State v. Friddle

396 So. 2d 1242
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedMarch 24, 1981
Docket80-K-1593
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 396 So. 2d 1242 (State v. Friddle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Friddle, 396 So. 2d 1242 (La. 1981).

Opinion

396 So.2d 1242 (1981)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
James W. FRIDDLE.

No. 80-K-1593.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

March 24, 1981.

*1243 Samuel S. Dalton, Dalton, Gillen & Roniger, Jefferson, for defendant-relator.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Bridget Bane, William R. Campbell, Jr., Asst. Dist. Attys., for plaintiff-respondent.

CALOGERO, Justice.[*]

We granted defendant's application for writs in this case to determine whether the district court erred in denying defendant's pre-trial motions to suppress certain evidence obtained as a result of his arrest. Defendant James Friddle was charged by grand jury indictment on August 2, 1977 with two counts of aggravated rape in violation of R.S. 14:42.[1] He was tried before a jury and found guilty of one count of aggravated rape and one count of attempted aggravated rape, but on February 23, 1978, the trial court granted defendant's motion for a new trial. Thereafter, defendant reurged his earlier denied motions to suppress evidence. The motions were denied and that denial is what we now review, pre-trial.

Certain testimony from defendant's first trial and stipulated facts form the evidence considered by the trial judge in connection with the motions to suppress. The following events are gleaned from that evidence.

On January 3, 1977, a woman, whom we shall refer to as Mary Smith for the purposes of this opinion, was raped at gunpoint in her apartment. She reported the rape to the police and gave them a description of her assailant. Later that day, Officer David testified that he "received information" which prompted him to begin searching for a silver automobile with a red license plate bearing the numbers EWP304. Around midnight on the same day, a silver *1244 Continental with a red and white license plate bearing the numbers EWP304 was observed by two police officers in the eight hundred block of St. Louis Street in New Orleans. After parking their car and returning on foot to the area where the car was spotted, the officers found that the vehicle was gone.

The automobile was later located at about 1:15 a. m., on January 4, 1977, at the Tamanaca Motel, 1725 Tulane Avenue. The license plate check made by the officers revealed that the automobile was owned by one James Friddle. The officers then checked with the motel manager and learned that James Friddle was staying in Room 269. Mr. Friddle had been an occupant of that room since November 15, 1976, approximately a month and a half. Whether or not the officers knew of the length of defendant's stay at the motel is uncertain, but it would have been easily ascertainable from the motel manager.

The police officers contacted headquarters to request assistance, and at approximately 2:00 a. m. on January 4, 1977, five plain-clothes officers and one uniformed officer proceeded to Room 269, knocked on the door and announced "Police". The defendant, James Friddle, opened the door. Officer David testified that he asked the man if he was James Friddle and whether he owned the silver Continental with the Arkansas plates. When the defendant responded affirmatively to both questions, he was placed under arrest and advised of his rights.

Defendant was wearing only a pair of blue jeans when he answered the door. Therefore, he was escorted inside of his motel room, after being placed under arrest, so that he could get dressed. In the bathroom, Officer David observed clothing which he thought matched the description given by the rape victim, Mary Smith, of the clothing worn by her assailant. These items were seized. An inculpatory statement was allegedly made at this time by the defendant while he was in the bathroom. Thereafter, while still in the motel room, defendant signed a rights of arrestee form waiving his rights. He thereupon informed the officers that he had a gun in the locker of his room. It was also seized.

Finally, the defendant was transported to the Criminal Investigation Division where he was booked at 3:00 a. m. He made an oral statement and gave a written statement after again being advised of his rights. Later that day defendant was brought before a magistrate where a lawyer with the Orleans Indigent Defender Program was appointed to represent him. Bail was set for some of the charges but denied for the capital rape offense and a preliminary hearing was set for January 11, 1977.

On January 7, 1977, a five man line-up was conducted with defendant unrepresented. Therein, defendant was identified by the two victims of the offenses with which defendant has been charged herein.

Defendant and the state stipulated that the arresting officers had no warrant for defendant's arrest and had not been advised that any warrants were outstanding. (In fact, no warrants existed relative to the defendant or his automobile.) The state further stipulated that defendant's arrest was made as he stood in his motel doorway and all inculpatory statements by defendant were made following this arrest except for his admitting his name and that he owned the automobile in question.

We granted writs in this case from the trial court ruling denying defendant's motions to suppress primarily to consider whether defendant's arrest at 2:00 a. m. at his motel residence without a warrant was in violation of the recent United States Supreme Court case of Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980).

Defendant, relying on the Payton case, contends that an arrest made in one's residence without a warrant, barring the existence of some exigent circumstance, is illegal. Therefore, defendant seeks to suppress the following evidence as fruits of the illegal arrest: the clothing seized from the bathroom, the gun, and any other items seized from either his motel room or his car *1245 at the time of the arrest; the inculpatory statement he made to the officer in the bathroom; both the oral and written statements he made at the police station; the line-up identifications; and any in-court identifications.

In Payton v. New York, supra, the United States Supreme Court directly addressed for the first time the question of whether a warrant was required to arrest a citizen in his home. Therein the Court held:

"It is a `basic principle of Fourth Amendment Law' that searches and seizures inside of a home without a warrant are presumptively unreasonable.... In terms that apply equally to seizures of property and to seizures of persons, the Fourth Amendment has drawn a firm line at the entrance to the house. Absent exigent circumstances, that threshold may not reasonably be crossed without a warrant."

Payton was decided on April 15, 1980 and it is clear that, in accordance with that decision, any arrest made thereafter of a person in his home without a warrant and without the existence of exigent circumstances will be unreasonable and, as such, unconstitutional. Similarly, in State v. Brown, 387 So.2d 567 (La.1980), decided on June 23, 1980, this Court held that a warrantless entry into a defendant's home for the purpose of an arrest was, under Article 1, Section 5 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, constitutionally invalid unless such entry was made necessary by exigent circumstances. However, we are here confronted with an arrest that was made at least three years prior to the rendition of either Payton or Brown,

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396 So. 2d 1242, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-friddle-la-1981.