State v. Harris

498 P.2d 1222, 159 Mont. 425, 1972 Mont. LEXIS 455
Montana Supreme Court·Decided July 7, 1972·No. No. 12228·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE JOHN C. HARRISON,

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

Defendant, Phillip Harris, was convicted of burglary in the first degree in the district court of the sixteenth judicial district, county of Custer, and sentenced to fourteen years, with four years suspended, in the Montana state prison. From this judgment, defendant appeals.

During the fall months of 1970, a codefendant of Harris, one Leon Meidinger, began frequenting Kelly’s Gaslite, a bar in Miles City. Working at the bar was Lila Williamson, an acquaintance of Meidinger. Meidinger expressed an interest in where the owner of the bar, Earl Kelly, kept his money. At the trial Meidinger testified that he had played in a poker game in the basement of Kelly’s Gaslite and was aware that considerable cash was involved in the game. In November 1970, Meidinger pursuaded Lila Williamson to obtain a duplicate of her key to the bar and his brother picked up the key for Meidinger.

On December 11, 1970, Lila Williamson contacted a local policeman, Larry Kuchynka, and told him that during the night of December 11 Kelly’s Gaslite bar would be burglarized. Kuchynka notified Kelly, the owner, and then proceeded with local police and sheriff’s deputies to stake out the bar.

[427] Kelly, before closing the bar after 2 a.m., December 12, thoroughly checked, the premises upstairs and down, and found no one in the premises. Knowing that he might be burglarized that night, he left the safe unlocked no doubt hoping to prevent wear and tear on the safe.

The information given policeman Kuchynka by Lila Williamson proved to be correct when about fifteen minutes after Kelly closed the Gaslite officers staked out across the street saw defendant use a key to enter the bar. At trial Kuchynka gave the following description of what took place:

“A. We laid there for quite awhile, about 2:45 A.M. a male subject with brown colored coat was observed by himself and the — by myself, and the other two officers, walking west down Main Street. He got to the door of the Gaslight and he very abruptly turned into the door. It appeared he stuck a key or something in the door and pulled it open and stepped inside.
“Q. What did you next observe?
“A. About 3:00 A.M. we were laying there awaiting for him to come out. We saw the curtain in the door rustle back and forth and a head appeared looking out the door. At that time I called the other officers in to assist. He looked out the door. The door come flying open and you might say he jumped out in the middle of the street and turned east and just started walking as casually as anyone else.”

Defendant’s early morning walk was interrupted by seven law enforcement officers. When they frisked defendant they found a walkie-talkie and a bag full of checks and currency, tied with a cord around defendant’s neck. At the time defendant was ordered to put up his hands the arresting officers heard what turned out to be the duplicate key to Kelly’s Gaslite bar fall to the pavement.

Following the arrest and search of defendant, the officers went into the Gaslite bar, using defendant’s key, and there they were not surprised to find the safe open and empty. They [428] found the dial of the safe had been knocked off and alongside the safe was a hammer, so in spite of owner Kelly’s precaution the safe was damaged.

Later, Kelly identified checks and currency which had been in the safe and which were removed from the bag found hanging around defendant’s neck when he was apprehended.

As the officers came out of the bar following completion of their investigation there, one of them noted a camper pickup parked across the street eater-corner from the Gaslite bar. The officers recognized the truck; it belonged to Leon Meidinger, a known personality to law enforcement officers in the area. When one officer flashed his flashlight into the truck, he discovered Meidingger crouched down in the truck. He was ordered to get out of the truck and to the officer’s surprise a walkie-talkie similar in design and cover to that found on defendant, was in his possession.

The officer who recognized the camper pickup testified he had seen the pickup parked across the street from Kelly’s Gas-lite bar at approximately midnight, though both defendant and Meidinger alleged they did not arrive in Miles City until 2:30 a.m. The pickup had stolen license plates and both defendant and Meidinger admitted stealing the plates at Rosebud, Montana, en route to Miles City.

Both defendant and Meidinger were arrested and charged with burglary. Each posted bail of $3,750. While awaiting release on bail, they were in the sheriff’s office talking to relatives. Both Sheriff Damm and Officer Adrian at that time heard Meidinger say to his brother “I should have known better to pull something like this in my home town.”

Defendant’s defense as to why he had entered the Gaslite bar after closing hours was that he wanted to see if there was a poker game in the basement of the bar, even though he had never played in the game. He failed to explain the walkie-talkie or the bag of checks and currency found tied around his neck.

[429] On appeal defendant presents six issues for review:

1. Was there entrapment in this case as a matter of law?

2. Was there a “breaking” and entering and therefore a burglarious entry?

3. Was the defendant compelled to be a witness against himself in violation of his constitutional rights under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution?

4. Was the defendant’s right to privacy invaded in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution which prohibits unreasonable search and seizure?

5. Was the punishment of fourteen years, with four years suspended, at hard labor, cruel and unusual punishment under the facts of this ease?

6. Was the introduction of the parole officer’s report at the presentence hearing a violation of the defendant’s rights under the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article III, Section 16, of the Montana Constitution?

We find no merit to defendant’s first issue as to entrapment. Entrapment was not argued at the trial nor were instruction requested. State v. Parr, 129 Mont. 175, 283 P.2d 1086; State v. O’Donnell, 138 Mont. 123, 354 P.2d 1105. In this case there was no decoy, no solicitation, nor any inducement to defendant to commit the burglary.

This Court in a recent consideration of the plea of entrapment, State v. Karathanos, 158 Mont. 461, 493 P.2d 326, 331, 29 St.Rep. 81, had this to say:

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State v. Harris, 498 P.2d 1222, 159 Mont. 425, 1972 Mont. LEXIS 455 (Mo. 1972).

498 P.2d 1222 (State v. Harris) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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