State v. Elam

771 P.2d 597, 108 N.M. 268
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 9, 1989
Docket10051
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 771 P.2d 597 (State v. Elam) 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. Elam, 771 P.2d 597, 108 N.M. 268 (N.M. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

BIVINS, Chief Judge.

Defendant appeals his conviction on nine counts of fraud and one count of tax evasion. Defendant raises five arguments on appeal. He claims: 1) the trial court erred by failing to suppress evidence or grant a new trial because the search warrant was not specific and resulted in an unconstitutional general search; 2) the search was invalid due to errors in the manner it was obtained and executed; 3) the trial court improperly instructed the jury on fraud; 4) the trial court improperly instructed the jury on tax evasion; 5) the trial court erred in failing to merge several of the counts with which defendant was charged; and 6) ineffective assistance of counsel. We identify the claims of trial court error, followed by our answer. We affirm. Only issues one and two meet the criteria for publication under SCRA 1986, 12-405. Therefore, only those issues will be published; the remainder of the opinion, which is incorporated by reference, will be a memorandum opinion and may not be cited as precedent.

The criminal activity for which defendant was charged pertained to a business he operated out of his home, New Mexico Museum Supply and Exploration Co., through which defendant convinced several victims to invest in contrived expeditions for historical artifacts and treasures. Following an investigation, a special agent from the Attorney General’s office obtained a search warrant, thirty-five pages in length with a three-page appendix. The agent, along with other agents and several Albuquerque Police Department (APD) officers and detectives, executed the warrant continuously over a three-day period. The agents and officers removed three truckloads of seized items.

1. Did the trial court err in denying defendant’s motions to quash the search warrant and suppress all evidence obtained thereby because the search warrant did not particularly describe the items to be seized and, thus, constituted a general search in violation of the federal and state constitutions? No.

In addition to describing many specific items, the appendix to the search warrant included the following general language:

The following records, papers, documents or other tangible evidence, including but not limited to, tax forms, records of income and expenses for the Elam’s [sic] and for their business, New Mexico Museum Supply and Exploration Company, cancelled checks, invoices, diaries, journals, notes or other records of transactions * * *.
Old books, old papers and maps, whether made of paper, metal, stone or other materials * * *.
Any money whether currency or coin of any denomination, foreign or domestic
Pieces of paper, whether bound or loose, on which any of the following persons’ names or identifiers appear: * * * or any other item that can be shown by its relationship to the aforementioned items or which could or can be used to facilitate the crime of fraud, embezzlement, larceny, forgery, tax evasion, or racketeering.

Defendant recognizes there is ample authority for more general descriptions in a warrant for items and papers when there is probable cause to believe that virtually all of the records of a business are evidence or instrumentalities of fraudulent activity. See Andresen v. Maryland, 427 U.S. 463, 96 S.Ct. 2737, 49 L.Ed.2d 627 (1976); United States v. Offices Known as 50 State Distrib. Co., 708 F.2d 1371 (9th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1021, 104 S.Ct. 1272, 79 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984); State v. Jones, 107 N.M. 503, 760 P.2d 796 (Ct.App.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 109 S.Ct. 561, 102 L.Ed.2d 587 (1988). “The complexity of an illegal scheme may not be used as a shield to avoid detection when the State has demonstrated probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed and probable cause to believe that evidence of this crime is in the suspect’s possession.” State v. Jones, 107 N.M. at 505, 760 P.2d at 798 (quoting Andresen v. Maryland, 427 U.S. at 481, n. 10, 96 S.Ct. at 2748, n. 10).

Defendant points out that the latter line of cases concern businesses, not an individual’s home. He argues that these cases do not apply here since the home is the locus of a person’s greatest expectation of privacy. Defendant cites to general authority on this point.

Defendant’s claim that greater specificity was required in the warrant since the search occurred at his home is incorrect. See Lewis v. United States, 385 U.S. 206, 87 S.Ct. 424, 17 L.Ed.2d 312 (1966) (where outsiders are invited into one’s home for purposes of transacting unlawful business, that business is entitled to no greater sanctity than if it were carried on in a store, a garage, a car, or on the street); United States v. Cerri, 753 F.2d 61 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 472 U.S. 1017, 105 S.Ct. 3479, 87 L.Ed.2d 614 (1985) (when used as a place of business, the home has the same status under the fourth amendment as any other place of business).

The degree of specificity required in applying the particularity requirement is flexible and may vary depending on the circumstances and the types of items involved. See United States v. Offices Known as 50 State Distrib. Co. (warrant that essentially authorized the seizure of all the business-related books, records, equipment, and merchandise on defendant’s premises upheld where probable cause existed to believe that fraud permeated the entire business operation); State v. Jones; Andresen v. Maryland; United States v. Kail, 804 F.2d 441 (8th Cir.1986); United States v. Sawyer, 799 F.2d 1494 (11th Cir.1986), cert. denied sub nom. Leavitt v. United States, 479 U.S. 1069, 107 S.Ct. 961, 93 L.Ed.2d 1009 (1987); United States v. Wuagneux, 683 F.2d 1343 (11th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 814, 104 S.Ct. 69, 78 L.Ed.2d 83 (1983).

The affidavit for the search warrant describes defendant’s criminal activity as including schemes to convince victims to invest in a variety of contrived expeditions for historical artifacts and treasure. The affidavit details, in thirty-five pages, the theft of historical artifacts and materials, the forgery of authenticating documents, and the acquisition and production of replicas of the artifacts and treasures in order to add authenticity to these schemes. Although the appendix of items to be seized contains some broad categories of items to be seized, considering the nature and extent of the alleged criminal activity involved, the search warrant was sufficiently particular. See State v. Jones.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
771 P.2d 597, 108 N.M. 268, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-elam-nmctapp-1989.