State v. Jannetta

355 N.W.2d 189, 1984 Minn. App. LEXIS 3592
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedSeptember 25, 1984
DocketC8-84-577
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 355 N.W.2d 189 (State v. Jannetta) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals 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. Jannetta, 355 N.W.2d 189, 1984 Minn. App. LEXIS 3592 (Mich. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION

POPOVICH, Chief Judge.

Appellant Jannetta appeals from a judgment of conviction for two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree (Minn.Stat. § 609.342(a)) and one count of criminal sexual conduct in the second degree (Minn.Stat. § 609.343(a)).

We affirm.

FACTS

About January 20, 1983, Detective Donald Spehn was asked for information concerning appellant by a Brooklyn Center police officer. Although the officer told Spehn that he was inquiring on behalf of parents who expressed some concern about *192 their son’s contact with appellant, the officer did not indicate the nature of the contact.

One week after this inquiry, Spehn was contacted by Clint Berg, a family counselor for Northwest YMCA with T.E., a 12-year old male, who had indicated to Berg that appellant had sexually abused him.

When interviewed, T.E. claimed when he was 10 years old he had been to appellant’s home approximately one hundred times. During those visits, appellant showed him photographs of other boys involved in various sexual acts with one another and depicting appellant in various sexual acts. Spehn learned from T.E.’s mother that T.E. had no contact with appellant in the two years since the family moved away. Finally, T.E. told Spehn that he remembered the first name of two boys pictured.

On the basis of this information, Spehn obtained a warrant to search appellant’s apartment. It was executed, and a number of photographs and other personal property were seized, including an address book which showed the last name of one of the boys T.E. identified.

From the photographs, T.E. and J.B., the other identified child, were able to identify the four other boys appellant was charged with abusing.

On March 8, 1983, appellant was charged with six counts of criminal sexual conduct alleging he sexually assaulted six juvenile boys between May 1980 and December 1982. At the omnibus hearing, appellant moved to suppress all evidence seized when appellant’s apartment was searched, claiming the evidence was obtained as a result of an illegal search and seizure. The omnibus court denied the motion and ordered the seized items and statements of witnesses be admitted at trial. On October 21, 1983, the defendant appeared for trial to the court on stipulated facts.

The appellant was found guilty of count I and count V, criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, and count III as amended to criminal sexual conduct in the second degree. Count II was dismissed. Count VI, criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, was placed on the miscellaneous calendar by agreement of the parties.

The trial court pronounced consecutive sentences and imposed 43 months each on counts I and V for a total of 86 months prison time. Appellant was sentenced on count III to 21 months with a stay of execution for 10 years. The trial court contemplated a probationary period of 10 years to begin after appellant served his two other consecutive sentences of imprisonment. Appellant was given credit for 314 days jail time spent in custody awaiting trial.

ISSUES

1. Should evidence obtained pursuant to a search warrant which was based on incidents which occurred two years earlier be suppressed because the search warrant lacked sufficient probable cause to justify its issuance?

2. Is the omission of the information on which a search was based, which is approximately two years old, a deliberate or reckless misrepresentation requiring suppression of the evidence obtained?

3. Is a criminal complaint charging a single violation of law occurring within a time period of six months to two and two-thirds years so vague as to make defense impossible?

4. Is the sentence to a probationary period of ten years, to begin when appellant completed serving two other consecutive terms of imprisonment of 86 months, beyond the statutory limitation of fifteen years for criminal sexual conduct in the second degree?

5. Is a defendant, convicted of three separate crimes and sentenced to consecutive terms for each conviction, entitled to credit for time spent in custody awaiting trial on each term of imprisonment imposed by the court?

ANALYSIS

1. The information of sexual contacts supplied by T.E. was two years old at the *193 time it. was used to support an application for a search warrant of appellant’s home. Appellant argues the information was too stale to establish probable cause for the search.

The fourth amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 10 of the Minnesota Constitution protect the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures. A warrant may be issued only upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. U.S. Const, amend. IV; Minn. Const, art. 1, §-10.

In Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383, 34 S.Ct. 341, 58 L.Ed. 652 (1914), the United States Supreme Court developed the exclusionary doctrine, barring evidence obtained through illegal searches and seizures by federal officers in federal courts. In Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961), the United States Supreme Court required state courts to exclude all evidence obtained in violation of the fourth and fourteenth amendments even if obtained by a state officer. In addition, once a primary illegality is established, any evidence “come at by exploitation of that illegality” may not be used against the defendant, including any evidence uncovered by leads obtained during an illegal search. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 488, 83 S.Ct. 407, 417, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963).

The law of probable cause prevents the issuance of a search warrant on the basis of vague and uncertain information. Time is also crucial to the probable cause concept. United States v. Johnson, 461 F.2d 285, 287 (10th Cir.1972).

Probable cause to search exists if it is established certain identifiable objects are probably connected with certain criminal activity and may probably be found at the present time. See 1 W. LaFave, Search and Seizure § 3.7, at 680 (1978); see also Sgro v. United States, 287 U.S. 206, 210-11, 53 S.Ct. 138, 140, 77 L.Ed. 260 (1932). Under the fourth amendment, the probable cause to search cannot be established by stale information. United States v. Steeves, 525 F.2d 33, 37-38 (8th Cir.1975).

Staleness of information in a search warrant application is controlled by Sgro,

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Bluebook (online)
355 N.W.2d 189, 1984 Minn. App. LEXIS 3592, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jannetta-minnctapp-1984.