Seales v. State

495 So. 2d 475
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 24, 1986
Docket56421
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 495 So. 2d 475 (Seales v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Seales v. State, 495 So. 2d 475 (Mich. 1986).

Opinion

495 So.2d 475 (1986)

Billy Gene SEALES & Ricky Brown
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 56421.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

September 24, 1986.

Mark S. Duncan, James M. Mars, II, Mars, Mars & Mars, Philadelphia, for appellants.

Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Atty. Gen. by Charles W. Maris, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before WALKER, C.J., and PRATHER and GRIFFIN, JJ.

PRATHER, Justice, for the Court:

This case is an appeal from the Circuit Court of Neshoba County, Mississippi, wherein Billy Gene Seales and Ricky Brown were convicted of armed robbery in a joint trial. They received sentences of *476 fifteen (15) and twenty-five (25) years, respectively.

Appellants Brown and Seales appeal their conviction assigning error in the admission of confessions made by each defendant, claimed to be a product of unlawful arrest.

Appellants further contend that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence the confessions of each defendant in the State's case in chief, as a violation of their constitutional right to confront witnesses.

I.

On Friday, December 7, 1984, at approximately 12:30 p.m., a black male entered Seemore T.V., Inc., in Philadelphia, MS. The identity of the male was concealed by a white toboggan head cover which had holes cut out for the eyes. The male shoved one customer, then pointed a pistol at a customer and an employee engaged in conversation on the phone. The subject removed $702.00 in cash and 42 checks and left the building in a fast "trot". James Louis Crowe, an employee of the nearby business, followed the subject and saw him get into the passenger side of a green Coupe driven by another. Crowe observed the car had no license plate.

Several days later Officer Bobby Anderson contacted Crowe and asked him to identify a car located by the police that fit the description of the vehicle used in the robbery. After riding by the car twice, Crowe stated he was "very confident" that the car was the same. The car belonged to Billy Gene Seales. Based on this information, Anderson obtained an arrest warrant for Seales' arrest. The State alleges that, after being advised of his constitutional rights and conferring with his father, Seales made a statement confessing to his own involvement and implicating Ricky Brown.

Another witness, a pedestrian, Sandra Stribling, admitted she could not see Brown's face, but identified him as the robber. In addition, the police received an anonymous call reporting that Brown had been bragging at work about having "pulled off" a robbery. On this information, Ricky Brown was arrested. He refused to make a statement, and although advised of his rights, did not request a lawyer. He remained incarcerated until the next day. Sometime while in jail, Brown learned that Seales had signed a confession, and Brown asked to see Officer Anderson. The State again informed Brown of his constitutional rights, after which he signed a written waiver and statement concerning his involvement in the robbery which further implicated Billy Gene Seales.

At trial the judge dismissed the jury during examination of the defendants about the arrests and the voluntariness of the confessions. The trial judge admitted the statements of each with instructions to the jury that each confession should only be considered as to each defendant and not to any other person incriminated by the confessions.

Upon conviction, the appellants now contend that the statements were the product of illegal arrests and the admission of the statements denied them their constitutional right to confrontation of witnesses guaranteed in Article 3, Section 26 of the Mississippi Constitution and the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

II.

As to the Appellant Seales

Was the appellant Seales' statement the fruit of an illegal arrest and should it have been excluded from the evidence?

Appellant Seales submits that his arrest was in violation of Article 3, Section 23 of the Mississippi Constitution and the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution in that the arrest was made without probable cause, and that his statement, the fruit of an illegal arrest, should have been excluded from evidence.

Facts available to the officer seeking the arrest warrant were as follows:

(1) Witness for the State, Louis Crowe, saw the robber leave the store "in a trot" *477 and get into the passenger side of a dark green vehicle identified as a Ford LTD or "or something similar to that."

(2) Crowe noticed the car had no license plate and observed bright chrome in the area of the license plate.

(3) Days later Officer Anderson located the car and twice drove with Crowe to view the car.

(4) Crowe stated he was "very confident" that the car was the same that had been used in the robbery.

(5) Billy Gene Seales owned the car.

Based on these facts, Anderson obtained a warrant for Seales' arrest.

In Hester v. State, 463 So.2d 1087 (Miss. 1985), this Court stated:

In Powe v. State, 235 So.2d 920 (Miss. 1970), we said that probable cause exists where the ... available evidence makes it reasonable to infer that the particular person not necessarily was, but may have been, one of the offenders ...
It is clear therefore that "probable cause" means less than the evidence which would justify condemnation [citations omitted] but more than bear suspicion.

463 So.2d at 1090.

It appears that the information available made it reasonable to infer that Seales may have been one of the offenders, and that the arrest was lawful. The State further submits that even if the arrest was illegal, Seales' confession was properly admitted under standards set forth in Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590, 95 S.Ct. 2254, 45 L.Ed.2d 416 (1975). In Lockett v. State, 459 So.2d 246 (Miss. 1984), this Court recognized:

The Court in Brown then set forth several factors which it regarded as critical to determining whether a confession obtained by an illegal arrest was the product of free will. Those factors are: (1) The giving of Miranda warnings. (2) The temporal proximity of the arrest and the confession. (3) The presence of intervening circumstances. (4) The purpose and flagrancy of the official misconduct. (5) Any other circumstances that seem relevant. The United States Supreme Court repeated these factors in Dunaway v. New York, 442 U.S. 200, 99 S.Ct. 2248, 60 L.Ed.2d 824 (1979) and Taylor v. Alabama, 457 U.S. 687, 102 S.Ct. 2664, 73 L.Ed.2d 314 (1982). In Hall v. State, 427 So.2d 957 (Miss. 1983), this Court has had occasion to recognize and apply the holding in Brown.

459 So.2d at 250.

The record of the present case evidences the following facts:

(1) Before Seales gave his confession, Officer Anderson read him the Miranda warnings.

(2) Seales stated that he understood those rights, and signed a written waiver thereof.

(3) No threats or promises were made, no violence was committed and no hopes of leniency or reward were offered.

After being advised of his rights, Seales declined to make a statement before his father arrived. Seales' father and Seales were allowed to talk privately. Shortly thereafter Seales' father told Officer Anderson, "Come back in.

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Bluebook (online)
495 So. 2d 475, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/seales-v-state-miss-1986.