Pavey v. State

477 N.E.2d 957, 1985 Ind. App. LEXIS 2424
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 23, 1985
Docket2-584A129
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 477 N.E.2d 957 (Pavey v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pavey v. State, 477 N.E.2d 957, 1985 Ind. App. LEXIS 2424 (Ind. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

SHIELDS, Judge.

Phillip Pavey appeals his conviction in a jury trial of Child Molesting, a class C felony. Pavey raises seven issues for our review:

1) whether Pavey's statement was erroneously admitted into evidence because it was the fruit of an illegal search, or an illegal arrest, or because it was involuntarily given,
2) whether the 10-year-old victim was competent to testify,
3) whether the evidence was sufficient to support his conviction,
4) whether the court erred in overruling Pavey's objection to a portion of the pre-sentence investigation report, and
5) whether the court erred in imposing the maximum sentence of eight years?

Facts

On October 28, 1982, LM., nine years old at the time, was being cared for by a babysitter at her home in Portland, Indiana. While Phillip Pavey, a friend of the babysitter, was at the babysitter's house L.M. agreed to go with him in his car to the Goodyear store in Portland. Instead, Pa-vey drove to the house in which he had been living with Shirley Roser. Roser was in the hospital at the time.

L.M. accompanied Pavey into the residence. They entered the downstairs bedroom Pavey had been sharing with Roser, and Pavey locked the door. Pavey took off L.M.'s shirt and jeans, unzipped his pants, and had her perform fellatio. Pavey kissed her, touched her breast, and reached inside her panties to touch what the victim described as, "what I go to the restroom with." Record at 298-99.

Roser's two daughters, Teresa and Pam Franks, were in the living room when Pa-vey and L.M. entered the house. From her position on the couch Teresa could see through a one to two inch gap in the door frame into the downstairs bedroom. Teresa saw Pavey and the girl in various stages of undress and at one point saw Pavey nude. She also observed Pavey with his hands around the girl's waist before Pavey noticed he was being watched and moved out of the line of sight.

When her boyfriend, Fred Shultz, arrived at the house, Teresa told him what she had seen in the bedroom and had him look through the gap in the door frame. He observed the bare feet and ankles of a *960 person lying on a bed. He then left the house and rode his bicycle to the police station. When two county police officers arrived at the house in response to Fred's contact, Teresa told them, "[that Phil had a little girl in there and that I saw him undress with the little girl," record at 827, invited them in, and showed them the gap in the door frame. One officer observed the bedroom through the gap for a minute or two. He saw Pavey lying on the bed and the girl sitting on the edge of the bed pulling on her jeans. Pavey had his hand on her stomach. The officer then lifted the hook lock with a kitchen knife and entered the bedroom.

Approximately one hour after the arrest, Officer Grider read Pavey the Miranda warnings and asked him if he would like to make a statement. Pavey signed the Miranda waiver and agreed to answer the questions about the case. Pavey said that because he was so upset he wanted Officer Grider to write out the statement. Grider wrote Pavey's statement and read it to Pavey who then signed it before a witness.

On Septmeber 14, 1988, a jury found Pavey guilty of child molesting. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.

I.

A.

Pavey asserts the trial court erred in admitting his statement into evidence over his objection. Pavey first argues the statement was inadmissible as the product of the illegal search conducted by the police officers when they looked through the gap in the door frame into the bedroom. Accordingly, Pavey claims their testimony should have been suppressed.

The fourth amendment and Article 1 § 11 of the Indiana Constitution protect individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures. However, simple observations by officers standing in a place where they have a right to be 1 are not searches in the constitutional sense. Bruce v. State, 268 Ind. 180, 375 N.E.2d 1042 (1978) Montague v. State, 266 Ind. 51, 360 N.E.2d 181 (1977). The scope of the protection against unreasonable searches is delineated in the opinion in Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967):

"[The Fourth Amendment protects people not places. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection.... But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected."

389 U.S. at 351-52, 88 S.Ct. at 511 (citations omitted). See United States v. Jackson, 588 F.2d 1046 (5th Cir.1979) (reviewing several cases of observations and listenings that were not considered searches).

In similar cases, courts have held that using a flashlight to look through the window of .a parked airplane was not a search, United States v. Coplen, 541 F.2d 211 (9th Cir.1976), that looking through a garage door that was ajar was not a search, James v. United States, 418 F.2d 1150 (D.C.Cir.1969), and that unenhanced or "naked eye" viewing of activities (taking place in an apartment across the street) by persons located where they may properly be transgressed no fourth amendment protection. United States v. Taborda, 635 F.2d 131 (2nd Cir.1980). See also Morgan v. State, 427 N.E.2d 14 (Ind.App.1981) (not a search when officers looked into car from lawful position); State v. Day, 50 Ohio App.2d 315, 362 N.E.2d 1253 (1976) (placing ear near door of hotel room not a search). Similarly, the officers did not "search" the bedroom Pavey was in when they looked through the gap in the door frame from a position they were legally invited to take. The trial court properly admitted the observation testimony.

*961 B.

Secondly, Pavey argues his incriminating oral and written statements made to police after his arrest should have been suppressed as the products of an illegal arrest. 2

In the instant case, the officers had probable cause to make the warrantless arrest. They had credible evidence that a felony had just been committed. 3 The very real possibility of further molestation or abuse of the victim during the delay necessary to obtain a warrant created the exigent cireumstances that forced the officers to make a warrantless arrest. See Harrison v.

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Bluebook (online)
477 N.E.2d 957, 1985 Ind. App. LEXIS 2424, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pavey-v-state-indctapp-1985.