Squires v. State

525 S.W.2d 686, 1975 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 336
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJanuary 16, 1975
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 525 S.W.2d 686 (Squires 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
Squires v. State, 525 S.W.2d 686, 1975 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 336 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

OPINION

OLIVER, Judge.

Represented by retained counsel, Stephen L. Squires has perfected an appeal in the nature of a writ of error to this Court contesting his conviction of professional gambling, for which he was sentenced to pay a fine of $1,000 and to be imprisoned in the penitentiary for not less than one nor more than five years. TCA §§ 39-2032 and 39-2033.

The presentment upon which the defendant was tried was returned by the Grand Jury on 16 March 1973. By his first Assignment of Error the defendant complains that the trial judge overruled his motion to quash the presentment upon various grounds, including such indefiniteness, uncertainty and ambiguity that it did not furnish him with sufficient information to enable him to defend himself properly and would not protect him against double jeopardy; and also in overruling his motion to *690 dismiss the presentment upon the ground that the statutes under which it was laid were unconstitutional because of vagueness, indefiniteness and uncertainty.

To begin with, we do not agree that either the presentment or the statutes upon which it is based show infection with any such constitutional infirmity.

But beyond that, in making these contentions here the defendant confronts the fact that no order overruling those motions was made and entered upon the court’s Minutes. Notwithstanding it appears in the Bill of Exceptions that the court overruled those motions, no order reflecting that action is shown to have been made and entered of record. When the Minutes of the trial court contain no entry showing any action upon a plea in abatement or a motion to quash an indictment, the established law of this State is that the appellate court cannot review the question raised by such plea or motion and is not permitted to look to recitals in the Bill of Exceptions to supply this defect. Klaver v. State (Tenn.Cr.App.1973), 503 S.W.2d 946; Shye v. State (Tenn.Cr.App.1974), 506 S.W.2d 169; Jones v. State, 197 Tenn. 667, 277 S.W.2d 371; Gray v. State, 194 Tenn. 234, 241-242, 250 S.W.2d 86.

The defendant’s second Assignment, which we hold to be without merit, advances and argues his insistence that the trial court erroneously overruled his challenges to the legality of four search warrants and erred in admitting in evidence the seized gambling devices and equipment and component parts.

The first search warrant was issued January 5,1973 as a “John Doe, alias” warrant (which term did not affect the legality of the warrant, Garner v. State, 220 Tenn. 680, 423 S.W.2d 480; Renner v. State, 187 Tenn. 647, 216 S.W.2d 345) and directed search of the two-compartment basement of the B & B Package Store in Kingsport, Tennessee. In March of 1973 the package store owner leased the basement to the Duran Corporation, whose offices were in the same building and which was a landholding company organized by the defendant and Herbert Patterson and Lester Peters for the purpose of establishing restaurants. Contrary to the defendant’s insistence, the description of the premises contained in this search warrant was not defective or inadequate. The simple test of the legal sufficiency of a search warrant’s description of the property to be searched is whether or not it will enable an officer to locate the place to be searched with reasonable certainty, Hatchett v. State, 208 Tenn. 399, 346 S.W.2d 258, and thus prevent the officer from searching the premises of one person under a warrant directed against those of another. Lea v. State, 181 Tenn. 378, 181 S.W.2d 351.

And he was not prejudiced by not being permitted to call and examine the affiant’s informant (Lieutenant Sammy Poole of the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department whose name appeared in the affidavit) regarding his statement to the affiant, which was also set out in the affidavit. The facts stated in the affidavit upon which the affiant bases his reasonable belief are not subject to contradiction at the trial for the purpose of suppressing the evidence secured by means of the search warrant. Owens v. State, 217 Tenn. 544, 553, 399 S.W.2d 507. In determining whether or not probable cause exists for the issuance of a search warrant, the issuing magistrate performs a judicial act which is not subject to review by the Court if probable cause is shown on the face of the warrant. O’Brien v. State, 205 Tenn. 405, 326 S.W.2d 759; Poole v. State, 4 Tenn.Cr.App. 41, 467 S.W.2d 826. Besides, he substantially accomplished the same purpose by cross-examination of Officer Poole.

The complaint with reference to this presentment that T.C.A. § 40-518 was not complied with is untenable because the record shows that the defendant was not *691 present when the premises were searched and there is no evidence that either of the other incorporators or any employee was there at that time. Poole v. State, supra; State v. Calvert, 219 Tenn. 534, 410 S.W.2d 907.

We must reject the defendant’s argument that the search was illegal because the basement was divided into two compartments by a partition which contained a closed and locked door and each compartment had a separate exterior entrance, and that the search warrant left it to the discretion of the officer executing it which of the separate premises he would search. Patterson testified that the partition was installed after the Duran Corporation leased the basement, that the Corporation stored some three truck loads of restaurant materials there and the defendant stored some machine parts in the basement. Under these circumstances the two compartments of the basement did not constitute multiple premises within the meaning of Worden v. State, 197 Tenn. 340, 273 S.W.2d 139. Nor was the search invalid because the warrant charged possession of one electric slot machine and the officers found one such machine in one compartment of the basement and 39 such machines and assorted repair parts and tools in the other.

The defendant assails a search warrant issued to Officer Sammy Poole on 19 January 1973, which directed search of Franklin Shipley’s business house known as Bloomingdale Billiards located at a designated street number, for electronic gambling devices, the affidavit reciting that the affiant’s belief was based upon information received from Franklin Shipley himself. We cannot agree with the defendant’s assertion that this warrant’s description of the premises to be searched was fatally uncertain and inadequate.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
525 S.W.2d 686, 1975 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/squires-v-state-tenncrimapp-1975.