State v. Ahrens

196 So. 2d 250, 250 La. 391, 1967 La. LEXIS 2678
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedFebruary 20, 1967
DocketNo. 48331
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 196 So. 2d 250 (State v. Ahrens) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Ahrens, 196 So. 2d 250, 250 La. 391, 1967 La. LEXIS 2678 (La. 1967).

Opinion

McCALEB, Justice.

Appellant was convicted for simple burglary of a residence located at 2903 Jackson Avenue in the city of Baton Rouge and sentenced to serve a term of nine years at hard labor in the State Penitentiary. During the course of his trial he reserved three bills of exceptions upon which he is relying on this appeal for a reversal of his conviction. We shall consider these bills in their reverse order.

Bill of Exceptions No. 3 was taken to the overruling of a motion to suppress certain evidence seized by the arresting officers at the time of appellant’s apprehension. The substance of the motion to suppress (which was timely filed in advance of trial) is that the evidence, consisting of a bag containing a large number of coins (10$ pieces), a wrist watch, a wrist watch band and watch box, was secured without a search warrant and was not obtained as an incident to ’a valid arrest founded on probable cause. If is alleged, therefore, that the evidence was secured in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Section 7 of Article 1 of the Constitution of this State. And it is contended that the Federal decisions in Beck v. State of Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 85 S.Ct. 223, 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964); Kelley v. United States, 111 U.S.App.D.C. 396, 298 F.2d 310 (1961) and other cases, require reversal of the conviction on the facts contained in the record.

The State, on the other hand, asserts that the evidence obtained by the officers was an incident to a lawful arrest. Thus the question presented is whether or not the arrest was lawful, for it appears that the search was made as an incident to the arrest.

R.S. 15:60(4) authorizes any peace officer to arrest a person without a warrant “When he has reasonable cause to believe that a felony has been committed and rea[395]*395sonable cause to believe that such person has committed it.”

The testimony taken on the motion to suppress reveals that one Collinson, an ex-deputy sheriff of East Baton Rouge Parish who owned a Texaco station where appellant’s brother was employed, telephoned the sheriff’s office to report that he had seen appellant, a former convict, and his brother counting a large number of small coins. The officers, being cognizant of the occurrence of many recent burglaries in the Baton Rouge area involving the extraction of coins from pinball and coke machines, went to the service station to talk with Collinson in response to his call. Collinson furnished the officers with a description of appellant, as well as a description of his car bearing Ohio license plates and the number thereof. Appellant was at the service station when the detectives arrived and, upon seeing their car (which appellant testified he knew to be an unmarked police car), he drove away. The detectives followed in the police car and, upon reaching Fairfields Avenue, overtook appellant’s car and ordered him to pull over which he did. They asked to see appellant’s driver’s license, which was issued in Ohio, and when he complied they asked, according ■ to their testimony (which appellant disputes), his permission to open the trunk of his car and they say he gave them the key and consented to have it searched. There, the officers found a bag containing numerous 10‡ piece coins which, according to appellant, approximated $55.00. When the officers requested appellant to explain how or where he obtained the coins, he said at first that he had saved the money over a period of time but soon afterwards admitted they came from coin machines which had been burglarized. The officers also secured a watch and band from appellant’s wrist and found another wrist watch band and watch case in the glove compartment of his car.

Appellant, in his testimony, denied that he consented to a search of his car and his counsel, at that time, sought to enlarge the scope of the motion to suppress by objecting to the introduction of testimony regarding inculpatory statements and a confession made by appellant which we shall hereinafter discuss in our treatment of Bill No. 1.

After hearing the evidence the trial judge concluded that the recent burglaries of pinball and automatic vending machines in the Baton Rouge area which the officers had under investigation and the information they received from a reliable source (Collin-son, an ex-deputy sheriff known to the officers) to the effect that he had seen defendant and his brother counting a large number of coins; coupled with their knowledge that appellant was an ex-convict using an Ohio licensed car in which he immediately drove off from the service station when they arrived there to interview Collin-son, afforded the officers reasonable [397]*397grounds for believing that appellant was implicated in the crimes and furnished probable cause for his arrest.

We find no error in this ruling. In the recent case of State v. Johnson, 249 La. 950, 192 So.2d 135, it was stated:

“Reasonable belief — or 'probable cause’, as it is termed under the federal standard — to make an arrest without a warrant exists when the facts and circumstances within the arresting officer’s knowledge, and of which he has reasonably trustworthy information, are sufficient in themselves to justify a man of average caution in the belief that a felony has been or is being committed. Draper v. United States, 358 U.S. 307, 79 S.Ct. 329, 3 L.Ed.2d 327 (1959); State v. Green, 244 La. 80, 150 So.2d 571 (1963); State v. Aias, 243 La. 945, 149 So.2d 400 (1963) ; State v. Calascione, 243 La. 993, 149 So.2d 417 (1963).
“Compliance with these standards is, in the first instance, a substantive determination to be made by the trial court from the facts and circumstances of the case. Ker v. State of California, 374 U.S. 23, 83 S.Ct. 1623, 10 L.Ed.2d 726 (1963) ; State v. McIlvaine, 247 La. 747, 174 So.2d 515 (1965).
“And in determining compliance with these standards it is not the proof required for conviction which concerns us. Proof required to satisfy the requirement of reasonable belief or probable cause is less and is what the terms imply: probabilities and practical considerations of everyday life on which reasonable men could reasonably be expected to act. Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 69 S.Ct. 1302, 93 L.Ed. 1879 (1949); State v. Bourg, 248 La. 844, 182 So.2d 510 (1966).”

It appears to us that the facts of this case bring the arrest squarely within the federal standard of probable cause.

In addition, the district court further deduced that the State had shown by clear and convincing evidence that appellant consented to the search and, hence, he had waived his constitutional right to claim that it was unreasonable. In view of our conclusion that the arrest was legal, it is unnecessary for us to rest our decision on appellant’s alleged waiver of constitutional rights.

Bill of Exceptions No. 2 was reserved to the overruling of a motion for a mistrial.

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Bluebook (online)
196 So. 2d 250, 250 La. 391, 1967 La. LEXIS 2678, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ahrens-la-1967.