State v. Cheatam

112 Wash. App. 778
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedAugust 2, 2002
DocketNo. 26695-4-II
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 112 Wash. App. 778 (State v. Cheatam) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Cheatam, 112 Wash. App. 778 (Wash. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

Bridgewater, J.

Jerry Dawayne Cheatam appeals his first degree rape with a deadly weapon jury conviction. We affirm.

On the early morning of January 5,1996, a rapist, with a knife in hand, grabbed 16-year-old M.M. by the neck from behind while she was walking to a bus stop. The rapist told M.M. not to scream and led her to a nearby ditch in a backyard to rape her. According to M.M, the rapist, whom she later identified as Cheatam, instructed her to lie down and take her pants off. M.M. told Cheatam that she was menstruating, thinking this would dissuade him. It did not. [781]*781M.M. asked Cheatam if he wanted her to remove her tampon. Cheatam said yes and M.M. did so. Cheatam continued to hold M.M. by the neck and let go for only a brief moment to pass the knife from one hand to the other. M.M. remained calm while Cheatam put M.M.’s legs over his head. When M.M. heard what sounded like paper ripping, she looked at Cheatam’s face for about five seconds, with the purpose of remembering it. When Cheatam finished raping M.M., she pulled her pants up. Cheatam then put his arm around M.M’s shoulder and walked her back to the bus stop. He told M.M. that if she told anyone, he would hurt her. After Cheatam ran away, M.M. ran home.

A physical examination of M.M. produced no additional evidence of the rape; Cheatam used a condom. M.M.’s description to a sketch artist, however, produced a strikingly accurate composite drawing of Cheatam, and M.M. was later able to identify Cheatam in a photo montage and at trial. M.M. testified that, when she selected Cheatam in a photo montage, she carefully looked at all the photos, narrowed her selection to two people, and then with certainty picked Cheatam. At trial, the victim described Cheatam as wearing a dark navy blue hooded sweatshirt, about 5’6” to 5’7” in height, medium to thin build, with short hair.

A jury convicted Cheatam of first degree rape with a deadly weapon.1

I. Motion to suppress

Cheatam contends that under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, section 7, of the state constitution, the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his shoes. He argues that although police had a search warrant for his home and could have legally seized, after he was arrested and booked, the shoes [782]*782he was wearing, the police could not go to the jail’s inmate property room four days later and seize his shoes. Cheatam specifically argues that the search warrant did not extend to his personal property held in the jail’s inmate property room and that, similar to an impounded vehicle, he had a legitimate expectation of privacy in his personal property placed in the inmate property room.

When reviewing a suppression motion, we determine whether substantial evidence supports the trial court’s findings and whether those findings support its conclusions of law. State v. Hagen, 55 Wn. App. 494, 498, 781 P.2d 892 (1989). Cheatam does not assign error to the court’s findings of fact; thus, they are considered verities on appeal. State v. Hill, 123 Wn.2d 641, 644, 870 P.2d 313 (1994). We review conclusions of law de novo. State v. Johnson, 128 Wn.2d 431, 443, 909 P.2d 293 (1996).

The parties stipulated that on June 6, 1996, the police obtained a telephonic search warrant for Cheatam’s home. Cheatam was at his home during the search and before police transported him to the jail, he put on a pair of shoes. Although Cheatam was not charged with M.M.’s rape, Detective Loren Page interviewed Cheatam at the jail regarding M.M.’s rape. When Cheatam was booked, corrections personnel inventoried his personal effects and stored them in their inmate property room.

On June 7, 1996, the telephonic search warrant was reduced to writing. It also was expanded to include specific items, including an unknown shoe matching a photograph in evidence, and various items from other crimes.2 While police seized a pair of shoes from Cheatam’s home, those shoes did not match the photograph of the shoe imprint left on the hillside of the ditch in M.M.’s case. Detective Page later learned that another pair of Cheatam’s shoes, the pair he wore during booking, was in the inmate property room. The parties agree that the bag used to hold Cheatam’s personal property was not secured and that corrections [783]*783staff had access to it. Four days after the search warrant was issued, June 10, 1996, Detective Page went to the inmate property room and seized Cheatam’s shoes. Detective Page determined, and the forensic department confirmed, that Cheatam’s shoes’ tread pattern was similar to that in the photograph.

At the suppression hearing, Vince Conner, a corrections officer, testified regarding booking procedures and inmate property. Conner described the property bag as a canvas bag with a hanger on top and a zipper. According to Conner, the property room did not have a lock, and corrections staff could access and inspect an inmate’s property at any time and without an inmate’s consent. The inmate, however, needed to request access to his property, which the jail, within its discretion, could deny.

Conner also testified that the purpose of the property card that is filled out at the time of booking is to keep track of inmate property in its custody. The parties agree that at the time of booking, Cheatam did not have a legitimate expectation of privacy in the shoes he wore. Cheatam argues, however, that the police lost their opportunity to obtain his shoes without a search warrant as soon as the shoes were placed in the inmate property room and not the evidence room. The State argues, on the other hand, that the search warrant for Cheatam’s home included an unknown shoe that matched the shoe print left at the crime scene in M.M.’s case, that the warrant extended to the shoes he wore at booking, and that Cheatam had no legitimate expectation of privacy in those shoes.

a. scope of search warrant

With regard to Cheatam’s first argument, that the search warrant did not extend to his property in the inmate property room, he is correct. Pursuant to the Fourth Amendment, an officer must execute a search warrant strictly within the bounds set by the warrant. State v. Kelley, 52 Wn. App. 581, 585, 762 P.2d 20 (1988). Whether a search exceeds the scope of a warrant depends on a commonsense reading of the warrant. State v. Anderson, 41 [784]*784Wn. App. 85, 96, 702 P.2d 481 (1985), rev’d on other grounds, 107 Wn.2d 745, 733 P.2d 517 (1987).

The written search warrant here specifically included the incident number for M.M.’s rape case and indicated that police were looking for a shoe matching a photograph of a shoeprint left at the crime scene. Although the shoe was at Cheatam’s home at the time the police executed the search warrant, the police never seized the shoes. Nor did police seize the shoes when Cheatam was booked.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State Of Washington v. Reece William Bowman
472 P.3d 332 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2020)
State v. Scherf
429 P.3d 776 (Washington Supreme Court, 2018)
State Of Washington, V Curtis W. Horton
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2016
State v. Cheatam
81 P.3d 830 (Washington Supreme Court, 2003)
Cordell v. Weber
2003 SD 143 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2003)
Wallace v. State
816 A.2d 883 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2003)
State v. Cheatam
51 P.3d 138 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
112 Wash. App. 778, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cheatam-washctapp-2002.