State v. Jones

648 P.2d 869, 58 Or. App. 277, 1982 Ore. App. LEXIS 3108
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJuly 21, 1982
Docket28471, 28475, 28476, CA A21260, A21261, A21262
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 648 P.2d 869 (State v. Jones) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Jones, 648 P.2d 869, 58 Or. App. 277, 1982 Ore. App. LEXIS 3108 (Or. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

*279 GILLETTE, P. J.

Defendant was charged in three indictments with two counts of burglary in the first degree and two counts of burglary in the second degree after police officers seized certain items from his car and from his parents’ home. The state appeals a pretrial order in these consolidated cases granting in part defendant’s motion to suppress the evidence seized. Defendant cross-appeals, contending that the motion should have been granted in its entirety. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

On March 26, 1981, officer Janet Davidson obtained and executed a warrant to search the home of defendant’s parents. The affidavit for the warrant contained the following information provided to Davidson by four individuals: Rhoda Jones and Lynda Johnson reported burglaries and described items that had been taken from their homes 1 sometime between March 12 and March 16, 1981. Johnson also stated that defendant had come to her home on March 11, 1981, to inquire about mowing her lawn; she told him to return on March 13 but later changed her plans and went out of town on March 12. Sharon Voldrecht informed Davidson that she was a neighbor of Lynda Johnson and that defendant had come to her house on March 13 asking where the Johnsons were and when they would be back. She was suspicious of defendant because, although he asked about mowing lawns, it was after dark and he did not have a lawnmower. Joy Laverty identified herself as a friend of defendant’s sister. She stated that she was at the home of defendant’s parents on either March 9 or 10 and overheard defendant and his brother arguing. She heard defendant’s brother threaten to tell their father about some silverware defendant had stolen. She further stated that on March 14, while she was again visiting defendant’s sister and brother at the Jones’ residence, defendant “brought out a lot of coins and jewelry from his bedroom; and asked if anyone would like to buy any of it * * *.” She described in detail several of the items *280 she saw in defendant’s possession at that time. Her descriptions of several of the items closely matched the descriptions given by Rhoda Jones and Lynda Johnson of items taken from their homes.

A warrant was obtained to search the Jones’ home, identifying as the property to be seized the items particularly described by the informants. When the warrant was executed, defendant’s parents told the officers that their son had moved out of their home about a week and a half before and had taken most of his personal belongings with him. They indicated, however, that he had left some things there. The officers seized approximately 56 items, only one of which was listed in the search warrant. Most of the items seized were jewelry and coins. Davidson testified that some of the property was similar to that described in other burglary reports she had seen, but she did not specify which of the items she so identified.

During the search of the home, police officers were told where defendant was living. They went to defendant’s apartment and found him there. Davidson told defendant about the search at his parents’ house and read him his rights from a “rights card,” which defendant signed. Defendant then consented to a search of his car, accompanied the officers to it and opened the trunk on request. The trunk contained “quite a number” of power tools, a chainsaw, a suitcase, a case of oil and other items. Defendant opened the suitcase for the officers. Inside, lying on top of some clothes, was a handgun. Again on request, defendant opened a briefcase which had been in the passenger compartment of the car. Inside were several large hunting knives and numerous pieces of jewelry, including a bracelet inscribed with a name and telephone number. Defendant also opened the glove compartment, where other items were found.

A telephone call made during the search revealed that the handgun and inscribed bracelet had been stolen. The officers then seized the gun, the jewelry and some coins found in the car and arrested defendant. The other items were left in the car, which was impounded. A search warrant was later obtained for the car. That search is not in issue here.

*281 Defendant moved to suppress all of the items seized from his parents’ home, alleging that the affidavit supporting the warrant did not establish probable cause and that the items seized were outside the scope of the warrant and were not contraband or otherwise seizable. The trial court held the affidavit sufficient but found that there was no probable cause or exigent circumstances to justify the seizure of the items not named in the warrant. The trial court further found that defendant consented to the search of the car but suppressed the evidence anyway, because it found that defendant had consented only to the search and had not consented to the seizure of the items. The court held that there was no probable cause or exigent circumstances to justify the seizure.

We first address defendant’s cross-appeal. He contends that the search warrant for his parents’ home was not supported by probable cause and that all that followed from that search must be suppressed. He argues that the “veracity” of the informants was not established and that the information contained in the affidavit was stale because of the 12 days between the time the informant reported seeing the stolen items in defendant’s possession and the date on which the warrant was issued and executed.

Defendant’s first contention concerns the application of the Aguilar/Spinelli 2 test for determining the trustworthiness of information offered to show probable cause. That test was set forth in State v. Montigue, 288 Or 359, 362, 605 P2d 656 (1980), as:

“1. The affidavit must set forth informant’s ‘basis of knowledge.’
“2. The affidavit must set forth facts showing the informant’s ‘veracity,’ either by showing:
“a. The informant is credible, or
“b. That his information is reliable.”

Defendant’s challenge here, as in Montigue, is under the, second prong of that test.

We find that the veracity of the informants is sufficiently established in the affidavit. Each of the four *282 informants is a named “citizen-informer” who is not criminally involved. That is some indication of veracity. In addition, the information provided by each is corroborated by the information provided by the others.

“* * * If the information given by the informant is corroborated by another source disclosed in the affidavit there is sufficient basis to conclude he is telling the truth and not fabricating the story from whole cloth.” State v. Henderson, 40 Or App 27, 31-32, 594 P2d 419 (1979); see State v. Hasselback, 55 Or App 281, 637 P2d 1316 (1981), rev den 292 Or 825 (1982).

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Related

State v. Wheelon
903 P.2d 399 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1995)
State v. Prince
760 P.2d 1356 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1988)

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Bluebook (online)
648 P.2d 869, 58 Or. App. 277, 1982 Ore. App. LEXIS 3108, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jones-orctapp-1982.