State v. Dobbs

665 P.2d 1151, 100 N.M. 60
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 15, 1983
Docket5802
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 665 P.2d 1151 (State v. Dobbs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico 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. Dobbs, 665 P.2d 1151, 100 N.M. 60 (N.M. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION

BIVINS, Judge.

Shortly after midnight on August 1, 1981 Sheila Snipes, age 20, returned home from a date. Sheila’s seventeen-year-old brother, Scottie, was at the house at that time. Their parents, however, were away. Soon after her arrival Sheila heard a rattling sound and then Scottie yelling, “ ‘[TJhere is a man in the house.’ ” The intruder advanced toward Sheila and Scottie who were then in the kitchen. He wore dark clothes, a ski mask and socks covering both hands. Sheila described what occurred: “He started walking toward us and told us he was going to kill us.” He repeated this three or four times in a disguised, muffled voice before Scottie tackled him. During the struggle Scottie pushed the man back against a fireplace built with jagged stone, and the intruder struck Sheila, who had attempted to aid her brother. She noticed that one of defendant’s socks had come off revealing his hand. Later, a sock not .belonging to any member of the Snipes household would be found in the area of the struggle. During the struggle Scottie observed a bare hand in his face. It was the left hand and Scottie bit down so hard on one of the middle fingers that he had blood in his mouth. Scottie then hit the man in the face. As the intruder left he stumbled over a table and two chairs. Sheila went to a neighbor’s house for help and to call the police. While ringing the neighbor’s doorbell Sheila saw the masked intruder running down the street.

A teenage girl who lived several houses from the Snipes observed from her window a white or light-colored El Camino take off in a hurry. She gave this information to the police after they arrived.

Earlier in the evening of July 31, 1981 Sheila and her date had gone to defendant’s trailer at the suggestion of the date who was a friend of defendant. Sheila had never met defendant before that time. While there Sheila did not observe any injuries on defendant’s hands or face. As Sheila and her date were leaving she noticed three vehicles parked outside defendant’s trailer, one of which was an El Camino. She recalled how it had been parked at that time. After the incident at the Snipes’ residence, Sheila accompanied the police to defendant’s trailer where she again noticed the same El Camino, but this time parked differently.

Following the match in descriptions of the El Camino, the police went to defendant’s trailer. They found defendant wearing shorts and exhibiting injuries closely matching those described by Scottie. Defendant was arrested and a search warrant obtained. The warrant particularized the following objects: one ski mask, red in color with white trim, one man’s blue sock, blood or blood stains, clothing fiber and transfer evidence.

During their search of the trailer, a rubber “penis-type vibrator” (vibrator) was found under the bed in the master bedroom. It was not wrapped or enclosed. This item was seized as evidence. In addition the police seized a 1979 edition of the Clovis City Directory, three sheets of paper with handwritten lists of female first-names and abbreviated telephone numbers, a fourth sheet with handwritten names of female movie stars and celebrities, and an additional sheet from a note pad with female first-names and abbreviated telephone numbers. The directory gives the surname, address, spouses’ first names, first names and years of birth of children as well as activities in which children participate, i.e., school, clubs, etc. Opposite the names of families with females born between 1963 and 1974 handwritten notations appeared in the form of pluses, minuses and horseshoe symbols. Neither the vibrator nor the written material was listed in the search warrant. One of the officers conducting the search, Robert Littlejohn, testified that, prior to the investigation involving the Snipes residence, he had received information from an informant that defendant had been making home video pornographic movies with young girls and that a vibrator had been used to excite the females. Another officer, Lyle Stevens, noticed the name “Sheila” on one of the three handwritten sheets with an abbreviated phone number opposite. He checked the directory and that number corresponded to the Snipes' number. Opposite the name “Snipes” in the directory was one of the horseshoe shaped symbols with a line drawn through it.

Because Officer Stevens had earlier investigated a rape in which the assailant wore a ski mask, he checked the directory and noted the name of the rape victim marked with a plus.

Defendant was subsequently charged with criminal sexual penetration in the second degree, contrary to § 30-9-11 B(5), N.M.S.A.1978, and aggravated burglary, contrary to § 30-16-4 B and 30-16-4 C, N.M.S.A.1978. These charges were in connection with the rape. Defendant was acquitted of these charges. He was also charged with aggravated burglary in connection with the Snipes incident, contrary to § 30-16-4C, N.M.S.A.1978, and five separate counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, contrary to § 30-6-3, N.M.S.A.1978. Defendant was found guilty on all these charges and from the verdicts and judgment he appeals, raising ten issues.

I. Search and Seizure

Defendant moved unsuccessfully to suppress the vibrator, lists of names and city directory. He claimed at trial as he does here that those items should have been suppressed because: (1) none of the items were listed in the search warrant; (2) none were related to the offense of aggravated burglary under investigation; and (3) perusal of the written material is forbidden by the Fourth Amendment. The State counters by arguing that the items were properly seized under the “plain view” doctrine.

In reviewing the propriety of the seizure we may consider facts developed not only at the suppression hearing, but also at the trial. State v. Martinez, 94 N.M. 436, 612 P.2d 228, cert. denied, 449 U.S. 959, 101 S.Ct. 371, 66 L.Ed.2d 226 (1980).

We start with the principle stated in Marron v. United States, 275 U.S. 192, 48 S.Ct. 74, 72 L.Ed. 231 (1927), that, “[t]he requirement that warrants shall particularly describe the things to be seized makes general searches under them impossible and prevents the seizure of one thing under a warrant describing another. As to what is to be taken, nothing is left to the discretion of the officer executing the warrant.” Id. at 196, 48 S.Ct. at 76. If applied literally this language would resolve the matter, because neither the vibrator nor the written matter was described in the warrant. Since Marrón, however, special exceptions have evolved which permit warrantless seizures of evidence. The United States Supreme Court has recognized that under certain circumstances items in plain view may be seized without a warrant. Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971). So has this State. State v. Ruffino, 94 N.M. 500, 612 P.2d 1311 (1980); Rodriquez v. State, 91 N.M. 700, 580 P.2d 126 (1978). In order for the seizure to come within the plain view doctrine certain criteria must be met.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
665 P.2d 1151, 100 N.M. 60, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dobbs-nmctapp-1983.