State v. Bridges

468 P.2d 604, 12 Ariz. App. 153, 1970 Ariz. App. LEXIS 595
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedApril 30, 1970
Docket1 CA-CR 190
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 468 P.2d 604 (State v. Bridges) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Bridges, 468 P.2d 604, 12 Ariz. App. 153, 1970 Ariz. App. LEXIS 595 (Ark. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

STEVENS, Acting Presiding Judge.

The basic issue before this Court is-whether Charles Eddie Bridges, herein referred to as the defendant, entered his plea of guilty voluntarily with an understanding of the nature of the charge and the consequences of the plea. Further questions are presented as to whether the defendant pled to an offense which had not been committed and whether the defendant was properly represented before the trial court at the time of plea and at the time of sentence. In addition to the brief filed by counsel, the defendant filed a brief in the Court of Appeals. The defendant had received some college education.

*155 In May 1968 the defendant was serving a sentence in the Yuma County Jail, he Raving theretofore pled guilty to misdemeanors. At that time Eugene Alvarez was a Deputy Sheriff. Alvarez’s duties included feeding the inmates of the jail. The defendant worked with him, helping in the feeding of the inmates, and in this responsibility enjoyed the status of being a “trusty.” The defendant escaped from jail ■on the 15th of May. He came to the attention of the Yuma County Sheriff’s Department at about 10:20 P.M. on the evening of 16 May. Two deputies discovered bim in the yard of the Bingham Equipment Company. We are not informed as to the liour that the last employee of Bingham Equipment left the premises, so the record is silent as to whether the last employee left in the daytime or in the nighttime.

The report which was written by one of the deputies states, in part:

“ * * * as I passed the victims place of business I saw the suspect at left in the yard at the rear of the building. I returned to the building and noticed a •vehicle parked next to the north side of the building and that the large front gate was open. I thought it may be one of the employees working late so decided to •check him out. I pulled into the yard past the gate and we both got out. We •did not see the susp. so I walked around to the rear of the building * * * As I rounded the corner of the building at ■the rear I noticed the suspect walking rapidly toward the fence at the east end •of the property. I ran up until I was directly behind him and he ducked behind two large tractor tires stacked by the fence. I told him to come out and he ■complied I ask him his name and he gave me the name of LANE I ask him what he was doing there and he stated he was working there. We went back to the patrol car and noticed his hand was bleeding. I looked around and saw the glass in the foremans office had been broken. I then placed the suspect under arrest informed him of his rights and placed him in the back of my patrol car.
“We then checked out the area and found a large wrench lying outside the bathroom on the floor. Stanley (the other deputy) who was standing by the car watching the suspect saw him drop some keys on the floor of the car. I then ask the suspect to get out of the vehicle and then saw two keys lying on the floor. One key was to the gas pump of the victims business and the other key was to the Ramada Inn room #208. * * * We then found the lock to the large gate lying on the ground. The suspect vehicle was still running. A later check showed this vehicle belong to the victim #2 (Mike Avsharian) it had been stolen from his place of business (the hour is not stated) We then found that the large plate glass window in the front of the building was also broken out. The mgr. was called * * * The mgg. (sic) checked out the cash boxes in the office and found nothing to be miss- %
“Further investigation showed that the suspect gained first entry into the yard by prying off the screen of the bathroom window at the north side of the building. A trace of dirt was on the stool where he stepped down and a paper holder was torn off the wall. He then went to the tool shed and there he picked the large 1 and 46 Proto wrench off the wall from where it was hanging along with several wrenches of the same style but different sizes evidently with the intention of prying the lock off the gate, however he layed the wrench down and broke out the glass in the door of the foremans office and there he pulled some books out of the top left drawer and threw them on the desk, he then found the (nine) keys and went out and opened the gate. He then evidently went to the front of the building and broke out the front window to gain entrance into the main building. A lug wrench was found in the front seat of the suspects car which was probably used to break this glass as it is very heavy plate glass. The suspect foot *156 prints were in front of window and a photo was taken. He then probably went around to the south side and opened the small gate as that lock was also removed and lying on the ground. He then went into the repair yard where writer then saw him. A search of the area to find the 9-Keys was made but they were not found until. the suspect was brought to the jail and then they were found stuffed under the back seat of the patrol car.
“The suspect man had been drinking as I smelled liquor on his breath but he was very steady on his feet and his speech was distinct and in writers opinion was not in any way drunk. * * *
“Writer then took subject to the jail and booked him for burglary. * * *
“ * * * A charge of GTA (grand theft, auto) is pending at this time. Susp. checked in at the Ramada at 1:39 PM on 5/16/68 under the name of LANE address 1717 10th St., Yuma Veh. Lie. PVA667 Cal. * *

On 17 May a complaint was filed in the Justice Court charging the defendant with the crime of burglary. This was an “open end” charge, that is, the charge did not charge or specify either burglary in the first degree or burglary in the second degree. The defendant being without funds, the Justice of the Peace contacted a Judge of the Superior Court who designated an attorney to represent the defendant. We will refer to this attorney as attorney number one. The preliminary hearing was held on 23 May, the defendant being present and represented by attorney number one. The defendant was bound over to the Superior Court. There was no reporter’s transcript of the preliminary hearing.

On 24 May an information was filed in the Superior Court charging the defendant with the crime of burglary, again an open end charge. On 28 May, when the matter came on for arraignment, attorney number one was permitted to withdraw for the reason that he planned to leave Arizona to practice elsewhere. He left shortly thereafter. On 28 May the trial court emphasized the seriousness of the crime, explaining the differences in the length of time of imprisonment upon conviction of either daytime or nighttime burglary. The defendant was told of the other consequences upon conviction of a felony and apprised of his right to counsel. The defendant expressed his desire to be represented by court appointed counsel, and attorney number two was appointed. The arraignment was continued to a later date.

On 4 June the arraignment was conducted and the defendant entered a plea of not guilty. The trial was set for 28 June. Prior to the fixing of the date for the trial, a suggestion was entered in the record by attorney number two that he needed some time to secure out-of-state-records to see whether he would ask for a Criminal Rule 250, 17 A.R.S., hearing..

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Bluebook (online)
468 P.2d 604, 12 Ariz. App. 153, 1970 Ariz. App. LEXIS 595, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bridges-arizctapp-1970.