State v. Stubblefield

380 P.3d 1126, 279 Or. App. 483, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 928
Marion County Circuit Court, Oregon·Decided July 20, 2016·No. 12C48570, 13C40022, 13C40489; A155638 (Control), A155639, A155640·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

LAGESEN, J.

In these criminal cases, which were consolidated for purposes of trial and appeal, a jury convicted defendant of two counts of first-degree robbery, one count of second-degree robbery, three counts of unlawful use of a vehicle, one count of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, one count of reckless driving, one count of second-degree criminal mischief, and one count of felon in possession of a firearm. On appeal from the judgments of conviction, defendant assigns error to the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence discovered in the stolen truck that defendant crashed while fleeing police officers, as well as the trial court’s grant of the state’s motion in limine to admit evidence regarding an uncharged bank robbery committed by defendant. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

An illegal left turn brought an end to defendant’s crime spree. Defendant, who was driving a stolen pick-up truck at the time, was observed making that turn by Deputy Dunkin of the Marion County Sheriffs Office. Dunkin signaled to defendant that he should stop. Defendant did not stop. He fled, accelerating into a parking lot. Dunkin pursued him. Defendant lost control of the truck and crashed into a support pole at a Sonic restaurant, causing significant damage to the pole and disabling the truck.

Dunkin got out of his car and told defendant to show his hands. Defendant did not comply. Instead, he shouted “Yahoo!” and ran from the truck. Dunkin ran after defendant, caught up to him, subdued him with a taser, and arrested him.

In the meantime, Deputy Derschon, also with the Marion County Sheriffs Office, arrived at the scene of the crash. Derschon was instructed to inventory the truck before it was to be impounded for suspicion of DUII. In accordance with his office’s policy for towing and impounding vehicles, Derschon conducted an inventory search, during which he felt that there could be something valuable or dangerous concealed in two very heavy bags in the truck. Derschon found various items in each bag, including a black-powder [485] revolver. Derschon had gone through the glove compartment, but found nothing there.

After the vehicle was impounded, the Salem Police Department determined that the truck had been stolen from within its jurisdiction, and took over the investigation. A few days after the incident, Salem Police Officer Baskett searched the truck in the impound lot, after obtaining permission to do so from the insurance representative of McKenzie, the man from whom the truck had been stolen. Baskett went through .the truck twice, inspecting the contents of closed containers as he did so. In those containers, Baskett found and seized several items. That evidence, together with other evidence seized via search warrant — not at issue in this appeal— connected defendant to four separate hank robberies that had taken place within the three months leading up to defendant’s apprehension.

The first bank robbery, which occurred in September 2012, in Salem, involved two robbers and the use of a stolen pick-up truck, which was covered in WD-40 when it was recovered. One of the robbers was wearing a welder’s mask. The other person was wearing a baseball cap. Witnesses later recounted that one of the guns used in this robbery did not look real.

The second bank robbery, which occurred in October 2012, in Salem, also involved two robbers — one of whom stayed in the car, a stolen El Camino, to drive away. When that car was recovered it was also covered in WD-40. The robber who entered the bank was wearing a black cloth over his face and was also wearing a distinctive coat with black and white stripes. The gun used in this robbery was a revolver.

The third bank robbery, which occurred in Salem approximately two weeks before defendant was arrested, again involved two robbers — one of whom stayed in a stolen pick-up truck to drive away. The robber who went inside was wearing a black cloth mask, a white baseball cap, andamedium-length coat that also had black and white stripes. The gun used in this robbery looked like a long-barrel revolver. Video footage revealed that there was a bicycle in the back of the [486] stolen pick-up truck. That stolen pick-up truck was the one that defendant crashed the night he was apprehended.

Finally, the evidence found in the truck also connected defendant to a fourth bank robbery that occurred in Albany, Oregon, 10 days before defendant was caught. Among that evidence was a black cloth mask and bicycles. The Albany robbery involved only one robber who arrived and departed on a bicycle. The robber wore a mask that matched the description of the mask worn by the robber in the second robbery as well. Other evidence also connected defendant to the fourth robbery. Video evidence from the banks that were robbed showed that the robber in the fourth robbery was wearing a coat with the same black-and-white striping as the coat worn by one of the robbers in the second and third robberies. The robber was also wearing a baseball hat in this robbery, and he left that hat behind. Investigators tested the hat for DNA, and found that the DNA from the hat matched defendant’s DNA.

As a result of defendant’s apprehension and the discovery of the evidence connecting defendant to the Salem robberies, defendant was charged with two counts of robbery in the first degree and one count of robbery in the second degree in Case No. 13C40022, two counts of unlawful use of a vehicle (UUV) in Case No. 13C40489, and one count of UUV, one count of attempting to elude a police officer, one count of reckless driving, one count of criminal mischief in the second degree, and one count of felon in possession of a firearm in Case No. 12C48570. All three cases were tried together.

Before trial, the parties litigated the two motions that are the subject of this appeal. Defendant moved to suppress the evidence found when Derschon and Baskett opened closed containers in the stolen truck that defendant had crashed, arguing that by searching the truck and opening the containers without a warrant, the officers had violated defendant’s right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures under Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution and the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The state moved in limine to introduce evidence of the uncharged Albany robbery, [487] including the video evidence of the robber involved, and the evidence that defendant’s DNA was on a baseball hat recovered in the investigation of that robbery. The state’s theory was that the evidence was relevant to prove identity, that is, that defendant was the person involved in the three Salem robberies.

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State v. Stubblefield, 380 P.3d 1126, 279 Or. App. 483, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 928 (Or. Super. Ct. 2016).

380 P.3d 1126 (State v. Stubblefield) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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