State v. Reynolds

603 P.2d 1223, 43 Or. App. 619, 1979 Ore. App. LEXIS 3423
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 10, 1979
Docket78-6-284, CA 12621
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 603 P.2d 1223 (State v. Reynolds) 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. Reynolds, 603 P.2d 1223, 43 Or. App. 619, 1979 Ore. App. LEXIS 3423 (Or. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

*621 JOSEPH, P.J.

Defendant appeals from the judgment entered on convictions by a jury for aggravated felony murder, robbery in the first degree, and manslaughter in the first degree. First assigned as error is the denial of defendant’s motion to suppress evidence obtained in a search consented to by defendant’s wife. Defendant argues that his wife’s consent was involuntary. Eight other assignments concerning procedural errors at trial will be discussed seriatim below. 1 The facts of the underlying crimes are therefore unnecessary to be detailed here.

At about 8:30 in the morning, defendant was inside his trailer house residence with his wife and child when he was instructed to emerge by police officers using a bullhorn. He did so and was arrested. His wife and four-year old son followed defendant outside the house. The police took defendant away for booking. Immediately after the arrest, police secured the trailer house by posting officers at the doors.

Defendant’s wife testified that during the arrest no one would tell her what was happening, that officers kept asking her in different ways to consent to a search of the house, that she would not consent to it and that she wanted more information which she knew they would have to give her if they got a search warrant. She testified she was told she had been implicated and could be arrested as an accomplice if she really had been involved, that the district attorney was considering arresting her as a material witness and that if she were held, her son would be made a ward of the court because she had no relatives in the area. She was not allowed to re-enter her home or to leave the vicinity. She testified she signed a consent form because she could not take the chance that her boy would be taken. She also testified that she realized once the police obtained a search warrant they would *622 search no matter what she said, and she noted that her boy was cold and hungry at the time.

A police officer testified that the wife was informed of the charges against her husband right after her husband’s arrest, that the witness explained to her the police thought there was a gun in the house and wanted her consent to search for it and that when she did not assent to a search, he told her "Fine.” He then left to telephone the district attorney to initiate a search warrant proceeding. In that discussion the wife’s possible role as a material witness or an accomplice was broached. The officer returned to the wife and informed her that a search warrant was in the process of being obtained, that the district attorney saw no problem in obtaining it, that the process would take from two to four hours, and that it would expedite matters if she would consent to a search of the house. The officer also testified that the wife asked what would happen, and he told her there was a possibility that she would be considered a material witness in the case and that some arrangement would have to be made for her son’s care if she were held and had no relatives in the area. He denied mentioning anything to her about her being considered an accomplice.

When that officer was then called away, a second officer continued to talk to defendant’s wife. He testified that he told her that if they waited for a search warrant, she would have to remain there with police until the search warrant arrived. She then agreed to the search. He read her the consent form, and she signed it.

On defendant’s motion to suppress evidence obtained in the search, the court ruled that while there may have been an implied threat that she could be taken into custody as a material witness, the police statements were accurate and within the bounds of fairness. The court noted there was no evidence that defendant’s wife was told she could be taken into custody at that time. He ruled the consent voluntary *623 and the search valid. He denied the motion to suppress.

The question of whether consent to search is voluntarily given is a question of fact to be determined by the totality of the attendant circumstances. State v. Ragsdale, 34 Or App 549, 554, 579 P2d 286, rev den 283 Or 503 (1978). Defendant’s wife understood that she could refuse to consent to the search. She did so initially, and her testimony indicated she knew she had that right. The possibility of her being held as a material witness or accomplice, if that were stated by the police, was accurate; those acts could lawfully have been authorized. Cf. State v. Bopp, 16 Or App 604, 611-12, 519 P2d 1277 (1974). It is true that defendant’s wife was herself in a sort of detention, 2 but voluntary consent to a search may be given by a person even under arrest. United States v. Watson, 423 US 411, 424, 96 S Ct 820, 46 L Ed 2d 598 (1976); State v. Flores, 280 Or 273, 278, 570 P2d 965 (1977). The "most reasonable construction” to be given the facts under those circumstances, State v. Ward, 37 Or App 591, 600, 588 P2d 72 (1978) (dissent), vacated and dissent adopted as opinion of the majority, 38 Or App 425, 590 P2d 296, rev allowed 287 Or 123 (1979), is that defendant’s wife voluntarily consented to a search of the residence. The motion to suppress evidence was properly denied. Ball v. Gladden, 250 Or 485, 443 P2d 621 (1968).

The second assigned error is the court’s admission of statements which defendant asserts were made in the context of plea bargaining and were therefore inadmissible under ORS 135.435(l)(c). Assuming defendant was at this point effectively acting as his own counsel, 3 we think that his offer to "tell the complete story” did not necessarily imply that defendant was offering either to incriminate himself or to *624 plead guilty to any of the charges; defendant was not bargaining a guilty plea for specific concessions. See, e.g., ORS 135.405(3)(a-c); 4 cf. United States v. Levy, 578 F2d 896, 901 (2d Cir 1978) (defendant’s statements held admissible since no request made for consideration from prosecutor for defendant’s cooperation); United States v. Smith, 525 F2d 1017, 1018 (10th Cir 1975) (defendant’s statements inadmissible where predicated on an offer to plead guilty to all pending offenses in exchange for being sent to a federal institution). The obvious expectation on defendant’s part that his statements would somehow benefit him does not render them inadmissible. State v. Evans, 1 Or App 489, 494-95, 463 P2d 378, rev den (1970). Defendant’s additional contention that he was not effectively advised of his rights immediately prior to making some of the statements is not correct. The evidence shows that on the previous day defendant had been so advised, and he had acknowledged that he understood his rights.

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Bluebook (online)
603 P.2d 1223, 43 Or. App. 619, 1979 Ore. App. LEXIS 3423, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-reynolds-orctapp-1979.