State v. Weigel

612 P.2d 636, 228 Kan. 194, 1980 Kan. LEXIS 314
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJune 14, 1980
Docket51,494
StatusPublished
Cited by66 cases

This text of 612 P.2d 636 (State v. Weigel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Weigel, 612 P.2d 636, 228 Kan. 194, 1980 Kan. LEXIS 314 (kan 1980).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Fromme, J.:

Thomas Weigel was convicted by a jury of aggravated robbery, kidnapping and the theft of a car. He appeals and raises many points to be considered by this court.

The above charges arose from a robbery of the Nekoma State Bank in Rush County, Kansas. Defendant Weigel and four accomplices participated in the robbery, which occurred on January 5, 1979, at 4:00 p.m. A white over red car was stolen from the Rush County Livestock Auction to be used in the robbery. The robbers proceeded to the bank wearing ski masks, yellow surgical gloves and jackets. One of the accomplices was armed with a handgun. The defendant was armed with a sawed-off shotgun. Three of the bank employees were forced into the vault. Over *196 $2,500.00 was taken from the bank premises, plus a woman’s pocketbook. The robbers closed the vault door and turned the handle thinking the vault was locked. They failed to turn the dial on the door, and those inside the vault were able to open the door. The sheriff’s office was notified and the highway patrol was alerted within thirty minutes after the robbery occurred.

Within thirty minutes after the robbers left the bank they abandoned the stolen car arid switched to Gary Weigel’s car. It became stuck in a snow drift north of LaCrosse, Kansas. A member of the highway patrol came upon the car and its five occupants. The guns and the money from the bank had been hidden previously in a snow drift by the side of the road. The vehicle and the five occupants were searched and released. The occupants checked into a motel at Hays, Kansas. The money was later retrieved from the snow drift by the defendant and two of his fellow participants.

After word of the bank robbery was received by the officers all five of those who participated were rounded up and arrested. The actual arrests occurred both on the day of the robbery and the day following. All except the defendant entered pleas of guilty to the charges. Lonnie Hill, who participated in the robbery, turned State’s evidence and testified against the defendant. According to Hill’s testimony the defendant planned the robbery and was the leader. The defendant was the one who owned and was armed with the sawed-off shotgun. Money taken from the bank included some marked money which was taken from the defendant when he was arrested. A lady’s brown purse, owned by one of the bank employees, was found in or around the abandoned stolen car. The sheriff located ski masks, yellow surgical gloves, and jackets worn during the robbery. These were found in an area surrounding the abandoned stolen car. Some of the stolen money in money sacks was located above ceiling tile in a motel room rented by one or more of the robbers. There can be little doubt as to the sufficiency of the evidence to convict the defendant and no claim of insufficiency is made. The foregoing evidence and other evidence to be mentioned later will bear upon the issues to be decided in this appeal.

The first issue on appeal concerns the admissibility of the marked money taken from the defendant at the time of his arrest. The defendant’s attack on admitting the money in evidence is *197 based upon his claim that the issuance of the arrest warrant was not based upon probable cause. He argues that if the arrest was not legal any evidence obtained as a result of the arrest was also illegal and should not have been admitted in evidence at the trial. He cites Wilbanks v. State, 224 Kan. 66, 579 P.2d 132 (1978), and Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 12 L.Ed.2d 723, 84 S.Ct. 1509 (1964).

The warrant was issued upon a sworn complaint with a two- and one-half page single-spaced statement sworn to by a special agent of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation attached. The statement summarized the facts known and made known to the officer during interviews with various witnesses, including two of the suspects and fellow officers.

The United States Supreme Court has stated that the substance of any definition of probable cause is the reasonable ground for belief of guilt. Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 175, 93 L.Ed. 1879, 69 S.Ct. 1302, reh. denied 338 U.S. 839, 94 L.Ed. 513, 70 S.Ct. 31 (1949). Probable cause does not require the same type of specific evidence of each element of the offense as would be needed to support a conviction. State v. Evans, 219 Kan. 515, 521, 548 P.2d 772 (1976); State v. Barnes, 220 Kan. 25, 28, 551 P.2d 815 (1976). Probable cause exists if the facts and circumstances within the arresting officer’s knowledge and of which he has reasonably trustworthy information are sufficient in themselves to warrant a person of reasonable caution to believe that an offense has been or is being committed. State v. Lamb, 209 Kan. 453, 467, 497 P.2d 275 (1972); State v. Morin, 217 Kan. 646, 648, 538 P.2d 684 (1975). We have read the affidavit upon which the warrant was issued and find the allegations therein sufficient to justify issuance of the warrant upon probable cause.

Although the defendant in his brief challenges the veracity of the affidavit, he failed at the trial court level to follow the proper procedure as outlined in Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 57 L.Ed.2d 667, 98 S.Ct. 2674 (1978), to obtain a hearing thereon. He failed to allege that the matter contained in the affidavit was a known falsehood or made in reckless disregard for the truth. The statements challenged must be those of the affiant’s and not of the affiant’s informants. The challenger must offer proof or proffer evidence as to what statements are known falsehoods and name the witnesses who will testify under oath that the matters are lies. *198 Because of these obvious failures defendant is precluded from going behind the statements in the affidavit at this late date.

Defendant next attacks the hair sample evidence. Hairs taken from defendant matched hairs taken from one of the ski masks. In this case the State obtained an order of the court directing that hair samples be cut from defendant’s head. There was no violation of Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. The order of the trial court had the same effect as a lawful search warrant and under the procedure outlined in this opinion the use of the hair samples was lawful. State v. Buckner, 223 Kan. 138, 140, 574 P.2d 918 (1977); State v. Coe, 223 Kan. 153, 161, 574 P.2d 929 (1977).

Defendant’s next point concerns his request that the court give an instruction on aiding a felon.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
612 P.2d 636, 228 Kan. 194, 1980 Kan. LEXIS 314, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-weigel-kan-1980.