State v. Coats

797 P.2d 693, 165 Ariz. 154, 54 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 26, 1990 Ariz. App. LEXIS 35
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedFebruary 15, 1990
Docket1 CA-CR 88-834
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 797 P.2d 693 (State v. Coats) 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. Coats, 797 P.2d 693, 165 Ariz. 154, 54 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 26, 1990 Ariz. App. LEXIS 35 (Ark. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

KLEINSCHMIDT, Judge.

The defendant was charged with possession of marijuana for sale. Prior to trial, he moved to suppress evidence seized during a search of his home. After an evidentiary hearing, the motion to suppress was denied. The matter was submitted for trial without a jury on a stipulated record. The trial judge found the defendant guilty as charged with one prior felony conviction. He was sentenced to the presumptive term of seven and one-half years’ imprisonment.

The only issues on appeal deal with the denial of the motion to suppress. The facts that bear on that question are as follows. On December 24, 1987, a woman by the name of Mary Ann Munzinger accompanied her husband to the defendant’s trailer in or near Lakeside. Munzinger’s husband purchased marijuana from the defendant for $30. Munzinger witnessed the transaction and a short time later told police officers about it. On January 2, 1988, based on what she had told him, Pinetop Police Officer Rick Garsha submitted an affidavit for a search warrant to a justice of the peace. The part of that warrant relating to probable cause read as follows:

(X) the crime of poss of Marijuana (is being) committed by Benny Coates in the following manner:
That Benny Coates is in possession of marijuana and said marijuana is presently in the residence of Benny Coates behind the Lone Oaks Trailer Park off Rainbow Lake Drive, Westside Park Subdivision Lakeside, Arizona.
That the affiant has probable cause to believe and he does believe that there is now:
(X) in the possession of Benny Coates.
(X) in and on the premises and building(s) described as Benny Coates residence (trailer) behind Lone Oak Trailer Park West Lake Park Subdivision Navajo County. Approx. 8' X 35' trailer tan in color with brown trim white curtains wood stove, shiny steel stove pipe exiting the roof, all out buildings, lien to’s and sheds and containers outside the residence, as well as vehicles described as follows: metallic green Chev. 4x4 pick up truck, no lie plates visible 1980 blue Chev Camaro, lie # WMJ606AZ and any other vehicle under Benny Coates control at the residence in the County of Navajo including all the curtilage of said premises ____
(X) were used as a means of committing; 13-3405A1 possession of marijuana and 13-3405A2 poss for sale.
(X) is being possessed with the intent to use as a means of committing 13-3405A2 poss of marij for sale and possession of marijuana 13-3405A1.
(X) are in the possession of Benny Coates to whom it was delivered for the purpose of concealing it or preventing it from being discovered.
(X) consists of any item or constitutes any evidence which tends to show that poss of marij for sale and poss of marijuana has been committed, or tends to show that Benny Coates has committed possession for sale and poss of marijuana.
*156 That said person, property or things are described particularly as follows: Marijuana genus cannabis and paraphernalia including, but not limited to pipes for smoking, weighing devices, green and tan flakes, containers of various types commonly used for storage of said marijuana, any articles of personal identification tended to establish residency and control.
That the following facts establish probable cause for believing that grounds for the issuance of a search warrant for the aforementioned items exist: That within the past seventy-two (72) hours, a confidential and reliable informant advised your Affiant that Benny Coates was in possession on the above dates of Marijuana known to your Affiant as Marijuana. That confidential and reliable informant observed these items of contraband with her own eyes, and personal experience. These items of contraband are known to be a useable quantity, for sale of quarter baggies at a time. These items were seen in the residence of Benny Coates known as Benny Coates Res., Lone Oak Trailer Pk Navajo County. Affiant believes the informant to be reliable because, of her personal experience married to a drug user and concern for her husbands well being. That informant knows what Marijuana is as well as other drugs and Narcotics through her husbands abuse and experience. Your affiant believes the information to be reliable because Benny Coates is beleaved by fellow officers to be a drug pusher and from information Affiants confidential and reliable informant has given and her personal knowledge of the defendant. That officers have received information on defendant on prior occations tended to show that Benny Coates does Possess and Poss for sale Marijuana. Informant was present when her husband perchased marijuana from Benny Coates on Dec. 24, 1987 at approx 4:30 p.m. for $30.00 in exchange for a quarter Baggie of Marijuana.

Upon reading the affidavit, the justice of the peace recognized the unnamed informant as Mary Ann Munzinger, with whom, not long prior, he had a long conversation about charges filed against her husband. These charges had grown out of a domestic dispute which in turn apparently stemmed from Mrs. Munzinger having told the police about the defendant’s sales of drugs.

The justice of the peace, relying on the affidavit and what he had learned from talking to Mrs. Munzinger, signed the search warrant. Later that day, police officers entered the defendant’s trailer pursuant to the search warrant and seized over four pounds of marijuana, numerous firearms, and other items.

Defense counsel, in his motion to suppress, pointed to three specific problems: (1) the warrant incorrectly identified the defendant’s address, (2) the warrant contained insufficient indicia of the informant’s reliability, and (3) the warrant was based upon stale information. After an evidentiary hearing, the trial judge found that the affidavit in support of the warrant was not fatally defective because of the mistaken address. He also found that it contained sufficient information to justify issuance of the warrant save for the fact that the information was stale. He went on to rule, however, that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule, which is derived from A.R.S. section 13-3925 and United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984), applied. He therefore denied the motion to suppress.

We should say at the outset what we are not called upon to decide. We do not consider whether the affidavit in support of the search warrant was in fact sufficient. The state apparently acquiesces in the trial judge’s finding that the information contained in the warrant was stale. Nor do we need to decide the effect of the justice of the peace’s consideration of unsworn information. See State v. Smith, 112 Ariz. 531, 544 P.2d 213 (1975) (all information imparted to a magistrate in support of a search warrant must be under oath). We assume that the affidavit was insufficient and that the warrant was therefore invalid. The issues devolve into whether the Arizona law which recognizes a good-faith ex *157

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
797 P.2d 693, 165 Ariz. 154, 54 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 26, 1990 Ariz. App. LEXIS 35, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-coats-arizctapp-1990.