State v. Elkins

422 P.2d 250, 245 Or. 279, 1966 Ore. LEXIS 382
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 28, 1966
StatusPublished
Cited by156 cases

This text of 422 P.2d 250 (State v. Elkins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon 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. Elkins, 422 P.2d 250, 245 Or. 279, 1966 Ore. LEXIS 382 (Or. 1966).

Opinions

HOLMAN, J.

The defendant was indicted for the crime of illegal possession of narcotics. The indictment charged he committed the crime by having in his possession a narcotic drug known as “methadone.” He has appealed from a judgment of conviction.

Defendant was sitting with an acquaintance in a [281]*281parked car when a police officer asked him to identify himself. The officer upon questioning the defendant decided that defendant was intoxicated and placed him under arrest for being drunk in violation of an ordinance of the City of Portland. His speech was slurred, he was unsteady on his feet, and he admitted he had been drinking. After defendant’s arrest the officer searched defendant’s person for a weapon and in his shirt pocket found an unlabeled bottle containing three kinds of capsules and pills. The officer seized them and subsequent analysis disclosed some of them to be methadone. The testimony relative to the police officer’s knowledge concerning the pills he was seizing which came in during the hearing on a motion to suppress was as follows:

“Q Now, let’s get into your personal knowledge that that white pill is methadon. How do you know that?
“A Well, I had the other two pills, which were identical to this one, analyzed.
“Q Did you analyze them yourself?
“A No, I didn’t.
“Q Are you a chemist?
“A No, I am not.
“Q Have you had any education in chemistry?
“A No. "
“Q Could you tell by just looking at that pill that it is methadon or are you relying on what someone else has told you?
“A I am relying on what someone else has told me.”

At the time the pills were introduced in evidence during the trial the officer was asked why he seized the pills and he said:

“Well, my suspicions were more directed toward the white pills than the other ones.”

[282]*282Defendant assigns as error the court-s failure to suppress as evidence the methadone pills, claiming they were illegally seized from him. He admits that he was lawfully under arrest and that the search was proper as an incident of this arrest, but contends that the seizure was unlawful. Because of these admissions it is unnecessary for this opinion to explore the usual grounds of controversy relative to the seizure of evidence as an incident of arrest. The probable cause for the arrest, the good faith of the officer in making the arrest, the time of the search in relation to the arrest, the extent of the area searched, and the intensity of the search are problems not involved here.

Evidence illegally seized by the police may not be used by the state in a criminal prosecution. State v. Johnson, 232 Or 118, 119, 374 P2d 481 (1962); State v. Chinn, 231 Or 259, 265, 373 P2d 392 (1962); Mapp v. Ohio, 367 US 643, 81 S Ct 1684, 6 L ed2d 1081 (1961).

The Oregon Constitution Art I, § 9 provides:

“No law shall violate the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable search, or seizure; and no warrant shall issue but upon- probable cause, supported by oath, or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or thing to be seised.” (Emphasis ours.)

The Fourth Amendment to the Federal Constitution is of similar effect, and cases construing it are therefore relevant to a construction of the Oregon provision. With limited exceptions this constitutional provision protects an individual’s person and abode from search and his effects from seizure by the police, unless a warrant permitting the same is first obtained. [283]*283The most notable exception to the requirement of a warrant is a search or seizure made incident to a lawful arrest.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
422 P.2d 250, 245 Or. 279, 1966 Ore. LEXIS 382, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-elkins-or-1966.