State v. Vassar

439 P.2d 507, 7 Ariz. App. 344, 1968 Ariz. App. LEXIS 390
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedApril 11, 1968
Docket1 CA-CR 137
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 439 P.2d 507 (State v. Vassar) 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. Vassar, 439 P.2d 507, 7 Ariz. App. 344, 1968 Ariz. App. LEXIS 390 (Ark. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

CAMERON, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal by Jim Phillip Vassar from a jury verdict and judgment of guilt to the charge of breaking into a coin-operated contrivance (§ 13-676 A.R.S.) with a prior conviction (§ 13-1649 A.R.S.), sentence, and from the order of the court ■denying defendant’s motion for new trial.

We are called upon to determine:

1. Did the closing argument of the County Attorney constitute reversible error?
2. Was the defendant charged under the right statute (§ 13-676 A.R.S.) ?
3. Did the lifting of fingerprints by Officer Garcia from the automobile without a search warrant one day after the arrest of the defendant constitute an illegal search and seizure?
4. Was reversible error committed when police officers in their testimony referred to defendant Vassar’s “arrest record” and his “mug shot”?

This is a companion case to State v. Zumwalt, 7 Ariz.App. 348, 439 P.2d 511, filed this day. Appellants Vassar and Zumwalt were co-defendants and the facts given in that case apply to this case.

CLOSING REMARKS OF THE COUNTY ATTORNEY

We have discussed the error committed by the County Attorney in his closing remarks and whether or not they were reversible error in the case of State v. Zumwalt, supra, and we believe the law applicable to that case is applicable to the case at bar.

DOES THE STATUTE APPLY?

We have also discussed the applicability of the statute in the case of State v. Zumwalt, supra, filed this day, and believe that the law in that case applies in the instant case.

WAS THERE A REASONABLE SEARCH AND SEIZURE?

The defendant Vassar was linked to the crime by a fingerprint lifted from the door handle on the inside right door of the Chevrolet station wagon the day after defendants Zumwalt and Vassar had been arrested. The search of the station wagon was made by a fingerprint specialist of the Phoenix Police Department without a search warrant, and it is the contention of defendant that this is an illegal search and seizure.

With this we do not agree. The car was taken into custody and impounded when the driver of the station wagon, co-defendant Zumwalt, was stopped and placed under arrest. There is no indication that this station wagon belonged to the defendant Vassar, and we know of no law in which the defendant may object to a search and seizure of somebody else’s automobile, he, the defendant, not being in possession of the automobile at the time of the search and seizure. See Bradshaw v. State, Miss. (1966), 192 So.2d 387, Osborne v. State (1966), 82 Nev. 342, 418 P.2d 812. We do *346 not believe that a person who does not own an automobile or have the right to its possession has a standing to object to a search or seizure of said automobile, but see Kleinbart v. State, 2 Md.App. 183, 234 A.2d 288 (1967).

ALLEGED PREJUDICIAL REMARKS OF THE POLICE OFFICER ON THE STAND

The County Attorney in attempting to introduce fingerprint records asked the following questions:

“Q Now, these fingerprint records upon which you made a comparison, are they kept in the regular course of business?
“A Yes, they are.
“Q And what specific fingerprint records are kept by your Department in the regular course of business ?
“A All fingerprints that we take incident to an arrest or any investigation by our Department.
“Q And how are these records kept, sir?
“A There are some cards that go into the master fingerprint file any extras are placed in individual jackets.
“Q And were these particular prints which are marked State’s Exhibits 8 and 9, for identification kept in the regular course of business?
“A Yes, they were.
"Q Did you yourself, Officer Garcia, have occasion to verify the information contained thereon?
* * * * * *
“A Yes; I verified this against the booking which we normally—say its an arrest record; that’s a technical name for the booking—” •

Officer Kimmell was asked the following questions by Vassar’s attorney:

“Q Were you shown pictures before coming into court today?
“A No; I had observed a picture of Mr. Vassar but not Zumwalt.
“Q When was this?
“A I saw it when I was reviewing the DR, Department Report.
* * * * * *
“Q Whose idea was it to look at a picture?
“A Look at whose picture?
“Q The picture that you mentioned a minute ago.
“A It was on my report.
'Q Would you have been able to identify the defendant Vassar if you didn’t look at a picture?
“A I think I would have difficulty due to the time lapse.
“Q So that if you didn’t look at a picture, probably you couldn’t identify the defendant Vassar due to the time lapse; would that be fair to say?
“A I think so; yes sir.
“Q So what you are doing actually, Officer, is saying that the defendant Vassar is the same person that you have seen on the picture; he is not the same person that you had seen on December 18, 1965; isn’t that so?
“A No, not exactly, because I remembered the picture that I saw yesterday resembled the man that I saw in the car on the date in question.
* * * * iji *
“Q And you can tell that by looking at the picture yesterday; is that right ?
“A Well, there was a year difference there, like I said, there was a time lapse, you know.
* * * * * *
“Q You don’t know what we mean by positive identification?
“A Well, this is a picture and this is the man, it is sometimes difficult to— His picture was in the report; and so I naturally looked at it.
* * ❖ * * *
“Q When you looked at that picture, Officer, were you able to make a

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Related

State v. Platt
637 P.2d 1073 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1981)
State v. Porter
550 P.2d 253 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1976)
State v. Elias
526 P.2d 734 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1974)
Ballard v. Southwest Potash Corporation
450 P.2d 448 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1969)
State v. Perez
444 P.2d 602 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1968)
State v. Zumwalt
439 P.2d 511 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1968)

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Bluebook (online)
439 P.2d 507, 7 Ariz. App. 344, 1968 Ariz. App. LEXIS 390, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-vassar-arizctapp-1968.