State v. Ray

598 P.2d 994, 123 Ariz. 175, 1978 Ariz. App. LEXIS 763
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedOctober 10, 1978
DocketNo. 1 CA-CR 2672
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 598 P.2d 994 (State v. Ray) 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. Ray, 598 P.2d 994, 123 Ariz. 175, 1978 Ariz. App. LEXIS 763 (Ark. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

[177]*177OPINION

FROEB, Chief Judge.

Appellant was charged by indictment with possessing a stolen motor vehicle in violation of A.R.S. § 28-1423. He was convicted after a trial by jury and was sentenced to serve from three to five years in the Arizona State Prison. The issues raised by appellant concern: (1) the use of the preliminary hearing transcript at trial; (2) the admissibility of statements which the appellant made to an investigating officer subsequent to what he contends was an illegal arrest; (3) the trial court’s amendment of the indictment; (4) sufficiency of the evidence; and (5) the propriety of certain jury instructions.

The facts relevant to this appeal are as follows: on or about July 21, 1975, the investigating officer, Sgt. Warriner, received information from an informant to the effect that a GMC pickup truck stolen from New Mexico was in appellant’s lot in Phoenix; that appellant was driving a brown, late-model Cadillac with out-of-state plates which was stolen; and that the brown Cadillac had been at “Bill’s” house near Maricopa, Arizona. The informant drove Warriner to appellant’s lot and pointed out the GMC pickup and he also accompanied Warriner to “Bill’s” house in Maricopa. Bill, who was later identified as William Granger Goddard, stated that a Cadillac with Washington plates had been at his home earlier in 1975. The parties stipulated that the informant had been reliable in the past, but that his information did not result in any arrests or convictions. The parties further stipulated that the informant did not tell Warriner how he knew that the GMC pickup and the brown Cadillac were stolen, nor did he indicate how he knew that appellant was in possession of the vehicles.

The record indicates that Wilhelm Rosemann was the owner of a lot located in Phoenix. The east half of the lot was leased to appellant and Ken Alexander for the purpose of storing and repairing damaged mobile homes. Rosemann’s business was located on the west half of the property. From the fall of 1974, various people, including Ken Alexander, lived on the east half of the property. A few months prior to July, 1975, Rosemann noticed a 1974 GMC pickup truck on the east half of the property which was moved to the west half of the property approximately two weeks prior to July 22, 1975.

Acting on the tip of the informant, the police arrived at Rosemann’s lot on July 22, 1975, for purposes of investigating the GMC pickup truck. The officers of the Phoenix Police Department had observed the pickup truck on the premises on the previous day and had sent a teletype to New Mexico to determine whether the truck was stolen. The teletype confirmed that a vehicle matching the description of the truck on Rosemann’s lot was stolen. On July 22, 1975, the police went to the lot to investigate the GMC pickup. Rosemann told them that the truck belonged to appellant because he had seen the truck in the east half of the yard previously. He did not indicate that appellant parked the truck on the west side of the property. Rosemann testified further that neither appellant nor any of his employees ever gave him permission to allow the police to examine the vehicle, nor did he have the keys to the vehicle, nor had he ever discussed the vehicle with appellant or any of his employees.

With Rosemann’s permission, the officers opened the hood of the pickup and leaned into the engine compartment to obtain the vehicle identification number. The officers then confirmed that the GMC pickup was the same one indicated as stolen on the teletype from New Mexico of the previous day. At approximately 12:30 P.M., on July 22, 1975, Sgt. Warriner issued a bulletin on the police radio for the arrest of appellant for possession of the stolen GMC pickup. The broadcast for the arrest occurred after the pickup was searched. The officers had not procured a search warrant for the pickup nor had they procured an arrest warrant prior to the arrest of appellant. The parties stipulated that the police did have time to secure a search warrant for the pickup.

[178]*178The facts further indicate that on July 21, 1975, officers began surveillance on a residence located in Glendale, Arizona. They observed a brown Cadillac with Arizona plates in the driveway. The surveillance continued on July 22, 1975. During the afternoon a woman, who had been observed in the residence the previous day, moved the brown Cadillac from the driveway to the street in front of the house and reentered the residence. The officers checked the Arizona license plates on the brown Cadillac and found them registered to a 1973 Cadillac belonging to James Ray, with an address of Pie Town, New Mexico.

The officers who were observing the house learned over the police radio that orders had been given to arrest appellant on the charge of possession of the stolen pickup. At approximately 5:50 P.M., on July 22, 1975, appellant drove into the premises in a white 1973 Cadillac convertible. He was arrested on the basis of the radio broadcast. After the arrest, the officers checked the vehicle identification numbers on both Cadillacs by looking through the front windows at the numbers on the dashboards. They discovered that the brown Cadillac was stolen. The license plates on the white 1973 Cadillac were found to be registered to a Ford. Appellant was arrested and the brown Cadillac was searched and seized after the officers had checked the identification numbers. No warrants were obtained.

Appellant was charged with possession of a stolen motor vehicle on October 1, 1975. A preliminary hearing was held in the Glendale justice court and the appellant was bound over for trial. One of the primary witnesses at the preliminary hearing was William Granger Goddard. That case was dismissed for a violation of the time limit set forth in the Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure.

On May 20, 1976, the grand jury indicted appellant for possession on July 22, 1976, of a stolen motor vehicle, specifically a 1974 Cadillac, two-door (the brown Cadillac) in violation of A.R.S. § 28-1423. The appellant moved for a new finding of probable cause and the State moved to amend the indictment to show 1975 instead of 1976 as the correct year for the offense. The appellant’s motion was denied and the State’s motion was granted.

The trial commenced on January 28,1977. At the beginning of the trial, a voluntariness hearing was held and statements the appellant had made to Warriner were found to be admissible. The State moved the court to admit the preliminary hearing testimony of Goddard, and, after a hearing, the court granted the motion. Throughout the proceedings the appellant made motions for directed verdict and mistrial which were denied.

USE OF PRELIMINARY HEARING TRANSCRIPT AT TRIAL

Appellant raises, as his first allegation of error, the admission of the preliminary hearing transcript containing the testimony of William Goddafd. His argument is twofold. He contends first that the State failed to make an adequate showing as to the unavailability of the witness and second that his opportunity to cross-examine the witness at the hearing was curtailed in such a way that he was denied his right to confront the witness.

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Related

State v. Ray
598 P.2d 990 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1979)

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Bluebook (online)
598 P.2d 994, 123 Ariz. 175, 1978 Ariz. App. LEXIS 763, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ray-arizctapp-1978.