State v. Williams

349 So. 2d 286
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided June 20, 1977·No. 59142·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

349 So.2d 286 (1977)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Willie WILLIAMS.

No. 59142.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

June 20, 1977.
Rehearing Denied September 2, 1977.

*288 Irwin R. Sanders, New Orleans, for defendant-appellant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Louise Korns, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

MARCUS, Justice.

Willie Williams was charged by bill of information with armed robbery in violation of La.R.S. 14:64.[1] After trial by jury, defendant was found guilty as charged and sentenced to serve ninety-nine years at hard labor with credit given toward service of sentence for time spent in actual custody prior to imposition of sentence. The trial judge granted defendant an out-of-time appeal. On appeal, defendant relies on four assignments of error for reversal of his conviction and sentence.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1

Defendant contends the trial judge erred in denying his motion to suppress certain physical evidence seized in an allegedly unconstitutional search and in failing to suppress in-field identifications of defendant by Jerome Squatrito and Doris Robinson.

The record of the suppression hearing reflects that at approximately 11:30 p.m. on April 1, 1973, defendant and two companions, Earnest Durand, Jr. and Joseph Smith, Jr., were present at Jerome's Bar in New Orleans. The barmaid, Doris Robinson, testified that one of the three men remained seated while the other two asked her to change pennies for a nickel and dime. Shortly thereafter, Joseph Smith exited the establishment and asked the proprietor of the bar, Jerome Squatrito, who was standing outside on the sidewalk whether he was *289 the owner of the business and where he could catch a local bus. A few minutes later, Earnest Durand also exited the bar and told Squatrito that he was waiting for a friend. After another few moments had elapsed, defendant joined the others outside and whispered something to Durand. The three subjects then drew pistols and marched Squatrito back into his establishment at gunpoint. The bar owner testified that they rifled his pockets as they went inside and that defendant forced him up against a wall and held a gun to his stomach while the other men robbed the cash register and dealt with customers present in the barroom. As soon as the perpetrators fled, Squatrito instructed his employee, Doris Robinson, to call the police, tell them that he was following the robbers and that they should wait for him to return to the barroom. He followed the robbers' green Chevrolet in his car as they made their getaway. At a red light, Squatrito pulled alongside the subjects' car and verified that besides the driver, there were two other occupants crouched down in the automobile. Squatrito then dropped back behind the vehicle, took down its license number and continued to follow until the subjects turned into a housing project. When the robbery victim got back to his place of business about ten minutes later, Officers Saacks and Lombos were waiting for him, having already obtained a physical description of the suspects from Doris Robinson. Squatrito gave the officers a description of the getaway car and its license number and then accompanied them as they backtracked over the escape route and began combing the project area for the suspects' car. In the meantime, Officers Kinler and Cutrer, manning a marked police unit in the area, spotted an automobile matching the description and bearing the license number dispatched moments earlier over the police radio. They communicated this information via radio to other units in the area and, after following for a few blocks, stopped the suspects' vehicle. The officers ordered the three occupants to get out of the car and "hit the ground." They informed them that they were under arrest for armed robbery and advised them of their Miranda rights. Responding to the broadcast that the car had been located and stopped, the police unit carrying Officers Saaks and Lombos, as well as Squatrito, and another unit manned by Officers Mendoza and Delsa converged on the scene of the arrest.

After the suspects were handcuffed and moved in front of the automobile headlights, Squatrito, who had been told to wait in the car till the area was secured, was asked to get out and see if the subjects apprehended were the ones who had robbed him. The victim testified that he immediately recognized the three and positively identified them as the perpetrators of the armed robbery.

As the suspects were being placed in the police vehicles, Officer Saaks walked closer to the getaway car. Both doors had been left open when the suspects exited the automobile. On the floor of the vehicle partially pushed under the driver's seat, Officer Saaks observed a cash register drawer sticking out of a brown paper bag. He removed the bag from the car and on closer inspection found that, besides the register drawer, the bag additionally contained Squatrito's wallet and keys which had been removed from his pockets during the robbery. Also plainly visible on top of the car's front seat was a paper bag which contained a black hood and either in the bag or alongside of it was a nickelplated .22 revolver.

At this point, only one hour after the offense, the suspects were transported back to the scene of the robbery where they were positioned under bright lights outside a screen door of the establishment. The officers asked the barmaid, Doris Robinson, if she knew the three men. The witness maintained that the suspects were presented to her without any explanation by the police. The officers did not indicate that they had arrested the culprits or ask her to identify them as such. Both she and Squatrito identified the subjects in custody as the individuals who had earlier robbed the barroom. While Doris Robinson recalled that she had recognized one of the subjects *290 by his distinctive plaited hairstyle, she was unable to identify defendant either at the suppression hearing or at trial, claiming that she had forgotten what the perpetrators of the offense looked like.

Defendant first contends that the evidence removed from the green Chevrolet was the product of an improper search and should have been suppressed by the trial judge.

La.Code Crim.P. art. 213 provides in pertinent part:
A peace officer may, without a warrant, arrest a person when:
. . . . .
(3) The peace officer has reasonable cause to believe that the person to be arrested has committed an offense although not in the presence of the officer;

. . . . .

Recently in State v. Marks, 337 So.2d 1177 (La.1976), this court stated:

. . . Reasonable cause, which we have treated as consonant with the probable cause concept, exists when the facts and circumstances known to the arresting officer and of which he has reasonably trustworthy information are sufficient to justify a man of ordinary caution in believing that the person to be arrested has committed a crime. Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 85 S.Ct. 223, 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964); State v. Wood, 262 La. 259, 263 So.2d 28 (1972). Reasonable or probable cause must be judged by the probabilities and practical considerations of everyday life on which average men, and particularly average police officers, can be expected to act. State v. Sarrazin, 291 So.2d 393 (La.1974).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

State v. Williams, 349 So. 2d 286 (La. 1977).

349 So. 2d 286 (State v. Williams) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State v. Harmon
594 So. 2d 1054 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1992)
State v. Latin
412 So. 2d 1357 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1982)
State v. Gould
395 So. 2d 647 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1981)
State v. Curtis
384 So. 2d 396 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1980)
State v. Eaker
380 So. 2d 19 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1980)
State v. Sykes
364 So. 2d 1293 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1978)
State v. Drew
360 So. 2d 500 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1978)
State v. Lovett
359 So. 2d 163 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1978)
State v. Schmidt
359 So. 2d 133 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1978)
State v. Robertson
358 So. 2d 931 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1978)
State v. Dunbar
356 So. 2d 956 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1978)
State v. Falkins
356 So. 2d 415 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1978)
State v. Cass
356 So. 2d 936 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1977)
State Ex Rel. Clark v. Marullo
352 So. 2d 223 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1977)