State v. Martin

440 P.2d 429, 73 Wash. 2d 616, 1968 Wash. LEXIS 671
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedApril 25, 1968
Docket39111
StatusPublished
Cited by140 cases

This text of 440 P.2d 429 (State v. Martin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington 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. Martin, 440 P.2d 429, 73 Wash. 2d 616, 1968 Wash. LEXIS 671 (Wash. 1968).

Opinion

Ward, J.

The defendant was charged in justice court in the city of Moses Lake with speeding, a misdemeanor, and with the gross misdemeanor defined in RCW 46.52.020, generally referred to as the hit and run statute. He was convicted in justice court on both counts, and on appeal was again convicted on both counts in the superior court, and now appeals from the judgment entered on the jury’s verdict.

The defendant’s 14 assignments of error may be grouped for discussion as follows: (1) Error in denying defendant’s motion to suppress evidence made before the commencement of trial; (2) errors in the admission and rejection of evidence during the trial; (3) error in the giving of instructions to the jury; (4) failure of the state to make a prima facie case on either count.

The facts which are pertinent to the issues raised are as follows. On July 6, 1965, at about 9 p.m., Airman Ed Downs was riding his black Honda motorcycle near the entrance to Larson Air Force Base, near Moses Lake. He was struck from the rear by a car. His motorcycle was thrown 75 feet from the highway and Airman Downs landed along side the road about 110 feet from where he was struck. He sustained a broken leg and other injuries, but dragged himself *618 to the edge of the highway where he was able to flag down a passing car by waving the white helmet which he wore at the time of the accident. He was given first aid by a passenger in the car that stopped. A piece of metal chrome auto stripping, one end of which was embedded about 3 inches in his buttocks was withdrawn and given to State Trooper Robert McBride who investigated the accident.

The automobile which struck Airman Downs did not stop at the scene of the accident and Airman Downs did not see the automobile. The only means of identification at that time was the strip of metal chrome which showed some light blue paint on its surface.

At about 1:30 a.m., on July 7, 1965, Trooper McBride was operating a radar check for speeders near one of the entrances to Larson Air Force Base and observed the defendant’s car. He stopped his patrol car, took a radar reading and determined that the car was traveling 50 miles per hour in a 40-miles-per-hour zone. Trooper McBride overtook the speeding car and informed the driver, who was the defendant, that he would be arrested for speeding. Walking to the front of defendant’s car, Trooper McBride noted that the right front fender of the car was dented, that a part of the chrome strip was missing, that there was black paint on the fender, and that this damaged area on the defendant’s car appeared to be the only part of the car not covered by a coating of mud. Trooper McBride straightened out the piece of chrome stripping which was in his possession and noted that in length it matched the chrome missing from defendant’s damaged right front fender. When asked about the missing chrome strip, defendant claimed that he ran into a ditch in Okanogan several days previously and disclaimed any knowledge of any hit and run accident.

The defendant was then requested to follow the trooper to Moses Lake in his own car, and at the Moses Lake police department, the defendant was issued a citation for speeding and for having a loaded gun in the car. The trooper then went to the home of the justice of the peace in Moses Lake and at about 2:30 a.m., filed a complaint against the *619 defendant under the hit and run statute and obtained a warrant for his arrest. The defendant was thereupon arrested on the hit and run charge and fully advised of his constitutional rights, after which the defendant stated that he had been home all evening and that no one had used his car. The following day photographs were taken of the defendant’s automobile, some with the motorcycle placed in juxtaposition to the damaged fender. Paint samples were taken from defendant’s car and sent with paint samples from the piece of metal chrome to the crime laboratory in Spokane for anaylsis and comparison. The two samples of paint registered almost identical readings on the specto-graph.

The charge against the defendant for carrying a loaded weapon in a vehicle was dismissed and the loaded gun was not offered in evidence.

The defendant presented a pretrial motion to “suppress the testimony of Robert McBride and to suppress all additional physical evidence obtained by the said Robert McBride as the result of the unlawful arrest, search and seizure of defendant and defendant’s 1956 Chevrolet Station Wagon . . . .” Defendant’s counsel expressed the theory supporting his motion in the affidavit which he filed as follows:

[T]he charge of speeding placed against the defendant was a ruse in attempt to obtain possession of the defendant and his automobile without warrant, and that the evidence unlawfully obtained by said officer was obtained as the result of an illegal search and seizure while said automobile was unlawfully under the control of said officer.

On the pretrial hearing the defendant testified that he was not arrested for speeding when stopped by the officer, but was arrested as a hit and run driver. State Trooper McBride testified that the sequence of the two arrests was as set out in the foregoing statement of facts. The trial court chose to believe the testimony of Trooper McBride rather than the testimony of the defendant. There was substantial evidence to sustain the trial court’s conclusion. *620 Neither did the trial court believe that the arrest for speeding was merely a ruse by which the arresting officer sought to illegally obtain evidence of hit and rim. We find nothing in the record which would justify us in setting aside the trial court’s conclusion.

It may be noted that the jury found the evidence sufficient to convict the defendant on the speeding charge. The defendant appeals from the conviction on both counts, but in his brief he devotes to a discussion of the conviction of speeding one paragraph consisting of four lines without specific assignment of error and without citation of authorities. We cannot take his appeal on the speeding charge any more seriously than does the defendant himself.

The defendant urges that this case should be disposed of under the rule of State v. Michaels, 60 Wn.2d 638, 644, 374 P.2d 989 (1962): “An arrest may not be used as a pretext to search for evidence.” It will be noted, however, that there was a vital difference in the facts in State v. Mi-chaels. In that case the court said at 644: “In the present case there is no pretense that the arrest was made with any idea in mind except to gain access to the automobile and search it; . . . .” Also, at 645:

The evidence in this case conclusively shows that the arrest was made for the sole purpose of searching the automobile to ascertain whether it contained any contraband property. It was a mere pretext for the search and was therefore unlawful. Consequently, the defendant’s motions to suppress should have been granted.

In one other important respect, State v. Michaels, supra,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State Of Washington, V. Amy Joelle Harle
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2024
State of Washington v. Jose Javier Peralta Martinez
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2014
Clancy v. State
2013 NV 89 (Nevada Supreme Court, 2013)
Sandwick v. District of Columbia
21 A.3d 997 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2011)
State v. Powell
206 P.3d 321 (Washington Supreme Court, 2009)
State v. Borrero
147 Wash. 2d 353 (Washington Supreme Court, 2002)
State v. Sutherland
15 P.3d 1051 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2001)
State v. Bourgeois
917 P.2d 1101 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1996)
Mancuso v. State
636 So. 2d 753 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1994)
State v. Dunivin
829 P.2d 799 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1992)
State v. Belgarde
755 P.2d 174 (Washington Supreme Court, 1988)
State v. Aaron
745 P.2d 1316 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1987)
State v. Pacheco
726 P.2d 981 (Washington Supreme Court, 1986)
Commonwealth v. Kauffman
470 A.2d 634 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1984)
State v. Vela
673 P.2d 185 (Washington Supreme Court, 1983)
Rottinghaus v. Howell
666 P.2d 899 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1983)
State v. Vela
656 P.2d 536 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1983)
State v. Montague
644 P.2d 715 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1982)
State v. White
644 P.2d 693 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1982)
State v. Lopez
631 P.2d 420 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1981)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
440 P.2d 429, 73 Wash. 2d 616, 1968 Wash. LEXIS 671, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-martin-wash-1968.