State v. Donahoe

574 P.2d 830, 118 Ariz. 37, 1977 Ariz. App. LEXIS 808
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedOctober 6, 1977
Docket2 CA-CR 1011-2, 2 CA-CR 1015 and 2 CA-CR 1019
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 574 P.2d 830 (State v. Donahoe) 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. Donahoe, 574 P.2d 830, 118 Ariz. 37, 1977 Ariz. App. LEXIS 808 (Ark. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

OPINION

HOWARD, Chief Judge.

Appellants were indicted for conspiracy to possess marijuana, unlawful possession of marijuana for sale and unlawful transportation of marijuana. After a bench trial, appellant Donahoe was found not guilty of the conspiracy and transportation charges, but was convicted of unlawful possession of marijuana for sale. He was sentenced to not less than eight years nor more than ten years in the Arizona State Prison and ordered to pay a fine of $10,000. Appellant Lovell was convicted of unlawful possession of marijuana for sale and appellant Papadinis was found guilty of unlawful transportation of marijuana. Both Lovell and Papadinis were found not guilty of the balance of the charges. Imposition of their sentences was suspended, they were placed on probation for ten years and were ordered to pay fines.

The record shows that Agent Patrick Malloy, of the Arizona Department of Public Safety had received information and read reports from agents of the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency which indicated that Donahoe was a large scale drug dealer. A periodic surveillance of Donahoe’s residence was commenced. On Friday, October 17, 1975, Agent Malloy and his partner Agent Rogers while watching Donahoe’s residence, observed two pickup trucks with California license plates that were parked at the residence. When one of the pickups departed, the agents began checking addresses that Donahoe frequented. They drove to the residence of Donahoe’s grandmother which was located at 4505 N. Fletcha Drive. There they saw a Ryder rental truck parked against the carport and were able to identify the appellants standing at the rear of the truck. Malloy recognized Donahoe because he had seen him approximately six times before. In order to continue their surveillance the agents went to the KIKX radio station on Swan Road which was one-half to one mile away. Malloy called for assistance and when two other agents joined them at the radio station, Malloy and Rogers proceeded to a house across the street from the grandmother’s house.

By that time it was dark outside, but through the use of binoculars they were able to see what was going on around the truck since there was a yellow porch light on and a drop light had been attached to the back of the truck. Appellants were in *40 the rear of the truck and either two or three of them were observed loading four cardboard boxes into a crate. Appellant Lovell got out of the truck and stood near the back while the other appellants remained inside the truck. There were loud pounding and clanging sounds coming from the truck and after a while the doors were closed and the drop light was turned off. At that time the agents heard a voice from the back of the truck say that they were not through yet. The light was then turned on again and there was more banging. Subsequently appellants Papadinis and Donahoe got out of the back of the truck. Papadinis got into the cab of the truck and departed from the residence followed by a green Pontiac driven by Lovell with Dona-hoe in the passenger side. The truck followed the Pontiac to the Monaco Inn where they pulled into the rear parking lot, side by side and all three appellants got out and went into the Monaco Inn. Lovell came back outside, entered the Pontiac, drove away, returned once more and then departed. At one point he pulled into the rear entrance of the Monaco Inn and someone handed him a package which he took and departed for the Smuggler’s Inn.

A person identified as Mr. Allard was observed getting into a white Ford Granada. He left the parking lot and then returned. Papadinis then came out of the hotel, got in the truck and departed followed by Allard in the white Ford Granada. They proceeded down Wilmot Road, followed by Agents Malloy and Rogers. The agents observed that the Ford automobile would drive up right behind the truck and then slow down, letting all the traffic pass, looking over each car as it passed. It would then pull up again close to the truck. The truck stopped at a Texaco station at the corner of Wilmot and Broadway. The car went into the parking lot of an adjacent restaurant. Papadinis got out of the truck, went inside the Texaco station and came back out and got in the truck. He then pulled the truck around to the restaurant parking lot, parking by the Ford.

The two vehicles then proceeded down Wilmot, using the same procedure as before, to-wit, the Ford Granada pulling up close behind the truck and then riding behind and observing all the cars which passed it. They proceeded south on Wilmot Road, and as the truck approached Golf Links Road, it went into the left turn lane. The Ford slowed down waiting for all the vehicles to clear and then pulled over into the left turn lane behind the truck. Both vehicles turned east on Golf Links Rd. to Calle Polar. The car proceeded approximately 100' and stopped while the truck continued on, turning east on 39th St. The truck made a U-turn on 39th. It was now headed in a westerly direction and stopped in the middle of the block. The automobile then joined the truck. Allard and Papadinis got out of the vehicles and had a brief meeting. Papadinis then got back into the truck and pulled into a residence on 39th Street while Allard drove his vehicle across the street and one residence west of the house where Papadinis had stopped. Both drivers alighted and went into the residence at 6641 E. 39th. Three or four minutes later both came out of the house, got into the Ford Granada and departed, leaving the truck at the residence.

The Department of Public Safety then commenced a round-the-clock surveillance of the Ryder truck. No one entered the truck until 7:30 Monday morning when Papadinis came back in the white Ford Granada which was then being driven by a woman. Papadinis went into the house, came back out, went to the car to get some papers, opened the back of the truck and got in. He stayed in the truck for five to ten minutes, came back out and the Ford Granada left. Papadinis got into the cab of the truck and departed. He was followed by agents from the Department of Public Safety to the Time D.C. Trucking Company, a freight company. He pulled into the loading dock and commenced unloading crates from the back of the truck. At this time he was being observed by Agent Richardson. After Papadinis had placed two of the crates on the loading dock, he re-entered the cab of the truck and began to move the vehicle. He was stopped by Sgt. *41 Richardson, placed under arrest, was read his “Miranda Rights” and was transported to D.P.S. headquarters. En route Papadinis stated he knew that what he was doing was illegal but “it wasn’t like it was hard drugs”. He told the officers he felt marijuana should be legalized and that they couldn’t stop the use of it. Sgt. Richardson drove the truck to D.P.S. headquarters. The shipping bill indicated food slicing machinery and steel knock down stands. However, Agent Malloy was of the opinion that the cardboard boxes he had observed being loaded at the Fletcha Drive address did not appear to be the type that would contain that type of machinery.

Agent Malloy obtained a search warrant. There were five 3X3X3 wooden crates which contained padlocked stainless steel boxes. Inside were the cardboard boxes that Malloy had seen being loaded at the Fletcha Drive address. The cardboard boxes contained 542 bricks of marijuana.

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Bluebook (online)
574 P.2d 830, 118 Ariz. 37, 1977 Ariz. App. LEXIS 808, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-donahoe-arizctapp-1977.