People v. Díaz Cintrón

91 P.R. 139
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedOctober 30, 1964
DocketNo. CR-64-128
StatusPublished

This text of 91 P.R. 139 (People v. Díaz Cintrón) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Díaz Cintrón, 91 P.R. 139 (prsupreme 1964).

Opinion

Me. Justice Dávila

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Carmelo Díaz Cintrón and two other persons were charged with having in their possession and control the narcotic drug known as heroin.

The prosecution evidence established that on March 13, 1963, some special internal-revenue agents of the Treasury Department who were patrolling Santurce receive a radiotelephone call. As a result of that call they headed for Benitez Castaño Street. They arrived at the place where an unoccupied house is situated. One of the agents testified that there is an old latrine separated from the house, and “I could see through the top of the latrine where there is an opening” that defendants were inside lighting themselves with a candle, and “were preparing a cap which is used by drug addicts.” They knocked at the door and he saw that one of the defendants, Torres Tapia, threw a bag behind the latrine. When he saw one of the defendants throwing the bag, one of the agents “opened the door — when he pulled it the boards fell because they were old — and then he saw them inside and as I went inside I picked up a metal cap, a dropper with a hypodermic needle . . .”. They also seized the bag which they threw out behind the latrine. They found 10 decks in the bag. The result of the analysis of the substance contained in the caps seized was “hydrochloride of diacetylmorphine, or hydrochloride of heroin. One of the caps was also positive of hydrochloride of heroin, and the decks and the other two caps were positive of alkaloid of opium, which is a derivative of opium, the same substance from which heroin is derived.”

At the close of the prosecution evidence, and the articles seized on defendants having been admitted in evidence with[142]*142out objection by the defense, the attorney moved for reconsideration. He informed the court that he proposed to raise the impropriety of their admission in evidence against defendants. Thereupon he requested that a certain witness be summoned in order to show that the evidence was illegally seized.

The judge acceded to issue the summons requested, but the attorney said that he would locate the witness and produce her at the afternoon session. When the session was resumed in the afternoon the attorney advised that the witness refused to appear, but that he would produce another person in her place. Thereupon the district attorney raised the question that at that stage of the proceedings a motion for suppression of evidence did not lie. The judge sustained him.

The attorney then produced the witness as a witness for the defense and not in support of his motion for suppression of evidence. The witness testified that the same day of the trial she had been at the place where the heroin was seized. She described the latrine. She testified that it was made of blocks, that it had no bars, but that there was an opening between the roof and the wall.

The general rule is to the effect that the procedure to prevent that evidence unlawfully obtained be presented is by motion for suppression of the evidence filed prior to the trial. People v. Nieves, 67 P.R.R. 283 (1947). We made it clear, however, that one of the circumstances was that “where by the direct or proper cross-examination of the state’s witnesses, it is made to appear, or it is otherwise admitted, that the articles which are offered in evidence were unlawfully seized. Under those circumstances, it is the duty of the trial court, upon objection, to refuse to receive them in evidence. No question of fact exists under these circumstances. The court is only called upon to rule on the admissibility of evidence upon admitted or conceded facts. It is not [143]*143required to stop in the midst of the trial and try a collateral fact.”1

Thus, we see that the exception to the rule presupposes that the question arises from the prosecution evidence itself, and it is not proper to stop the proceedings in the criminal case in order to decide a collateral question.

In the instant case the illegality of the search does not appear from the direct examination or from the cross-examination of the policeman. The evidence establishes that the policemen observed when the three defendants in the latrine which is separated from an unoccupied house were handling articles normally used for injecting narcotic drugs, and they also saw when one of the defendants threw out of the latrine a paper bag upon realizing that they had been caught. Furthermore, our constitutional provision, Art. II, § 10, provides that “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated.” In explaining the provision copied, it was said in the report of the Committee which recommended it to the full Constitutional Convention:

“The inviolability of the person extends to everything that is necessary for the development and expression thereof. The home, the furniture, the utensils, the books and papers owned by a citizen are like a continuation of his person, since they constitute the ambit in which he has been formed and maintains himself. To every man any interference, without his permission, in that private circle amounts to a violation of his personality.”

Clearly the concept of “house” appearing in the constitutional provision is not confined to the place where his home is constituted. The protection is much broader. In Lanza v. New York, 370 U.S. 139, 143 (1962), it is said:

[144]*144“. . . To be sure, the Court has been far from niggardly-in construing the physical scope of Fourth Amendment protection. A business office is a protected area, [Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States, 251 U.S. 385; Gouled v. United States, 255 U.S. 298], and so may be a store. [Amos v. United States, 255 U.S. 313; Davis v. United States, 328 U.S. 582]. A hotel room, in the eyes of the Fourth Amendment, may become a person’s ‘house,’ [Lustig v. United States, 338 U.S. 74; United States v. Jeffers, 342 U.S. 48], and so, of course, may an apartment. [Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257.] An automobile may not be unreasonably searched. [Gambino v. United States, 275 U.S. 310; Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132; Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160; Henry v. United States, 361 U.S. 98.] Neither may an occupied taxicab. [Rios v. United States,

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Related

Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States
251 U.S. 385 (Supreme Court, 1920)
Gouled v. United States
255 U.S. 298 (Supreme Court, 1921)
Amos v. United States
255 U.S. 313 (Supreme Court, 1921)
Hester v. United States
265 U.S. 57 (Supreme Court, 1924)
Carroll v. United States
267 U.S. 132 (Supreme Court, 1925)
Gambino v. United States
275 U.S. 310 (Supreme Court, 1928)
Davis v. United States
328 U.S. 582 (Supreme Court, 1946)
Lustig v. United States
338 U.S. 74 (Supreme Court, 1949)
Brinegar v. United States
338 U.S. 160 (Supreme Court, 1949)
United States v. Jeffers
342 U.S. 48 (Supreme Court, 1951)
Henry v. United States
361 U.S. 98 (Supreme Court, 1959)
Jones v. United States
362 U.S. 257 (Supreme Court, 1960)
Rios v. United States
364 U.S. 253 (Supreme Court, 1960)
Lanza v. New York
370 U.S. 139 (Supreme Court, 1962)

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Bluebook (online)
91 P.R. 139, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-diaz-cintron-prsupreme-1964.