State v. Darrington

896 S.W.2d 727, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 781, 1995 WL 237062
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 25, 1995
DocketNos. WD 47280, WD 49565
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 896 S.W.2d 727 (State v. Darrington) 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. Darrington, 896 S.W.2d 727, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 781, 1995 WL 237062 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

LAURA DENVIR STITH, Judge.

Frederick Darrington was convicted of unlawful use of a weapon pursuant to section 571.030.1(1), RSMo 1986, for allegedly concealing a pistol. He appeals his conviction on two grounds: (1) that weapons, clips and ammunition found in the search of the automobile in which he was riding at the time of his arrest should have been suppressed because the search was unconstitutionally broad, and (2) that his trial counsel was ineffective in not procuring and offering into evidence allegedly corroborative testimony of a co-defendant given in a prior Alford plea hearing.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND,

On December 18, 1991, police officers Pel-ter and Hamilton stopped a white Cadillac after they had observed the ear driving on the wrong side of the road at a fairly rapid rate. Once the vehicle was stopped, Officer Pelter saw the passenger in the front seat lean back and then lean forward as if he were hiding something under the front passenger seat. Officer Pelter then observed the driver hand the passenger something and again the passenger leaned forward as if putting something underneath the passenger seat.

The officers approached the vehicle and asked both the driver and passenger for identification. The driver, later identified as Mr. Darrington, did not have a driver’s license. Officer Pelter arrested him for driving without a license and driving on the wrong side of the road. The passenger in the ear, David Murray, also did not have a driver’s license.

After running a computer cheek on the car’s license plate number, Officer Pelter learned that the car belonged to a third party, Ola Norton. Accordingly, he ordered that the car be towed. Prior to towing the car, the officer conducted an inventory search of the car which revealed a .41 caliber handgun, a .9mm semi-automatic pistol, and two clips as well as ammunition for each weapon under the right front passenger seat.

Mr. Darrington and Mr. Murray were then both placed under arrest for carrying concealed weapons. After being advised of their Miranda rights, Mr. Darrington purportedly [729]*729admitted that the ,9mm pistol was his and Mr. Murray admitted that the .41 caliber handgun belonged to him. Mr. Darrington and Mr. Murray were transported to the police department where they were each booked on charges of carrying a concealed weapon.

Prior to trial, Mr. Darrington filed a motion to suppress physical evidence found during the search of the car he was driving and the alleged statement he made admitting his ownership of the pistol. The motion was denied.

Defense counsel subpoenaed Mr. Murray to testify at trial. When Mr. Murray failed to appear, defense counsel filed a writ of attachment against him to secure his presence. However, he was not found and did not testify. The defendant did testify, however. He said that the weapons did not belong to him and denied that he had admitted to the officer at the time of his arrest that he owned the pistol. Defendant was found guilty and sentenced to one-year of imprisonment.

Appointed counsel filed an amended Rule 29.15 motion for postconviction relief alleging that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to obtain and offer prior court testimony given by Mr. Murray at his Alford plea hearing. At an evidentiary hearing held on the amended Rule 29.15 motion, trial counsel testified that, had he known that Mr. Murray would not testify live at trial, he would have wanted to admit Mr. Murray’s prior testimony if that testimony could have corroborated Mr. Darrington’s trial testimony. However, trial counsel had no reason to believe, prior to trial, that Mr. Murray would ignore the subpoena and fail to appear five at the trial. Based on this evidence, the motion court issued findings of fact and conclusions of law in which he found counsel was not ineffective and denied the motion for post-conviction relief.

II. DEFENDANT’S CLAIM THAT THE SEARCH OF THE AUTOMOBILE INCIDENT TO ARREST WAS TOO BROAD IS MERITLESS AND HE IS WITHOUT STANDING TO ASSERT IT.

Mr. Darrington attacks the constitutionality of the search of the car he was driving at the time of his arrest, arguing that a search incident to arrest should be limited to the area within the arrestee’s immediate control. He also claims that the inventory search made of the car subsequent to his arrest was unreasonable because it was not conducted in accordance with established police department policy. He argues that the handguns, clips and ammunition discovered during the search of the car therefore should have been suppressed. Mr. Darrington also contends that his purported statement to Officer Pelter admitting ownership of the handguns should have been suppressed as impermissible fruit of the unlawful search.

Mr. Darrington admits that the United States Supreme Court held in New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981), that the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution does not limit the right of an officer, incident to an arrest, to search an area of the car beyond the control of the arrestee. However, he argues that Article I, Section 15 of the Missouri Constitution is broader than the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and that it does prohibit a search of areas not within the control of the arrestee at the time of the arrest.

As defense counsel also notes in her brief, however, the Missouri Supreme Court clearly held in State v. Harvey, 648 S.W.2d 87, 89-90 (Mo. banc 1983), that where an officer has made a lawful arrest, he may, incident to the arrest, make a contemporaneous search of the passenger compartment. The Court rejected the view, set out in the dissenting opinion of Judge Seiler, that the Missouri Constitution should be construed more broadly, so as to prohibit a search beyond the area within the control of the arrestee. Id. While defense counsel suggests that this Court should follow Judge Seiler’s dissenting opinion, we are bound to follow the rule set by the majority in Harvey. Chambers v. Figgie Int’l, Inc., 838 S.W.2d 168, 171 (Mo. App.1992).

Even were Mr. Darrington’s argument concerning the scope of the search valid, [730]*730however, we could not hold the trial court erred in admitting the weapons, ammunition and clips found in the search of the automobile. This is because Mr. Darrington lacks standing to attack that search.

Mr. Darrington admits he does not own the car in which the weapons were found, but claims that he has automatic standing to attack the search because he was charged with an offense that includes, as an essential element, possession of the seized weapons. In support, he cites State v. Melville, 864 S.W.2d 452, 454 (Mo.App.1993), and State v. Lorenzo, 743 S.W.2d 529, 531 (Mo.App.1987).

However, the automatic standing previously afforded to those charged with possessory offenses to challenge the constitutionality of a search and seizure has been abrogated. See United States v. Salvucci,

Related

State v. Sullivan
935 S.W.2d 747 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1996)

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896 S.W.2d 727, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 781, 1995 WL 237062, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-darrington-moctapp-1995.