People v. Steiner

355 N.W.2d 884, 136 Mich. App. 187
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 6, 1984
DocketDocket No. 69648
StatusPublished

This text of 355 N.W.2d 884 (People v. Steiner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Steiner, 355 N.W.2d 884, 136 Mich. App. 187 (Mich. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

Defendant, Jerry Steiner, was convicted by a jury of two counts of armed robbery, MCL 750.529; MSA 28.797. He was sentenced to serve not less than 32 years nor more than 70 years in prison, to be served concurrently with previous sentences given him by the court. He appeals as of right.

On March 13, 1981, a robbery occurred at the Battle Creek Professional Bureau, a collection agency. Defendant and his codefendant, Earl Bouyer, were charged with commission of the crime. Four witnesses who were present in the business during the robbery, Shari Wright, Violette Poole, Randolph Poole and Norton Shaver, testified at the preliminary hearing. The witnesses were sequestered and instructed not to discuss their testimony with anyone.

Pursuant to a motion by the defense, defendants were permitted to sit in the audience section of the courtroom rather than at the table with counsel. A defense motion for a line-up was denied. During their testimony, none of the four witnesses initially identified defendant Steiner as the second man involved in the robbery. Mrs. Wright identified Earl Bouyer as the” first man who had entered her office during the robbery, carrying a briefcase, but was initially unable to identify the second man.

The fifth prosecution witness, Detective Duane Ross of the Battle Creek police, testified that he and his partner were in an unmarked police car outside the building and heard someone yell "robbery, call the police”, and then "there they go”. [190]*190Detective Ross identified both defendants as the two men he and his partner followed as they ran out of the building where the bureau was located. Defendants were arrested after entering a van, which was parked several blocks from the building, and attempting to drive away.

Detective Ross acknowledged that, while he had known Steiner before this incident, he did not recognize defendant prior to the arrest. The two men were arrested, and Detective Ross testified that he remained at the scene with the van until it was towed to the station and a warrant was obtained for the search of the interior of the van. Following this testimony, the court bound over Bouyer on some of the charged counts, but withheld ruling on the armed robbery counts charged against defendant, contingent on the prosecution’s offer of further testimony.

Over objection, the prosecutor was permitted to reopen the case and recall Mrs. Wright, who then identified Steiner as the second man who had participated in the robbery, stating that she had not been able to get a good look at defendant where he was seated in the courtroom when she testified earlier. She testified that she had not spoken to anyone concerning her identification of the robbers since her earlier testimony.

Following her testimony, defendant was bound over for trial on the armed robbery counts. However, the defense was then permitted to reopen the case and called the court bailiff, who testified that he had been told by an attorney, Mr. Pixley, that Pixley had gone into the witness room where Mrs. Wright was sequestered with the other witnesses following her testimony. However, the court ruled that the bailiff could not relate Pixley’s statements to him and denied the defense motion to hold the bindover in abeyance pending testimony by Pixley.

[191]*191Following evidentiary hearings on motions to suppress the in-court identification of defendant Steiner and to suppress evidence, defendant was brought to trial and found guilty as charged.

On appeal, defendant raises three issues. He first contends that it was error to deny his motion to suppress evidence seized in the search of the van following his arrest. Defendant contends that the police lacked probable cause to arrest him without a warrant and, therefore, the illegality of his arrest tainted the evidence seized during the subsequent search of his van. We disagree and believe that the testimony of the police officers at the evidentiary hearing, held January 27, 1982, supports a finding of probable cause for the arrest.

The probable cause required for a warrantless arrest to be constitutionally valid has been defined by the United States Supreme Court in Beck v Ohio1 as follows:

"Whether that arrest was constitutionally valid depends in turn upon whether, at the moment the arrest was made, the officers had probable cause to make it— whether at that moment the facts and circumstances within their knowledge and of which they had reasonably trustworthy information were sufficient to warrant a prudent man in believing that the petitioner had committed or was committing an offense.”

Detective Ross and Sergeant Wiggins testified that they pursued the two men, both apparently carrying something, who ran from the front of the building where the bureau was located, after hearing someone from the upper level of the building yell "robbery” and "police”, and that someone yelled "there they go”. They testified that they lost [192]*192sight of the men only briefly and pursued them to a van, which rammed their unmarked police car when they attempted to block its exit.

Contrary to defendant’s argument, this is not a case like People v Dixon 2 where the police unlawfully detained two men whom they observed running through a high crime area in the early morning hours while they investigated whether any crime had occurred. The police possessed sufficient information in defendant’s case to make the arrest for the robbery and, therefore, the subsequent seizure of evidence from the van pursuant to a warrant was not tainted.

Defendant’s second contention presents a more difficult question. Defendant states that the in-court identification of him by Shari Wright was tainted by violation of the sequestration order and her failure to identify defendant during her first time on the stand. The trial court abused its discretion, according to defendant, in denying the motion to suppress the identification. Upon a careful reading of the record, however, we find no abuse of discretion.

The testimony at the hearing indicates that the violation of the sequestration order was unrelated to the later identification of defendant by Mrs. Wright. Pixley, the attorney who entered the witness room, testified that he had entered the room to greet his friend, Norman Shaver, when he saw him inside. When he asked Shaver why he was there, Shaver, who had just testified, related his frustration at being unable to make an identification of the robbers. Pixley testified that he did not remain for more than a few minutes, nor did he talk to any of the others in the room concerning [193]*193the case. Upon leaving the room, Pixley encountered the bailiff who reprimanded him and told him there was a sequestration order in effect. Pixley testified that he reported the substance of his conversation to the bailiff, who testified about the event at both the preliminary hearing and the motion hearing.

In deciding the motion, the trial court specifically considered the eight criteria set forth in People v Kachar,3 to determine that there was an independent basis for the in-court identification of defendant Steiner by Shari Wright, separate and apart from any pre-trial identification procedures. Those factors are:

"1. Prior relationship with or knowledge of the defendant.

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Related

Beck v. Ohio
379 U.S. 89 (Supreme Court, 1964)
People v. Kachar
252 N.W.2d 807 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1977)
People v. Wallen
209 N.W.2d 608 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1973)
People v. Richmond
269 N.W.2d 521 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1978)
People v. McCartney
208 N.W.2d 547 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1973)
People v. Dixon
271 N.W.2d 196 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1978)
People v. Harper
113 N.W.2d 808 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1962)
People v. Anderson
205 N.W.2d 461 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1973)

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Bluebook (online)
355 N.W.2d 884, 136 Mich. App. 187, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-steiner-michctapp-1984.