State v. Peterson

512 P.2d 600, 20 Ariz. App. 296, 1973 Ariz. App. LEXIS 709
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedJuly 24, 1973
DocketNo. 1 CA-CR 483
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 512 P.2d 600 (State v. Peterson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Peterson, 512 P.2d 600, 20 Ariz. App. 296, 1973 Ariz. App. LEXIS 709 (Ark. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

EUBANK, Presiding Judge.

Appellant seeks review of the denial of her motion to suppress certain evidence seized pursuant to a search warrant which, she contends, was based on an affidavit that did not contain sufficient facts to' support a finding of probable cause. We are also asked to determine whether an information which charges possession of a narcotic drug, Numorphan, in violation of A.R.S. § 36-1002, states a public offense.

On the evening of May 10, 1971, an agent of the Arizona Department of Public Safety applied to the justice of the peace for a warrant to search the residence of appellant. The warrant was issued solely on the basis of the officer’s eight page affidavit and was executed early the next morning by the agent and a fellow officer. The search revealed various paraphernalia common to drug use and a quantity of methamphetamine and Numorphan, all of which were the subject of appellant’s motion to suppress.

Appellant was arrested, and following her preliminary hearing entered pleas of “not guilty” to both counts of the information, which charged her in Count I with the unlawful possession of a dangerous drug (methamphetamine), and in Count II with the possession of a narcotic drug (Numorphan) ,1 She was tried by the court, sitting without a jury, on the basis of the transcripts of the previous hearings and stipulations and was found guilty on both counts. The trial court treated Count I as a misdemeanor and sentenced her to one year for confinement in the county jail. Count II was treated as a felony but the sentence was suspended and she was placed on probation for two years. The trial court entered a Certificate of Probable Cause there-, by staying execution of the sentence.

A review of Officer Pruitt’s affidavit in question reveals four areas of knowledge: information relating to a search and arrest [298]*298of appellant some three months previous; information relating to her continued drug trafficking and drug use since her prior arrest; information relating to recent surveillance of appellant’s residence; and information tending to support the necessity of a “no knock” warrant.2

In order to determine whether the facts presented to the magistrate justified his conclusion that there was probable cause to believe that the contraband sought was on the person or premises to be searched at the time the warrant was issued, we are required to examine the affidavit in detail. The affidavit, after describing the appellant, her residence and the property to be searched for, relates a prior search, incident to another warrant, conducted by affiant on January 26, 1971, of the same person and residence, at which time a useable quantity of methamphetamine and morphine was found. The sufficiency of this type of information is questioned by the appellant. While the date of this search may be too remote in time to indicate in and of itself the probability of the presence of drugs on the premises on May 10, 1971, it does constitute information that may be considered by the magistrate as evidence of a history of such presence, and together with other more recent evidence will support the affiant’s belief that drugs would be found in the residence on May 10. In Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 69 S.Ct. 1302, 93 L.Ed. 1879 (1949), the United States Supreme Court in upholding a warrantless search approved the testimony by the searching officer that he had several months previously arrested the defendant for a similar offense. This holding was specifically approved in the more recent decision of United States v. Harris, 403 U.S. 573, 91 S.Ct. 2075, 29 L.Ed.2d 723 (1971).

In addition to the foregoing, the affidavit also states that on May 3, 1971, in response to a complaint of loud parties at the residence of the appellant, a surveillance was commenced by the affiant which was continued through May 7, 1971. The record of the surveillance shows that on May 3rd one person with a record of prior arrests for possession of marijuana and dangerous drugs entered the residence and another such person approached the premises and spoke into the intercom but did not enter. On the following day one known drug arrest records enter the residence, with prior drug connected arrests entered the residence. On May 5 five such persons were observed in the residence and on May 6 one such person was observed in the carport of the residence. On the last day of the surveillance a fellow officer of the affiant recognized two persons with prior drug arrest records entered the residence. During the surveillance several of the above persons were seen entering the premises in an apparent sober condition and leaving a short time later seemingly under the influence of narcotics.

Appellant maintains that consideration by the magistrate of all of the above information was precluded by the holding in State v. Simon, 12 Ariz.App. 321, 470 P.2d 469 (1970). A careful reading of that case indicates that the magistrate therein was given absolutely no basis on which to determine if the confidential informant was reliable and no underlying circumstances by which to support the officer’s conclusion that the warrant should issue. The Court of Appeals thus had no alternative, when presented with the State’s argument that the defendant’s previous record would provide the required “underlying circumstances”, but to conclude that a “prior record has no relevance to a person’s guilt in fixing probable cause to issue a warrant for a different offense”. (12 Ariz.App. at 325, 470 P.2d at 473). See Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969).

In addition to various “informant” type statements which are unsupported by underlying circumstances, the affidavit [299]*299here states that the affiant learned from a fellow officer that “two separate past proven reliable confidential informants whose information had resulted in at least ten arrests” had informed that officer that they “had purchased methamphetamine during the last week of April from Chatón Peterson and that there is a constant flow of drugs through the residence. . . . ” The indication of the prior use of the informants and the description of the manner in which the informants gained their information combine to meet the well established test of Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964).

Reading the affidavit as a whole, the logical chain forming probable cause, is, in our opinion, complete: illegal drugs were found in the residence and in the possession of the appellant in late January 1971; drugs were illegally obtained from the appellant at the residence “during the last week of April”; and from May 3 through May 7, 1971, numerous persons with prior drug arrests were observed entering and leaving the premises, some in an apparent state of drug intoxication.

When the facts of the case sub judice were compared with those of State v. Simon, supra, it is clear that the result reached there is inapplicable here.

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Related

State v. Collins
522 P.2d 40 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
512 P.2d 600, 20 Ariz. App. 296, 1973 Ariz. App. LEXIS 709, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-peterson-arizctapp-1973.