State v. Garrity

151 N.W.2d 773, 277 Minn. 111, 1967 Minn. LEXIS 914
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJune 16, 1967
Docket40394
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 151 N.W.2d 773 (State v. Garrity) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Garrity, 151 N.W.2d 773, 277 Minn. 111, 1967 Minn. LEXIS 914 (Mich. 1967).

Opinion

Nelson, Justice.

Defendant was convicted by a jury of the crime of theft by swindle in violation of Minn. St. 609.52 on November 30, 1965, and was sen *112 tenced and committed to the custody of the commissioner of corrections for a period not to exceed 5 years. He appeals, seeking reversal of the judgment or a new trial.

The record indicates that at noon on Friday, August 13, 1965, Mrs. Mary Torgerson, a widow living in Austin, Minnesota, received a telephone call from a man who claimed to be a bank examiner from the First National Bank of Austin. He told Mrs. Torgerson that there was a discrepancy in the “old people’s savings accounts” and asked her to read to him the deposits she had made in the last 3 months and also the balance in her account, which she did. He then asked her to go to the bank, withdraw $1,500, and return to her home, at which time a policeman would come for the money and take it to a “lab” to “get fingerprints.” Mrs. Torgerson dressed, put on gloves as her caller had requested, stepped into a waiting cab sent by the caller, and withdrew $1,500 in cash from her bank account. She insisted on cash',' even though a bank cashier, Mr. A. C. Tinderholt, suggested she take a check to guard against loss. She then returned home. She testified that the telephone rang as she came into her house, and the same man who had called before asked her “if the Policeman was there,” to which she replied that he wasn’t. At that moment she saw a man, allegedly defendant, walk through her front door. He took over the telephone, and Mrs. Torgerson heard him say, “O.K. here, I will bring it to the lab.”

Mrs. Torgerson then put the money into the man’s zippered bag, and the man assured her he would return the money the next day or, at the latest, on Monday. He did not do so and Mrs. Torgerson informed the police Monday forenoon. She described the man to the police as having brown hair, wearing a suit, very neat, and about 35 years of age. On Thursday, August 19, 1965, Officers Robert Baumgart and Robert Rysavy of the Austin Police Department took Mrs. Torgerson to Mason City, Iowa, arriving there about 9:30 or 10 a. m. She remained in the police car but later went into the office of the Chief of the Mason City Police. Defendant was arrested and she identified him in a lineup about 4:30 p. m. the same day.

The issues raised on appeal are the following: (1) Whether the evidence is sufficient to justify a verdict of guilty; (2) whether defendant’s *113 rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution have been violated; and (3) whether the defendant was denied a fair hearing because of incompetence of counsel.

As to the first issue, it is clear that Mrs. Torgerson had plenty of time and opportunity to view defendant when he came into her home and took the money. She saw him enter the front door, walk across the living room, and leave by the front door. The state’s exhibit No. 8, defendant’s photograph, indicates that defendant’s appearance is distinctive and could easily be remembered. It would only be reasonable that Mrs. Torgerson retained a vivid mental picture of defendant, composed of many details not capable of being described with exactness. Her original description given to the police — that the visitor was a white male, about 35 years old, who had dark brown hair, was dressed in a suit, and was very neat — appears to fit defendant from the photograph in evidence.

The record indicates that Mrs. Torgerson had not seen any of the men in the lineup prior to the view. The lineup was moved to a hallway in good light where Mrs. Torgerson carefully viewed the five men who were presented in the lineup, defendant, two police officers, and two salesmen, each wearing a suit and being arranged in random order.

James Murphy, who resided across the street from Mrs. Torgerson, testified that during the noon hour he saw a man dressed in a colored sport shirt enter the front door of Mrs. Torgerson’s house. He also saw the man get into a car parked in front of the house and drive away. The jury, of course, could well find that Mrs. Torgerson’s testimony was more reliable than Mr. Murphy’s, as they evidently did.

Cheryl Stewart was defendant’s girl friend and left with him for Mason City the day after the money was obtained. She testified at the trial that defendant was wearing a mustache and goatee on the day of the alleged theft. Richard Chaffee, an employee of a clothing store at Austin, had seen defendant at the store on the following day and testified that he noticed defendant was wearing a mustache but did not observe that he was wearing a goatee at that time. The record indicates that Miss Stewart, a professional dancer, knew where false mustaches could be obtained.

*114 The jury in weighing the foregoing testimony could reasonably accept that of Mrs. Torgerson identifying defendant as the man who came to her home and obtained her money. The evidence is clearly sufficient to sustain the verdict.

Defendant claims that he was denied rights accorded him by the Sixth Amendment in that he was not given an opportunity to obtain counsel to protect his interests at the time of the lineup at which Mrs. Torgerson identified him as the man who took her money. Defendant argues that Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U. S. 478, 84 S. Ct. 1758, 12 L. ed. (2d) 977, stands for the principle that once the investigation begins to focus on an accused he is entitled to have counsel present. That case held that when the police are attempting to obtain a confession the right to counsel attaches. Defendant contends that standing in a lineup and being identified by the accuser is as damaging as a confession; that, since no counsel was present in his behalf, both his right to counsel and his right against self-incrimination have been violated; and that, therefore, testimony as to Mrs. Torgerson’s identification of defendant in the lineup is inadmissible.

Defendant in his argument has overlooked the proposition that “[tjhere is a distinction between bodily view and requiring an accused to testify against himself.” Caldwell v. United States (8 Cir.) 338 F. (2d) 385, 389. In 8 Wigmore, Evidence (McNaughton Rev, 1961) § 2263, the author makes the statement:

“* * * [I]t is not merely any and every compulsion that is the kernel of the privilege [against self-incrimination], in history and in the constitutional definitions, but testimonial compulsion.”

The same author says (Id. § 2665):

“* * * [A]n inspection of the bodily features by the tribunal or by witnesses cannot violate the privilege because it does not call upon the accused as a witness — i.e., upon his testimonial responsibility.”

See, also, Holt v. United States, 218 U. S. 245, 252, 31 S. Ct. 2, 6, 54 L. ed. 1021, 1030, in which Mr. Justice Holmes, speaking for the court, stated:

*115

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
151 N.W.2d 773, 277 Minn. 111, 1967 Minn. LEXIS 914, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-garrity-minn-1967.