State v. Allen

434 P.2d 740, 248 Or. 376, 1967 Ore. LEXIS 423
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 6, 1967
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 434 P.2d 740 (State v. Allen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Allen, 434 P.2d 740, 248 Or. 376, 1967 Ore. LEXIS 423 (Or. 1967).

Opinions

McAllister, J.

This is the second appeal of this case. The defendant Jack R. Allen, was convicted of burglary in .Jackson county on July 29, 1963, and appealed to this court. The conviction was set aside and the case remanded for a new trial. State v. Allen, 239 Or 524, 398 P2d 477 (1965). Allen was again convicted, and now appeals from his sentence of eight years imprisonment in the penitentiary. His brief contains numerous assignments of error, most of which involve the admissibility of the same written confession involved in the prior appeal.

Unlike the prior appeal, there is surprisingly little dispute about the controlling facts. On Sunday morning, March 24, 1963, at about 9:00 o’clock, Allen was driving south on Interstate 5 immediately north of Grants Pass. Allen’s wife, Rosemary, and his brother-in-law, Melvin Snodgrass, were riding with defendant. The car was stopped by Officer Birge of the Oregon State Police, who was acting in response to a teletype advising that Allen was wanted by authorities in Med-ford, and that his vehicle “was wanted in connection with burglaries,” both in Jackson county and in Washington. The officer asked Allen for his driver’s license [378]*378and Allen produced a Washington operator’s license. In compliance with the request of the officer, Allén opened'the trunk of the car and the officer saw therein a small sledge hammer, a Polaroid camera, and some rolls of coins in the camera case. The officer then talked further with Allen about his driver’s license and learned that Allen had been living in the Ashland area and had been employed by Bear Creek Orchards for over a month. The officer then told Allen he was under arrest “for not having an Oregon operator’s license.” The officer testified that with their consent he then gave both Allen and Snodgrass a “pat-down” search.-

In the meantime, State Police Officer Schneider, who had been summoned by radio, arrived on the scene. Officer Birge then asked Rosemary Allen and Snodgrass “if they would mind” going to the G-rants Pass office of the Oregon State Police, because “we wanted to talk with them some more so we could straighten this out.” The group then proceeded to the state police office, which was nearby. Allen, who was under arrest, rode with Officer Birge, Rosemary Allen rode with Officer Schneider, and Snodgrass drove Allen’s car. Officer Birge at the office got from Allen further information needed to fill out a complaint “for no -operator’s license” and talked to Allen about “the camera that was in his trunk.” After talking for a while Allen said he would like to see an attorney and according to the officer, “we stopped right there.” A telephone call was placed to the justice of the peace at G-rants Pass, who fixed Allen’s bail on the traffic charge at $100. Allen was taken to the Josephine county jail at 10:10 a.m., about an hour after he was stopped on the highway.

There is a conflict in the testimony as to whether [379]*379defendant tried to post bail on tlie traffic charge. The officers testified that defendant made no attempt to post bail whatever and that they were not authorized to accept bail. Defendant testified that when informed that his bail had been set at $100, he asked his wife to give the officers $100 from funds in her possession, but the officers refused to let her post bail and hustled him off to jail. It does appear that about $300 in Mrs. Allen’s possession, much of it in coins and small bills, was held as evidence.

The next morning, Monday, March 25, Allen was interviewed in the jail by Sherman Smith, a Grants Pass attorney, and the two conferred again in a corridor of the courthouse immediately adjacent to the courtroom of the justice of the peace. ALlén did not appear before the judge, but a plea of not guilty to the traffic charge was entered on his behalf by his attorney. Smith was retained to represent Allen on the traffic charge, but according to Smith, during his interview with Allen “there was mention made of a felony warrant pending in Jackson county.” After his visit to the courthouse Allen was returned to the jail and remained there until he was picked up late Monday afternoon by a deputy sheriff from Jackson county.

In the meantime, on Sunday, March 24, both Rosemary Allen and Snodgrass had been picked up at the state police office in Grants Pass and taken to Medford by officers from Jackson county. The record concerning these two is incomplete, but it appears that on Monday, March 25, Mrs. Allen was being held in the Jackson county jail on a charge of receiving and concealing stolen property. It also appears that on March 25, Snodgrass was being held in the Jackson county jail on a charge of burglary not in a dwelling, [380]*380committed by breaking and entering tbe office of the Jeddeloh Bros. Sweed Mill, Inc., in Gold Hill. It further appears that, on either Sunday or Monday, Snodgrass had confessed to the crime -and implicated defendant Allen therein.

During the afternoon of Monday, March 25, a warrant for Allen’s arrest was issued by the district court for Jackson county. The warrant was based on a complaint charging Allen with the burglary of the Jeddeloh office. A deputy sheriff from Jackson county took Allen from the jail in Grants Pass at 5:35 p.m., and brought him to the jail in the Jackson county courthouse at Medford.

Deputy Sheriff Bjorensen was at the Jackson county jail when Allen arrived and took Allen to an interrogation room and talked to him. The officer testified that he informed Allen that he had a right to counsel, that he did not have to say anything, and that anything he said could be used against him.- Allen was reluctant to talk, and the officer told Allen that Snodgrass had given a -statement. Allen -asked to talk to Snodgrass -and Snodgrass was brought to the room. Allen asked .Snodgrass whether he had given a statement and received an affirmative reply. Allen then gave a statement to Deputy Sheriffs Bjorensen and DeBerry, -admitting his ' complicity in the Jeddeloh burglary, as well as numerous other burglaries, including one in Baker county involved in State v. Allen, 241 Or 95, 404 P2d 207 (1965). Defendant’s interrogation and the preparation and signing of his statement were concluded in about an hour and a half. Defendant was taken before a magistrate in the district court for Jackson county on Tuesday morning, March 26, 1963.

There is a conflict in the evidence concerning -alleged coercion of Allen during his interrogation in the [381]*381Jackson county jail. According to defendant the officers promised to release his wife if he confessed and threatened that he would be prosecuted for numerous burglaries if he did not. Defendant’s charges of coercion were denied by the officers.

Allen testified at the in camera hearing on the voluntariness of his confession. His testimony was contradictory and equivocal, but in part directly corroborated the testimony of Officer Bjorensen that Allen had been informed of his constitutional rights. Allen testified in part as follows:

- “Q. Now, Mr. Allen, when you were up in the Jackson County Jail talking to these officers — I mean Officer Bjorensen and Dean DeBerry— you knew that you didn’t have to talk to them unless you wanted to, did you?
“A. Yes.
* * # S&
“Q. Right. And you say that you asked about an attorney as soon as you went into the interrogation room?
“A.

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578 P.2d 790 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1978)
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Jack R. Allen v. Hoyt C. Cupp, Warden
426 F.2d 756 (Ninth Circuit, 1970)
State v. Evans
468 P.2d 657 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1970)
North v. Cupp
461 P.2d 271 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1969)
Haynes v. Cupp
456 P.2d 490 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1969)
State v. Thompson
452 P.2d 754 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1969)
Allen v. Cupp
298 F. Supp. 432 (D. Oregon, 1969)
State v. Earp
440 P.2d 214 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1968)
State v. Jones
435 P.2d 317 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1967)
State v. Allen
434 P.2d 740 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1967)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
434 P.2d 740, 248 Or. 376, 1967 Ore. LEXIS 423, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-allen-or-1967.