State v. Spicer

473 P.2d 147, 3 Or. App. 120, 1970 Ore. App. LEXIS 484
Court of Appeals of Oregon·Decided July 23, 1970·No. C-52465·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinion

PORT, J.

Defendant was convicted of the crime of illegal possession of narcotics. He appeals, asserting errors in connection with the denial of his motion to suppress and certain procedures in connection with the hearing thereof.

The affidavit for the search warrant states:

“That I am a police officer of the City of Portland Bureau of Police, assigned to the Narcotics Detail;
“That I am advised by a confidential reliable informant — known by me to be reliable because my informant has supplied me with information in the past leading to the seizure of contraband narcotics and the arrest and conviction of narcotics law violators — that one Roy Lee Spicer, who resides at 2157 N.E. 7th, Portland, Oregon, has possessed and made sales of narcotics to my informant and to others in the presence of my informant on the said premises during the past 5 months, and that my informant has seen quantities of heroin and cocaine on the said premises within the past two weeks;
“That the said premises at 2157 N.E. 7th, Portland, Oregon, are more particularly described as follows:
“A one-story wood frame and brick dwelling-house ;
“That based upon the aforesaid information, I have reasonable cause to believe and do believe that there is present on the said premises and on the person of the said Roy Lee Spicer quantities of heroin and cocaine, which are contraband; and I further depose and say that I have good reasons to believe the above mentioned and described property *123 is concealed on the person of the said Boy Lee Spicer and on the premises above described * *

Defendant contends that the affidavit was insufficient to justify the issuance of the search warrant. He relies in part on State v. Ingram, 251 Or 324, 445 P2d 503 (1968). In that case the Supreme Court held an affidavit insufficient to support the issuance of a' search warrant, stating:

“« * * Our decision is based upon the conclusion that the length of time that elapsed between the obtaining of the heroin and the making of the affidavit is too great to permit the magistrate to find that probable cause existed that narcotics were on the premises on the date of the affidavit.
“No permissible or reasonable time lapse can be specified. Whether the lapse of time is deemed to have been so long that it reasonably cannot be inferred that contraband is present at the premises will depend upon all the circumstances. * * *” 251 Or at 327.

More recently, by coincidence in a case also entitled State v. Roy Lee Spicer, 234 Or 68, 456 P2d 965 (1969), the Supreme Court considered an affidavit for a search warrant issued two years before this one for narcotics in defendant’s home. It discussed its holding in Ingram as follows:

“In State v. Ingram, 251 Or 324, 445 P2d 503, we held that a single purchase of Heroin made on January 9, 1967, standing alone was not sufficient to support a reasonable conclusion that there was Heroin on the premises on February 8th, a lapse of almost a month.
“In the matter before us, the affidavit discloses that the informer, whose reliability was tested, stated he had made several purchases of marijuana over quite a long period of time from the defendant at the same place where he purchased for the of *124 ficer. This, it would seem, would impress a reasonable mind with the thought that the possession of marijuana at the defendant’s home was a continuing business enterprise and, in the absence of some fact that would disclose otherwise, the affidavit should be sustained. ‘* * * [Affidavits for search warrants * * * must be tested and interpreted by magistrates and courts in a commonsense and realistic fashion.’ United States v. Ventresca, supra, 380 US 102, 108.” 254 Or at 71-72.

In the present case the affidavit was made by a police officer based upon statements made to him by a confidential informant previously known by him to be reliable, specifically in connection with narcotics matters. It further recites facts clearly leading a reasonable man to believe that the possession and sale of narcotics by the defendant at the described residence was “a continuing business enterprise,” and that the narcotics cocaine and heroin, which had been seen in quantity by the informant there “within the past two weeks,” were a part of that continuing business enterprise — a highly relevant aspect of the “ ‘underlying circumstances’ ” referred to in Spinelli v. United States, 393 US 410, 413, 89 S Ct 584, 21 L Ed 2d 637 (1960), “necessary to enable the magistrate independently to judge of the validity of the informant’s conclusion that the narcotics were where he [affiant] said they were.”

In State v. Evans, 1 Or App 489, 463 P2d 378 Supreme Ct review denied (1970), this court held valid a warrant based on an affidavit in which the informant swore he had seen the narcotics in substantial quantities “within the past week.”

We think the affidavit here was itself sufficient to support the issuance of the warrant.

*125 The defendant nest contends that the magistrate, who did not testify here at all, may have relied on an unsworn oral statement made to him by the officer to the further effect that the same informant had purchased some narcotics there from the defendant the very day the warrant was secured. He relies on State v. Dinney, 1 Or App 473, 462 P2d 698 (1969) Supreme Ct review denied. That case holds that a magistrate cannot rely upon unsworn statements made to him by police officers to supplement an affidavit which by itself fails to establish probable cause. Here, however, we have held the sworn affidavit itself, without more, was sufficient to establish probable cause. We have no way of knowing upon what the magistrate, who was not called as a witness, relied in issuing the warrant. We assume in the absence of evidence to the contrary that he relied only upon sworn statements, as the Fourth Amendment requires. ORS 41.360 (16); State v. Ellison, 209 Or 672, 307 P2d 1050 (1957).

In the course of the search the officers in addition to the heroin and cocaine described in the warrant seized other articles which defendant concedes might have been used in the preparation and ingestion of marihuana.

In State v. Muetzel, 121 Or 561, 254 P 1010 (1927), the court said:

“* * # The law is properly stated by the federal court in United States v. Camarota, 278 Fed. 388, where it is written:

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State v. Spicer, 473 P.2d 147, 3 Or. App. 120, 1970 Ore. App. LEXIS 484 (Or. Ct. App. 1970).

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