State v. Miller

412 P.2d 240, 76 N.M. 62
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 14, 1966
Docket7893
StatusPublished
Cited by53 cases

This text of 412 P.2d 240 (State v. Miller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico 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. Miller, 412 P.2d 240, 76 N.M. 62 (N.M. 1966).

Opinion

CHAVEZ, Justice.

On July 4, 1962, Gloria Monson, a clerk in an Albuquerque, New Mexico, liquor store, was shot and killed in an apparent robbery attempt.

More than two years later, on July 7, 1964, a U. S. Commissioner in Albuquerque issued a warrant for appellant’s arrest. An F.B.I. agent, Cary Carlton, had filed a complaint upon which the warrant was issued. The complaint charged that appellant, on or about June 17, 1964, fled the state of New Mexico and traveled in interstate commerce to avoid prosecution in New Mexico for armed robbery, a felony in this state, all in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1073.

Appellant was arrested in San Diego, California, on July 16, 1964, by F.B.I. agent Thomas Mitchell, acting under the authority of the U. S. Commissioner’s warrant. Agent Mitchell took appellant to the San Diego F.B.I. office where a “major case” set of appellant’s fingerprints were obtained. The fingerprints were later .introduced in evidence at the preliminary hearing and at. the trial.

Detective James Bundy of the Albuquerque police department signed a complaint on July 10, 1964, before justice of the peace Flavio Romero of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, charging appellant with the murder of Gloria Monson. Appellant was then returned to Albuquerque to answer the charge.

Appellant was found guilty of murder by a jury and judgment was entered on that verdict. Appellant was sentenced to execution.

Appellant’s first contention is that the trial trial court erred when it failed to suppress the evidence concerning the fingerprints which were taken pursuant to the San Diego arrest. Appellant states that they were obtained by the police in the course of an illegal arrest, tie contends that the arrest in San Diego was illegal because it was made upon a warrant which had been issued on a complaint which was insufficient, as it did not show the necessary “prohable cause” for appellant’s arrest.

Appellant made motions to suppress the fingerprints at the preliminary hearing, before trial and during trial, and all of his motions were denied.

It is clear that evidence obtained through an illegal search cannot be introduced in state or federal courts. Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed. 2d 1081. Fingerprints are so excluded if they are taken pursuant to an illegal arrest. Bynum v. United States (1958), 104 U.S. App.D.C. 368, 262 F.2d 465; approved in Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441.

Argument in this case focuses upon the constitutional adequacy of the complaint which gave rise to the issuance of the warrant upon which appellant was arrested. The State argues, in an alternative answer to appellant’s contention, that agent Mitchell had authority under 18 U.S.C. § 3052, which gives F.B.I. agents authority to make arrests without a warrant, if they have reasonable grounds to believe a person has committed any felony under the laws of the United States.

At the preliminary hearing, agent Mitchell testified:

“A. Well, we had information that a ' warrant had been issued for Mr.' Miller’s arrest for unlawfully fleeing the State of New Mexico to avoid prosecution for the crime of armed robbery, and we were in the process' of trying to locate him and effect his arrest.”

Upon cross-examination, agent Mitchell testified that • he arrested appellant because there was a federal warrant outstanding for his arrest. The same basis for the arrest was reiterated at the trial.

We find no evidence in the record to sustain the State’s contention that agent Mitchell arrested appellant under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 3052. Agent Mitchell’s testimony indicates his positive reliance on the federal arrest warrant which had been issued. It is, therefore, necessary that we examine the complaint upon which that warrant was issued and determine if it was sufficient

The first case, in a series of cases which have outlined the requirements of a sufficient complaint, is Giordenello v. United States, 357 U.S. 480, 78 S.Ct. 1245, 2 L.Ed. 2d 1503. In that case the court stressed the importance of having the judicial officer exercise an independent judgment concerning the reasonableness of making an arrest. The court stated that the officer issuing an arrest warrant must be supplied with facts upon which he can “assess independently the probability that petitioner [appellant] committed the crime charged.” The complaint in that case charged s.ub-stantially the language of the statute and nothing more. The court held that, since the necessary facts did not appear in the complaint, the arrest was illegal, and the narcotics seized in the illegal arrest should not have been admitted into evidence.

The reason for requiring sufficient facts in the complaint leading to the issuance of an arrest warrant was clearly stated in a later case, Wong Sun v. United States, supra, when it said (83 S.Ct. 407, 414) :

“ * * * The arrest warrant procedure serves to insure that the deliberate, impartial judgment of a judicial officer will be interposed between the citizen and the police, to assess the weight and credibility of the information which the complaining officer adduces as probable cause. * * * ”

In the four cases cited below, the court was deciding cases which involved the sufficiency of the complaint upon which search warrants were issued. We feel that what the court said in those cases is applicable to complaints leading to the issuance of arrest warrants as well. Aguilar v. State of Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed. 2d 723.

The court recognized that hearsay evidence could be relied upon to find the necessary “probable cause” in Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 80 S.Ct. 725, 4 L.Ed. 2d 697. But the court noted that the complaint must present facts to the judicial officer which give credibility to the hearsay evidence.

An example of an adequate complaint, based on hearsay evidence, is given in Rugendorf v. United States, 376 U.S. 528, 84 S.Ct. 825, 11 L.Ed.2d 887. The complaint detailed the crime which had occurred, showed the unique nature of the items stolen, related the reliability of certain informers and the information which they had given to complainant, and cited other information linking defendant’s market to the stolen property.

But in Aguilar v.

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412 P.2d 240, 76 N.M. 62, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-miller-nm-1966.