State v. Gomez

623 P.2d 110, 101 Idaho 802, 1980 Ida. LEXIS 553
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 9, 1980
Docket12820
StatusPublished
Cited by53 cases

This text of 623 P.2d 110 (State v. Gomez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho 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. Gomez, 623 P.2d 110, 101 Idaho 802, 1980 Ida. LEXIS 553 (Idaho 1980).

Opinions

BAKES, Justice.

Defendant Gomez was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of heroin with intent to deliver. A jury found him guilty as charged. Gomez appeals that conviction, claiming that: (1) certain evidence seized by law enforcement officers in a search of his premises should have been suppressed; (2) the trial court erred in limiting defendant’s right to cross examine a police officer at the suppression hearing; (3) he was denied due process by virtue of the state’s failure to disclose before trial certain photographs material to the search and seizure issue; (4) the trial court erred in permitting a federal narcotics agent to give his opinion regarding defendant’s alleged intent to deliver the narcotics seized; and (5) the evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s finding that the defendant intended to deliver narcotics.

On May 18, 1976, Lt. Galland, director of the city-county narcotics division of Canyon County, submitted an “Affidavit in Support of Search Warrant” to a magistrate. The magistrate then issued a search warrant directing “ANY SHERIFF, CONSTABLE, MARSHAL OR POLICEMAN” in Canyon County to search defendant’s residence described as:

“That certain single-story white frame house located at Route 3, Parma, Idaho, on a road known as Highway 18 or Roswell Boulevard, and particularly located in the middle of a block on the east side of the highway between Wendell Street and Park Street and identified with the number 204 posted on the front of the house under the possession and control of one Carlos Gomez.”

After warrants for the arrest of Gomez and a search of his home were issued, a number of officers met in the basement of the Canyon County sheriff’s office in order to determine how to proceed to execute the warrants. Agent Johnson, a special agent for the State Bureau of Narcotics, testified that at such time he personally observed what he thought were the original arrest and search warrants. Whether or not he had actually seen them, it is certain that he was aware that the warrant for the arrest of Gomez and the warrant to search the defendant’s premises had been issued.

Thereafter, a number of officers proceeded toward the city of Parma in several cars. Lt. Galland had possession of the arrest and search warrants. Agent Johnson and Officer Galland were in separate vehicles. When the officers arrived in Parma, Lt. Galland proceeded to arrest the defendant [805]*805at a location not far from defendant’s residence. At this time, Agent Johnson was radioed and informed that Gomez was being arrested, and that he should proceed to the Gomez residence in order to “secure the premises.” According to Agent Johnson, the officers desired to make sure that no one entered or left the premises and that no evidence would be destroyed.

Agent Johnson and two other officers proceeded to the defendant’s house without the warrant, knocked on the door, identified themselves and their purpose, and, having heard no reply, proceeded to enter the house through both the back and front doors. Upon entering the residence, they found defendant’s wife and a child. They looked through the rooms and closets of the house in order to ascertain the presence of any other people. They found no one. They did not search for or seize any evidence at that time.

Approximately ten to fifteen minutes later, Lt. Galland arrived at the premises with the search warrant. Thereafter, officers conducted a thorough search of the premises and found: two bags of marijuana; twelve tinfoil packets of 8-14% heroin; a bag containing 15 grams of 17% heroin; a “fix kit” containing syringe and rubber hose; and a scale.

Prior to trial, defendant had made a motion to suppress the evidence of the search on the grounds raised here on appeal. As new evidence became available, this motion was renewed several times, before and during trial, and was denied each time by the trial court.

I

THE SUPPRESSION ISSUE

Defendant asserts three independent grounds in support of his contention that the court below erred in denying his motion to suppress. First, he maintains that the affidavit offered in support of the search warrant was insufficient to demonstrate probable cause. Secondly, he argues that the actions of the three officers in “securing the premises” prior to the arrival of the search warrant was unlawful. Thirdly, defendant insists that the description of his residence in the affidavit and search warrant was insufficient in that it did not particularly describe the premises to be searched. We will address these issues separately.

A. Sufficiency of the affidavit in support of the search warrant.

We note at the outset the somewhat deferential standard of appellate review used to test the sufficiency of affidavits in support of search warrants. Affidavits for search warrants should not be reviewed and tested in a hypertechnical manner. United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 85 S.Ct. 741, 13 L.Ed.2d 684 (1965); State v. Oropeza, 97 Idaho 387, 545 P.2d 475 (1976). A magistrate’s determination of probable cause should be accorded great deference by the appellate court. Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969); State v. Oropeza, supra. Similarly, such affidavits should be tested by standards less rigorous than those governing the admissibility of evidence at trial. Spineili v. United States, supra.

Keeping the above standards of appellate scrutiny in mind, we turn now to the sufficiency of the affidavit in question. The affidavit, signed by Lt. Galland, was based primarily on two sources of information: a confidential informant and prior surveillances of the defendant conducted by law enforcement officers. The officers had observed Gomez making heroin deliveries in the Boise area on two separate occasions, thirty-nine and forty-five days prior to the issuance of the warrant. On the day before the warrant was issued, the confidential informant had told Lt. Galland that quantities of narcotics could be found at the Gomez residence.

The defendant argues that the information provided by the confidential informant does not meet the two-pronged test articulated by the United States Supreme Court in Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964); further explicated in Spinelli v. United States, supra,, and implemented by this Court in State v. [806]*806Oropeza, supra, and State v. Alger, 100 Idaho 675, 603 P.2d 1009 (1979). The requirements of the test are as follows:

“Although an affidavit may be based on hearsay information and need not reflect the direct personal observations of the affiant, the magistrate must be informed of some of the underlying circumstances from which the informant concluded that the narcotics were where he claimed they were, and some of the underlying circumstances from which the officer concluded that the informant . . . was ‘credible’ or his information ‘reliable’.” Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. at 114, 84 S.Ct. at 1514, 12 L.Ed.2d at 729 (citations omitted).1

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Bluebook (online)
623 P.2d 110, 101 Idaho 802, 1980 Ida. LEXIS 553, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-gomez-idaho-1980.