State v. Cunningham

838 S.W.2d 472, 1992 Mo. App. LEXIS 1425, 1992 WL 208597
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 1, 1992
DocketNo. WD 45585
StatusPublished

This text of 838 S.W.2d 472 (State v. Cunningham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Cunningham, 838 S.W.2d 472, 1992 Mo. App. LEXIS 1425, 1992 WL 208597 (Mo. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

BERREY, Judge.

Defendant, appellant herein, was convicted in a court-tried case of Involuntary Manslaughter: Driving While Intoxicated, a Class “C” Felony. He was sentenced to seven years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. It is from this conviction and sentence appellant appeals.

On February 21, 1991, appellant was operating a blue Ford pickup eastbound on 24 Highway in Independence, Missouri. Witness William B. Burcham was operating his florist delivery truck at the same time and place and in the same direction as appellant. Burcham was on the inside lane of 24 Highway with appellant on his right. Burcham and appellant stopped for a red light at the intersection of 24 Highway and Susquena. When the light changed, both drivers proceeded east on 24 Highway. Burcham testified he was driving forty-five miles per hour, the posted speed limit at this location, and estimated the speed of the blue pickup at fifty miles per hour. At one point, when Burcham thought the pickup was too close to get in front of him, the pickup crossed part way into Burcham’s lane and then returned to the outside lane.

Burcham testified that the next light, at the intersection of Jackson and 24 Highway, was red as he and appellant “topped the hill.” Burcham began to slow his vehicle but “the blue truck just kept on going.” The pickup struck “full speed” the rear of the car stopped for the light on 24 Highway at Jackson. Burcham testified that he could see the rear of the pickup and [473]*473its brake lights never came on. Burcham had seen the back of the pickup driver’s head and could not identify him but could tell that he was á middle-aged man with greying hair.

The parties stipulated that the victim, Earl L. Roberts, died as a result of the injuries he received in the accident, to wit: transection of the thoracic aorta, fractures of the thoracic spine and ribs, bilateral hemothoracises and contusions of the lungs and heart.

The accident occurred about 2:05 p.m. on a dry clear day in February when the temperature was about sixty degrees. Douglas Poole, police officer for Independence, Missouri, investigated the accident and testified there was extensive damage to the rear of the 1986 Chevrolet Celebrity and to the front of the pickup. His investigation revealed nine feet of skid marks leading up to the accident.

Poole testified that it took emergency personnel about twenty minutes to extricate appellant from the pickup and that he did not talk to appellant at the scene. Poole took several photographs of appellant after he was removed from his vehicle while he was being treated by the paramedics. Poole also took a photograph of the interior of the pickup cab, which showed the cab contained “trash, paperworks, a plastic caulking device and cement glue, beer cans.”

Following his extrication from the pickup, appellant was transported by ambulance to Liberty Hospital, Liberty, Missouri. After Poole completed his investigation, he proceeded to Liberty Hospital and talked to appellant at about 3:40 p.m. This was the first conversation Poole had with appellant. Poole noted a “strong odor of alcohol” on appellant’s breath and that appellant’s speech was slurred. Appellant refused Poole’s request to allow a blood sample to be drawn for determining its alcohol content.

Poole went to the Clay County prosecutor’s office and received assistance in preparing an application and affidavit for a search warrant, which Poole executed. The application and affidavit were present ed to Judge Bills of the Circuit Court of Clay County, and he issued the search warrant to obtain a sample of appellant’s blood.

On appeal, appellant raises two points of error: (1) the trial court erred in failing to sustain defendant’s motion to suppress the search warrant because the affidavit is insufficient and fails to establish probable cause to issue the search warrant, and (2) the trial court erred in failing to sustain defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal, the evidence being insufficient to sustain conviction.

Officer Poole’s affidavit contains information that appellant operated a vehicle that struck the rear of another vehicle with sufficient force to cause fatal injuries to the driver and that one hour and forty-five minutes later, when appellant was in an x-ray room at Liberty Hospital, the officer smelled a strong odor of alcoholic beverage on appellant’s breath.

Both appellant and respondent cite Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983), as authority for their respective positions. In Gates the Supreme Court set forth a new yardstick for measuring probable cause referred to as the “totality of the circumstances.” In the instant case, the issuing judge knew there had been a rear-end collision with such force that the driver of the rear-ended car was killed and that one hour and forty-five minutes later, the driver of the pickup that rear-ended the car had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. From the totality of these circumstances it is possible for the judge to determine probable cause existed for issuing the search warrant to draw appellant’s blood.

Appellant orally argued to this court that the affidavit stated appellant was in police custody when he was not. This misstatement by the prosecuting attorney and Poole is de minimis and, in any event, no reference to this claim is contained in appellant’s brief. We, therefore, will not address this issue further. Rule 84.04.

Appellant claims the search warrant itself is defective because the form warrant the judge signed alleged the blood was “unlawfully stolen.” The failure to strike [474]*474the alleged offending language, “unlawfully stolen,” does not render the search warrant invalid. It does point out the importance of the issuing judge scrutinizing the language in every warrant he issues.

The appellant cites State v. Phillips, 532 S.W.2d 533 (Mo.App.1976), as being supportive of his position. The Phillips court quotes the United States Supreme Court as stating, “affidavits for search warrants ... must be tested and interpreted by magistrates and courts in a commonsense and realistic fashion_ Technical requirements of elaborate specificity once exacted under common law pleadings have no proper place in this area.” Id. at 535 (quoting United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 108, 85 S.Ct. 741, 746, 13 L.Ed.2d 684 (1965)). Police officers are encouraged to obtain search warrants and affidavits should be interpreted in a common sense manner. State v. Dobbs, 827 S.W.2d 724 (Mo.App.1992).

The affidavit, when read in its entirety and comprehended, is not “bare-bones” as appellant alleges. The issuing magistrate used common sense in interpreting the information he had before him and executing this search warrant; i.e., a rear-end collision of such force one party was killed, strong odor of alcohol on other driver’s breath one hour and forty-five minutes later, and that driver receiving medical care at the local hospital.

Appellant also relies on State v. Hammett, 784 S.W.2d 293 (Mo.App.1989). Again, his reliance is misplaced. In Hammett,

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Related

United States v. Ventresca
380 U.S. 102 (Supreme Court, 1965)
Illinois v. Gates
462 U.S. 213 (Supreme Court, 1983)
State v. Hammett
784 S.W.2d 293 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1989)
State v. Phillips
532 S.W.2d 533 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1976)
State v. Dodson
496 S.W.2d 272 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1973)
State v. Davison
668 S.W.2d 252 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1984)
State v. Lewis
735 S.W.2d 183 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1987)
State v. McKenzie
216 N.W. 29 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1927)
State v. Liechti
229 N.W. 743 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1930)
State v. Kusch
712 S.W.2d 457 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1986)
State v. Waelterman
733 S.W.2d 497 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1987)
State v. Dobbs
827 S.W.2d 724 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1992)

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Bluebook (online)
838 S.W.2d 472, 1992 Mo. App. LEXIS 1425, 1992 WL 208597, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cunningham-moctapp-1992.