asked about it; and that when they asked him for the money he produced it and counted it in their presence, the aggregate amount being $9290.

While they were counting the money, Knoxville Police Officers arrived. Agent Phillips explained to them what had happened and showed them the consent-to-search form signed by the defendant. Lieutenant Norman, of the Knoxville Police Department Narcotics Division, testified they were there as a result of a call from their dispatcher to meet the FBI at the apartment; that he shook hands with the defendant and advised him orally of his rights and asked him if the narcotics division officers could search his apartment and the defendant agreed; that during the search eight one-pound bricks of marijuana were found; that the defendant was under no restraint until he was taken into custody and placed in the police car; and that he was again advised of his rights enroute to the police station.

The defendant testified in the suppression hearing that he spent the morning of February 1, 1973 going to several Knoxville branch banks exchanging small bills for larger ones, and then he and his wife started to their classes at UT; that the FBI agents identified themselves but did not inform him of his rights and asked him a few questions about changing the money; that they told him to get in the FBI car and he did so, but was not threatened or forced, and they still did not advise him of his rights; that they told him they wanted to see the money and said nothing about wanting to search his apartment; that one of the agents went with him when he went back to his bus to talk to his wife, and then she was released to go to her classes; that he drove his bus to his apartment with one agent accompanying him and the others following in the FBI car; that when they [527]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
530 S.W.2d 524, 1975 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 279, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nix-v-state-tenncrimapp-1975.