State v. Michael

483 P.2d 541, 107 Ariz. 126, 1971 Ariz. LEXIS 247
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedApril 2, 1971
Docket2098
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 483 P.2d 541 (State v. Michael) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona 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. Michael, 483 P.2d 541, 107 Ariz. 126, 1971 Ariz. LEXIS 247 (Ark. 1971).

Opinion

LOCKWOOD, Justice:

This is an appeal by Edward Lee Michael, Jr. from the conviction of murder, second degree, resulting from a retrial after his previous conviction was reversed by this Court. See State v. Michael, 103 Ariz. 46, 436 P.2d 595 (1968). Defendant was informed against for murder of an undesignated degree and after his second trial was found guilty by a jury of murder, second degree. He was sentenced from a minimum of ten to a maximum of twenty years in the state prison. From his conviction, denial of motions for new trial and directed verdict and sentence, he appeals.

The questions presented for review are:

“1. Did the trial court err in failing to suppress evidence obtained as the ‘poisonous fruit’ of inadmissible, involuntary statements of the appellant?
“2. Was the search and seizure of the weapons and ammunition in violation of the Fourth Amendment because the items seized were not within appellant’s immediate control and thus the search and seizure was not incidental to his arrest?
*128 “3. Did the court err in allowing the expert testimony of F.B.I. Agent George Burley based upon his analysis of missing and inadmissible evidence?
“(a) Should an expert witness be allowed to testify as to tests conducted upon tangible evidence not produced at trial?
“(b) Should an expert witness be allowed to testify as to tests conducted upon unlawfully seized evidence?
“4. Did the court err in allowing a neighbor of decedent to give hearsay testimony concerning statements made by the decedent with regard to domestic strife between the latter and appellant?
“5. Did the jury instruction on malice aforethought adequately inform the jury of the legal requisites of second degree murder ?
“6. Did the prosecutor engage in misconduct that improperly influenced the jury?
“7. Is the Fifth Amendment requirement that capital crimes be prosecuted by indictment applicable to the states?”

The reversal of defendant’s previous conviction was based on the admission in evidence of certain incriminating statements by the defendant to police officers before he was advised of his right to remain silent and to have counsel, in violation of Escobedo v. State of Illinois, 378 U.S. 478, 84 S.Ct. 1758, 12 L.Ed.2d 977 (1964). (Since his first trial occurred before the decision in Miranda v. State of Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, its principles were not involved.)

In the presént appeal defendant’s first two questions challenge the admission in evidence of weapons and ammunition which he contends were the “poisonous fruits” of the oral admissions involved in his first appeal, or in the alternative that such evidence was the product of an unlawful search and seizure.

The facts material to our consideration of these arguments are as follows: On July 6, 1965, about midnight, Police Officer Thomas Star was dispatched to investigate a shooting at the defendant’s residence in Scottsdale, Arizona. The officer arrived shortly after an ambulance, and was met in the driveway by defendant’s father who said “my son just shot his wife. I think she’s dead”. Officer Star was then escorted by defendant’s father to a bedroom in the home where the defendant was lying on the bed. The deceased, Florence Michael, was slumped over in a chair with an apparent bullet wound in her cheek. As the body was being removed from the room by ambulance attendants the defendant arose from the bed and started to follow; Officer Star grasped the defendant’s right arm and asked “Where is the gun ?” 1 defendant responded “I shot my wife. Is she dead? Please help her.” Again Officer Star asked where the gun was and the defendant responded “Its over there.” and pointed to the interior of the bedroom with his arm. The defendant’s son Timothy, who had entered the room, then opened the desk drawer and said to the officer, “Here it is.” Star looked into the drawer and identified a .22 caliber revolver and a .45 caliber automatic both enclosed in holsters and then closed the *129 drawer and accompanied the defendant into the living room. Star then assumed a position which would enable him to observe the bedroom and the defendant. Other officers arrived and placed the defendant under arrest.

The incriminating admissions of the defendant and declarations of his father were not admitted in evidence at the second trial, but are taken from the testimony given at the hearings held before and throughout the trial, on defendant’s motion to suppress the physical evidence. Such statements are material to the court’s determination of whether circumstances existed which would allow a search to be made without a warrant. We believe that the search was reasonable under exceptions enunciated by the United States Supreme Court. The officer had a right and duty to locate the weapon incident to the safety of himself and other persons present at the scene, as well as the obligation to preserve the evidence connected with the crime. McDonald v. United States, 335 U.S. 451, 69 S.Ct. 191, 93 L.Ed. 153; Warden, Md. Penitentiary v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294, 87 S.Ct. 1642, 18 L.Ed.2d 782; Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576. A.R.S. § 13-1415.

In his argument at trial and in this appeal defendant relies upon Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 as supporting his position that the search exceeded the scope permitted by that decision. Chimel, supra, is not applicable to the facts of this case. Further, since we are dealing with a retrial of a case tried before Chimel, the law as it existed prior to that decision, as summarized in Justice White’s dissenting opinion is controlling. Chimel has been held not to be retroactive. Williams v. United States, 418 F.2d 159 (9th Cir.); State v. Bustamante, 11 Ariz.App. 129, 462 P.2d 822; State v. Ramos, 11 Ariz.App. 196, 463 P.2d 91. In Chimel, supra, the absence of probable cause was the reason advance judicial approval of the search had not been obtained. No emergency there existed as it did in the instant case.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
483 P.2d 541, 107 Ariz. 126, 1971 Ariz. LEXIS 247, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-michael-ariz-1971.