State v. Marshall

295 P.3d 128, 254 Or. App. 419, 2013 WL 103671, 2013 Ore. App. LEXIS 8
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJanuary 9, 2013
DocketCFH080360; A146945
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 295 P.3d 128 (State v. Marshall) 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. Marshall, 295 P.3d 128, 254 Or. App. 419, 2013 WL 103671, 2013 Ore. App. LEXIS 8 (Or. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

HASELTON, C. J.

Following a jury trial, defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for felon in possession of a firearm, ORS 166.270, and theft in the first degree by receiving, ORS 164.095.1 Defendant assigns error to the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence discovered during a warrantless search of an RV trailer, contending that his consent to a search was improperly induced by an investigating police officer who gave a false promise of immunity. Or Const, Art I, § 9.2 We conclude that defendant’s consent was not voluntary, and the trial court’s error in denying defendant’s motion to suppress was not harmless.3 Accordingly, we reverse and remand defendant’s convictions for felon in possession of a firearm and first-degree theft and remand for resentencing.

In reviewing a denial of a motion to suppress, we are bound by the trial court’s findings of historical fact to the extent that there is sufficient evidence in the record to support those findings. State v. Ehly, 317 Or 66, 75, 854 P2d 421 (1993). The determination of whether the predicate circumstances are sufficient to establish voluntariness is a matter of law, which we “assess independently.” State v. Acremant, 338 Or 302, 324, 108 P3d 1139, cert den, 546 US 864 (2005). We review whether the predicate circumstances are sufficient to establish voluntariness for errors of law. State v. Stevens, 311 Or 119, 135, 806 P2d 92 (1991). Further, “[i]n analyzing whether consent to a search is voluntary, the relevant inquiry is whether, under the totality of the circumstances, the consent was the product of the defendant’s free will or, conversely, was the result of express or implied coercion.” State ex rel Juv. Dept. v. Stephens, 175 Or App 220, 225, 27 P3d 170 (2001).

[422]*422Defendant managed an RV trailer park in Umatilla, where he lived in a converted bus and kept a shop behind his residence. On January 31,2007, during the investigation of an unrelated crime, an individual, Mercer, informed Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office Detective Dixon that defendant had recently provided him methamphetamine. Mercer also told Dixon that defendant “had a large cabinet of stolen jewelry *** in [defendant’s] camp trailer.” On February 15, Oregon State Trooper Wilson interviewed Barnes, an inmate in the Umatilla County Jail, regarding defendant’s activities. Barnes told Wilson that he had purchased drugs from defendant and that Barnes thought that defendant had stored some stolen jewelry in what he believed to be defendant’s “camp trailer.” Based on those reports of defendant’s drug activity, Wilson obtained a search warrant for defendant’s bus and shop.4

On February 21, 2007, defendant was at his residence when Dixon, Wilson, and nine other police officers arrived to execute the search warrant. Wilson told defendant that “we knew that [defendant had] been selling drugs out of his residence there and we were there to shut that operation down”; defendant responded, “[you] just did.” Defendant cooperated when Wilson patted him down and led him to the back of a patrol car, where Wilson read defendant the search warrant and advised him of his Miranda rights. Defendant acknowledged that he understood those rights, and then admitted that the officers would find methamphetamine in his bus.

During the search of defendant’s bus and shop, officers discovered methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, and property that had been reported stolen, including valuable china and Coca-Cola glassware and collectibles. Officers also found two bills of sale for a 1975 Prowler RV that was located in another space on the other side of the same RV park — and which had not been included within the scope of the search warrant. One of those bills of sale listed Travis Davis as the seller and Elton Long as the buyer. The [423]*423other listed Elton Long as the seller, and the space for the buyer’s name had been left blank.

When Dixon asked defendant about the RV, defendant asked to speak with Wilson. Defendant told Wilson that he was holding the RV for former park tenants, Davis and Long, for back rent that they owed and that it “was full of property * * * that he kind of figured * * * was stolen property.” Specifically, defendant told Wilson that he “had been in the trailer a couple of times and he [had seen] what he believed to be a gun that was wrapped up[,] *** a lot of Coca-Cola stuff, a TV set and some other property,” which defendant maintained that Davis and Long had placed in the RV.

Because the RV was not included in the search warrant, Wilson asked defendant for consent to search. Defendant disclaimed ownership of the property in the RV and told Wilson that “he did not want to be charged with anything in the trailer,” and that he would not consent to the search unless and until he had that “in writing.”

In response, Wilson altered a preprinted “Voluntary Consent to Search” form. Specifically, Wilson, in his own handwriting, inserted the language emphasized below, so that the consent form read as follows:

“I, Patrick D. Marshall, do hereby freely give the below signed peace officer (or any peace officer in the State of Oregon, as defined by ORS 161.015) consent to search the following described property;
“ ’75 Prowler RV! trailer * * *
“I certify that I have not been coerced, threatened, or made any promises concerning the results of such search, except those stipulated herein:
“Mr. Marshall is not responsible for the property stored inside the RV Trailer! MSW [Trooper Wilson’s initials]
“By signing this form, I acknowledge that I am giving voluntary permission for this search!.] * * *
“Furthermore, I understand that I have the right to refuse permission for the search; and that I can stop the search at any time.”

[424]*424(Handwritten insertions emphasized.) Defendant signed the consent form, as so modified by Wilson.5

In the ensuing search of the RV, officers found, among other items, a flat-screen TV, a shotgun wrapped in a blanket, Coca-Cola glassware and collectibles, and a cabinet full of jewelry. Much of that property had been reported stolen.

Based on the searches, defendant was charged with unlawful delivery of methamphetamine and unlawful possession of methamphetamine, as well as felon in possession of a firearm, ORS 166.270 (Count 3),6 and theft in the first degree by receiving, ORS 164.095 (Count 4).7

Defendant filed a pretrial motion to suppress evidence found in the RV, arguing that his consent was involuntary because it was based on an improper inducement

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
295 P.3d 128, 254 Or. App. 419, 2013 WL 103671, 2013 Ore. App. LEXIS 8, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-marshall-orctapp-2013.