State v. Noel

628 A.2d 692, 137 N.H. 384, 1993 N.H. LEXIS 88
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedJuly 7, 1993
DocketNo. 92-206
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 628 A.2d 692 (State v. Noel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Noel, 628 A.2d 692, 137 N.H. 384, 1993 N.H. LEXIS 88 (N.H. 1993).

Opinion

Brock, C. J.

The defendant was convicted of burglary, RSA 635:1 (1986). On appeal, he challenges the Superior Court’s (Coffey, J.) ruling denying his motion to suppress. For reasons that follow, we affirm.

During the afternoon of February 13, 1991, Chief Paul Gelinas of the New Durham Police Department was patrolling South Shore Road, a cul-de-sac, approximately 4 miles long. That neighborhood, which is primarily a summer community with few year-round residents, had experienced approximately twelve burglaries within the previous six weeks. While on South Shore Road, the chief passed a blue Toyota pick-up truck traveling in the opposite direction, exiting the cul-de-sac. A woman drove the truck, and a man occupied the passenger’s seat. The open back of the truck was loaded with furniture, which appeared to have been unaffected by the sand, salt and snow that “was just flying over everything” on the road.

Based on his observations and his knowledge of the numerous burglaries, the chief suspected that the furniture had been stolen from one of the homes on South Shore Road. Approximately four hundred feet from where he passed the pick-up truck, the chief turned his marked cruiser around and pursued the vehicle. Despite substantially exceeding the posted speed limit, he was unable to catch the vehicle. He radioed to Sergeant David Perkins of the New Durham Police to stop the vehicle to investigate. Sergeant Perkins received the radio transmission around 2:55 p.m., and stopped the vehicle at approximately 3:05 p.m.

Sergeant Perkins explained to the occupants that he stopped the truck because there had been several recent burglaries in the area and Chief Gelinas wanted to determine whether the furniture belonged to the occupants in the truck. Patricia Arnold was the driver of the vehicle, and the defendant was the passenger. The defendant claimed that he purchased the furniture that morning from an Eddie Lawrence in Allenstown for $275, but that he did not have a receipt or bill of sale. While Sergeant Perkins was checking on the registration and whether an Eddie Lawrence existed in Allenstown, the chief arrived on the scene and confirmed that Sergeant Perkins had stopped the appropriate vehicle. Within a few minutes, the chief drove back down South Shore Road to see if any homes had been burglarized.

Sergeant Perkins learned from the dispatcher that there was no one by the name of Eddie Lawrence listed in the Allenstown area. [386]*386Sergeant Perkins relayed this information to the defendant, who then modified his story claiming that Eddie Lawrence was from Massachusetts, and that the sale occurred at the home of Eddie Lawrence’s son, Richard. The dispatcher was busy at this time and could not confirm whether a Richard Lawrence lived in Allenstown.

Within fifteen to twenty minutes of the initial stop, Sergeant Perkins radioed Trooper David Wheeler of the New Hampshire State Police for assistance “because [he] felt there was definitely a problem with this particular vehicle and the furniture and the results, the answers [he] was getting from these people.” Trooper Wheeler arrived at the scene and observed “that the furniture in the truck in [his] opinion had not been there very long, if more than a few minutes ....” Trooper Wheeler asked Ms. Arnold to exit the vehicle and stand near the rear of the truck while the defendant remained inside the truck. He gave her Miranda warnings and asked her questions regarding the furniture. He testified that she stated that' she and the defendant had purchased the furniture at 11:00 a.m. that morning from an Eddie Lawrence who lived in Suncook, and that Lawrence’s house was brown and had a driveway on the left side.

Trooper Wheeler then asked the defendant and Ms. Arnold to switch positions. After giving the defendant Miranda warnings, he asked the defendant a series of questions similar to those posed to Ms. Arnold. Trooper Wheeler testified that the defendant stated that he had purchased the furniture in Suncook from an Eddie Lawrence at 9:00 a.m. that morning, and that he could not remember the color of the house, but said that the driveway was on the right side.

After the questioning, Trooper Wheeler advised the defendant and Ms. Arnold that their stories were inconsistent. Because the answers given by the defendant and Ms. Arnold heightened the officers’ suspicions that the furniture had been stolen, the officers conferred as to what should occur next. Sergeant Perkins advised the defendant that the officers believed that the furniture might be stolen. He then asked the defendant “if it would be possible if [the officers] held onto the furniture until such time [the defendant] could produce a receipt.” He also told the defendant that otherwise he “may have to charge [the defendant] for the receiving of stolen property.” Sergeant Perkins testified that the defendant “advised me at that time that he’d be more than glad to let us hold onto the furniture until such time [the defendant] . . . got a receipt.” Sergeant Perkins also testified that he requested the defendant to drive the furniture to the police station, and the defendant agreed to do so.

Approximately two minutes after the officers and the suspects left for the police station, the officers received a radio transmission from [387]*387Chief Gelinas that he had discovered a break-in at the Frost residence on South Shore Road. Within a matter of minutes, the suspects were formally arrested in the parking lot of the New Durham Police Department.

After a hearing, the superior court denied the defendant’s motion to suppress any and all evidence obtained from the investigative stop and subsequent arrest. At the suppression hearing, the defendant argued that the stop and subsequent arrest were in violation of his constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. N.H. Const, pt. I, art. 19; U.S. CONST, amend. IV. The defendant negotiated a plea in which he voluntarily waived his right to a jury trial, accepted a finding of guilty based on the sufficiency of the State’s proposed evidence, but pled not guilty so that he could appeal the court’s denial of his motion to suppress.

We independently consider the defendant’s claims first under the State Constitution, State v. Ball, 124 N.H. 226, 231, 471 A.2d 347, 350 (1983), citing to federal law only as an aid in our analysis, State v. Maya, 126 N.H. 590, 594, 493 A.2d 1139, 1143 (1985). Because, under the facts of this case, “the federal law is not more favorable to the defendant, we make no separate federal analysis.” Id.

On appeal, the defendant has admitted that the initial stop was permissible under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 16-20 (1968), and its progeny. See Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 502 (1983); United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 554-55 (1980); State v. Reid, 135 N.H. 376, 380, 605 A.2d 1050, 1052 (1992); State v. Brodeur, 126 N.H. 411, 415, 493 A.2d 1134, 1137-38 (1985); Maya, 126 N.H at 595, 493 A.2d at 1143-44.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
628 A.2d 692, 137 N.H. 384, 1993 N.H. LEXIS 88, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-noel-nh-1993.