State v. Dess

462 P.2d 186, 154 Mont. 231, 1969 Mont. LEXIS 367
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 1, 1969
Docket11629
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 462 P.2d 186 (State v. Dess) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Dess, 462 P.2d 186, 154 Mont. 231, 1969 Mont. LEXIS 367 (Mo. 1969).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE CASTLES

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

Timothy E. Dess, appellant herein, was charged and convicted of burglary in the first degree by a jury. Trial was had in the district court. From the jury verdict and judicial sentence of ten years, the appellant seeks review of the following *233 issues: (1) Whether the court erred in denying the motion to suppress the evidence; (2) Whether the court erred in submitting the case to the jury and in denying appellant’s motion for a directed verdict of acquittal; (3) Whether the court erred in admitting the testimony of Mike Trine; (4) Whether the court erred in admitting State’s exhibits Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, and 9; and (5) Whether the court erred in submitting certain instructions to the jury.

The Rainbow Grocery in Great Falls, Montana was broken into sometime after 9:30 p. m. on May 15, 1968. The owner of the store, Albert Rusch, testified that cigarettes, money, bologna, TY dinners, eggs and chickens were stolen. Four people were charged with the burglary — appellant, Michael Szetala, William Sommers, arid Mike Trine. Mike Trine was a 16 year old lad. He voluntarily came to the police and gave details of the burglary, its participants, and a drinking party. Appellant was arrested on a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Trine told the police where he had buried his share of the money taken in the burglary. It was dug up by the police. Trine was handled as a juvenile. He was 17 years of age at the time of trial.

William Sommers plead guilty to the crime of burglary and received a 5 year sentence. William Sommers lived at 4500 — 7th Avenue North. The disposition of the case against Michael Szetala is not shown in the record.

Following the arrest of Tim Dess, appellant here, on the charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor on May 17, 1968, police officers went to the home of appellant’s mother located at 4500 — 7th Avenue North, to see if they could search the premises. Appellant’s mother was not at home and a Mr. Kinder allowed the officers to search the refrigerator only. The officers discovered chicken parts in the refrigerator and also observed several TY dinners on the kitchen table. As to the premises at 4500 — 7th Avenue North, the officers apparently believed at *234 that time that it was the residence of Tim Dess. Tim Dess had supplied the officers with that information. Subsequently it developed that Tim Dess had not resided in his mother’s home since 1959; he actually lived with a married sister at 910 — 6th Street South. Mr. Kinder was a resident of some sort at 4500— 7th Avenue North. This address is somewhat off by itself and had outbuildings, a wood pile, an old well, and a garbage area.

One of the officers, Glenn W. Chapman, remained to watch the premises from' a distance and testified he saw Mr. Kinder running from the house on two occasions carrying something. He radioed headquarters for a search warrant and was notified that Dess, who was being held at the jail, had phoned Kinder and told him it was all right to let the police search the premises. The officers upon searching the house and surrounding area found money, cigarettes, bologna, eggs, lunehmeat, TV dinners and frozen chickens. The various items found were concealed in highly unusual places. For example, money in the form of coins was in old socks in a bucket hung down an old well; a large bologna sausage hidden behind some trash in a shed; a box of food hidden among the garbage. All of these areas were in the vicinity where the surveillant officer observed Kinder running ; with packages. Kinder was arrested on the premises for receiving stolen property.

Mike Trine testified that he was involved in the burglary with the appellant. Trine stated he and the other three, including appellant, left a beer drinking party that evening about 11:00 p.m. They visited several bars before driving to the Rainbow Grocery in a car which fitted the description of appellant’s car. He saw Dess and the others enter the store and return carrying things in their arms, while he acted as a lookout. He testified that articles were taken to a house on 7th Avenue North past 42nd Street, that he helped carry things into the house, and later they all returned to the grocery a second time.

The owner of the store testified that late in the afternoon of May 15, appellant came into his store and wanted some gro *235 ceries. He did not have money. He even wanted to sell the owner his car but the offer was declined. The owner finally allowed appellant to have about $1.50 worth of lunch meat on credit.

The appellant testified he had attended the party but went to his mother’s home that night while the other three boys took his car. He stated he got up and went to work at 4:30 a.m. the following morning, and told Sommers, who was living at his mother’s, to get rid of the groceries. He also stated he had not heard them unloading the groceries sometime earlier. In addition, Dess testified he did not give the officers consent to search his mother’s residence.

Appellant’s first contention is that the search and seizure of the property found at the Dess home was unlawful since Mrs. Dess did not consent to any search nor was a search warrant issued. Thus he maintains that his motion to suppress the evidence from being admitted at the trial should have been granted.

The exclusionary rule fashioned in Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383, 34 S.Ct. 341, 58 L.Ed. 652 (1914), and Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961) excludes from a criminal trial any evidence seized from the defendant in violation of his 4th Amendment rights. In Mapp and Weeks the defendant against whom the evidence was held to be inadmissible was the victim of the search. In the recent case of Alderman v. United States, 394 U.S. 165, 89 S.Ct. 961, 22 L.Ed.2d 176 (1969) the Supreme Court rejected any expansion of the 4th Amendment and the exclusionary rule to include those who are aggrieved solely by the introduction of damaging evidence, or those whose rights were not violated by the search itself. The Court also cited the rule laid down in Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 261, 80 S.Ct. 725, 731, 4 L.Ed.2d 697, 702, 78 A.L.R.2d 233 (1960) which states:

“In order to qualify as a ‘person aggrieved by an unlawful search and seizure’ one must have been a victim of a search or *236 seizure, one against whom the search was directed, as distinguished from one who claims prejudice only through the use of evidence gathered as a consequence of a search or seizure directed at someone else * * *. Ordinarily, then, it is entirely proper to require of one who seeks to challenge the legality of a search as the basis for suppressing relevant evidence that he allege, and if the allegation be disputed that he establish, that he himself was the victim of an invasion of privacy.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
462 P.2d 186, 154 Mont. 231, 1969 Mont. LEXIS 367, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dess-mont-1969.