State v. Miller

465 P.2d 894, 2 Or. App. 87, 1970 Ore. App. LEXIS 599
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMarch 5, 1970
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 465 P.2d 894 (State v. Miller) 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. Miller, 465 P.2d 894, 2 Or. App. 87, 1970 Ore. App. LEXIS 599 (Or. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

SCHWAB, C. J.

Defendant and one Glover were indicted for the crime of assault and robbery while armed with a dangerous weapon. Defendant was tried separately before a jury and convicted.

At approximately 2:15 a.m., December 23, 1968, a grocery store in Klamath County, Oregon, was robbed by two men, each of whom carried a hand gun. One of the robbers was wearing sunglasses. Stolen in the robbery were currency and dimes, nickels, and pennies in rolls. After the robbers departed Mrs. Blofsky, the victim of the robbery, called the police. En route to the store in response to this call Officer Schoenberg of the Oregon State Police noticed three automobiles on the highway going away from the store. He relayed the descriptions of these automobiles to his headquarters by radio. About one-half hour prior to the robbery and on the street on which the store is located a city policeman from Klamath Falls, Oregon, had issued a traffic ticket to one Veltri of Salem, Oregon, the driver of a 1954 Ford sedan, license number 6C3582. Veltri’s automobile fitted the description of one of the automobiles observed by Officer Schoenberg leaving the vicinity of the robbery. The city police discovered Veltri’s automobile at a motel in Klamath Falls. At 3:50 a.m. Schoenberg went to the motel unit and talked with Veltri. The defendant and Glover *90 were also present. Schoenberg left the motel after the men refused his request that they accompany him to the police station to allow Mrs. Blofsky to look at them. The city police maintained surveillance over the motel unit.

The occupants of the motel unit were observed packing what appeared to be clothing into the automobile. Defendant, Veltri, and Glover then departed the motel in the automobile. Veltri was driving. Officer Rose of the Klamath Falls city police followed the automobile and noticed that it had no light over the rear license plate in violation of ORS 483.406(2). The automobile was stopped at about 4:30 a.m. and Officer Rose issued a citation for the traffic violation. About four minutes after the automobile was stopped, Schoenberg and Mrs. Blofsky, the robbery victim, arrived at the scene. Defendant, Veltri, and Glover were asked to step out of the automobile and did so. Mrs. Blofsky was asked to look at the men to determine whether they were the robbers. She stated that she had never seen Veltri but she identified Glover as one of the robbers and stated the defendant resembled the other one in build, height and facial features, but that she was not positive that he was the one.

At that time the three occupants of the automobile were arrested for the robbery. The automobile was sealed and towed away under police supervision. The motel room was subsequently searched without a warrant and a hand gun and a switchblade knife were seized. The officers then obtained a warrant to search the automobile. This search produced a hand gun similar to that used in the robbery, two pair of sunglasses similar to those worn in the robbery, .38 caliber bullets, .22 caliber bullets, and a checkered *91 hat containing 150 pennies and 40 nickels. Pennies are wrapped in rolls of 50, nickels in rolls of 40.

Prior to trial defendant moved to suppress the identification by 'Mrs. Blofsky and the evidence seized in the searches of the motel room and the automobile. The motion was denied and, over the objection of defendant, the identification by Mrs. Blofsky and the items seized in the search of the automobile were received into evidence at trial. Defendant has assigned as error the denial of the motion and the admission of the evidence.

Since defendant concedes that the police had the right to stop the automobile, we need not consider whether all that followed was justified solely because the police managed to note a motor vehicle violation. The police suspected the occupants of the automobile were the robbers and their primary purpose in stopping the vehicle was to determine whether this was true before the occupants could get away. The occupants had not previously been arrested because apparently the police were not sure that their suspicions were sufficiently well warranted to constitute probable cause to arrest. Even if the officers were correct in their concern, the brief restraint of the defendant and his companions for the purpose of investigation was not improper.

“ ‘We conclude that no right of the appellee was violated when the officers stopped the car and that the subsequent seizure of the evidence upon which he was convicted was justified as pursuant to a lawful arrest. While it is clear that at the time appellee’s car was pulled over probable cause for an arrest did not exist, it is also clear that not every time an officer sounds his siren or flashes a light to flag down a vehicle has an arrest been made. The initial act of stopping appellee’s car *92 was not an arrest. Granting that the constitutional prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures makes no distinction between informal detention without cause and formal arrest without cause, there is a difference between that “cause” which will justify informal detention short of arrest and the probable cause standard required to justify that kind of custody traditionally denominated an arrest. Our concern here is what degree of cause will justify cursory, informal detention in circumstances which would not justify an arrest, and whether the officers met that standard in the particular circumstances of this case.
‘We take it as settled that there is nothing ipso facto unconstitutional in the brief detention of citizens under circumstances not justifying an arrest, for purposes of limited inquiry in the course of routine police investigations. Rios v. United States, 364 U.S. 253, 80 S. Ct. 1431, 4 L.Ed2d 1688 (1960); Busby v. United States, 296 F.2d 328 (9th Cir. 1961). A line between reasonable detention for routine investigation and detention which could be characterized as capricious and arbitrary cannot neatly be drawn. But due regard for the practical necessities of effective law. enforcement requires that the validity of brief, informal detention be recognized whenever it appears from the totality of the circumstances that the detaining officers could have had reasonable grounds for their action. A founded suspicion is all that is necessary, some basis from which the court can determine that the detention was not arbitrary or harassing.’ 361 F2d at 414-415.” State v. Cloman, 254 Or 1, 7-8, 456 P2d 67 (1969), quoting from Wilson v. Porter, 361 F2d 412 (9th Cir 1966).

Here it was reasonable for the officers to suspect the occupants of the automobile. The automobile had been seen near the scene of the robbery and, soon after being contacted about the robbery in the early *93 hours of the morning, the occupants of the automobile apparently were leaving town. The officers knew that the driver was from out of town. If they were to determine whether their suspicions were correct, it was necessary for them to act immediately.

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Bluebook (online)
465 P.2d 894, 2 Or. App. 87, 1970 Ore. App. LEXIS 599, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-miller-orctapp-1970.