Watt v. State

412 N.E.2d 90, 1980 Ind. App. LEXIS 1766
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 3, 1980
Docket2-1178A382
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 412 N.E.2d 90 (Watt v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Watt v. State, 412 N.E.2d 90, 1980 Ind. App. LEXIS 1766 (Ind. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinions

BUCHANAN, Chief Judge.

CASE SUMMARY

Defendants David Watt (Watt) and Donna Senteney (Senteney) appeal their convictions for possession of a controlled substance (marijuana),1 challenging the trial court’s denial of their Motion to Suppress, admission of certain testimony, and sufficiency of the evidence.

We affirm.

FACTS

The facts most favorable to the State are:

In January, 1978, the Indianapolis police sent a “confidential informer” to Watt’s home at 3050 Meredith Avenue, to make a “controlled buy” of marijuana. The informer was searched and given money prior to his entrance into Watt’s home, and he returned with the controlled substance. Police Officer Gary Walton (Walton) then prepared an affidavit which read:

[Tjhat [Walton] believes and has good cause to believe that Marihuana Cannabis Sativa, the possession of which is unlawful, is in the possession and under the control of Dave Watt living at 3050 Meredith Ave., Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. The basis for this affi-ants belief is that a controlled buy of Marihuana Cannabis Sativa was made by a confidential informant from Dave Watt at the above address with in [sic] the past (72) hours form [sic] January 4, 1978. The informant was searched and given U.S. Currency by myself and observed knocking on the front door and the door opened from the inside and the informant walk inside, of the above address. Approximately five minutes later the informant returned with a quanity [sic] of Marihuana Cannabis Sativa. A preliminary field test by myself found the substance to be Marihuana Cannabis Sativa.
Based on the above information I request this search warrant be issued or [sic] 3050 Meredith Ave., Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana which is described as a one story double dwelling, white frame with a white roof and orange brick front porch. 3050 is the residence on the west side of double. The residence consists of Liveing [sic] room, dining room, kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom. I request this search to include all rooms, closets, drawers, storage areas, and any place Marihuana Cannabis Sativa can be hidden or concealed also for the person of Dave Watt.

Based upon this affidavit, a search warrant was issued.

[93]*93The search was conducted on January 4, 1978. Walton and other police knocked at the door of the residence and were admitted by Senteney. The police found Watt in the kitchen and asked him to come to the living room, where the search warrant was read to both defendants. A search of the entire residence revealed marijuana in a dresser drawer and in a box on top of the dresser in the single bedroom; the dresser drawer also contained male underclothing. Clothes of both defendants were in the bedroom. Ly-sergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was found in the refrigerator, but a count for possession of LSD was later dismissed. The police arrested the two defendants and read them their Miranda rights. After obtaining clothes from the single bedroom, the defendants were taken to the police station, where each gave an address of “3050 Meredith” during the “booking” procedure.

Defendants filed a Motion to Suppress the evidence as illegally seized. After a hearing, the motion was denied. Subsequently they filed a motion to reconsider the motion to suppress, and, after another hearing, the trial judge again denied the motion. The defendants were tried by the court without intervention of a jury and were convicted.

ISSUES

Watt and Senteney present three issues: 2

1. Did the trial court err in refusing to suppress the evidence as illegally seized?
2. Did the court err in admitting into evidence the statements defendants gave regarding their address when they were “booked”?
3. Was the conviction of each defendant supported by sufficient evidence?

DECISION

ISSUE ONE — -Did the court err in refusing to suppress the evidence as illegally seized?

PARTIES’ CONTENTIONS — Watt and Senteney claim the evidence should have been suppressed because the search warrant affidavit stated facts based on hearsay, yet the affidavit does not disclose any proof of the credibility of the hearsay informant; thus, they contend, the warrant was invalid and the search was illegal. They further contend that the police informant’s conduct in the home was itself a “search” unsupported by a warrant and hence illegal, rendering the subsequent search illegal.

The State counters that the warrant was properly issued, being supported by probable cause, so the police search was legal. Although arguing that the evidence was purchased rather than seized, the State does not respond to the contention that the original contact with the home constituted a warrantless search.

CONCLUSION— The initial entry of the informant was apparently a “controlled buy” and therefore not a search; the subsequent search by police was pursuant to a warrant adequately supported by probable cause. Defendants made no showing that the initial entry was illegal. Therefore, the court did not err in refusing to suppress the evidence seized.

The defendants’ argument is seductive at first blush, but a closer scrutiny shows it bespeaks a misunderstanding of several basic principles of law.

What must be shown to secure a search warrant is probable cause. U.S.C.A. Const. Amend. IV; Ind. Const. Art. I, § 11; Pirtle v. State (1975), 263 Ind. 16, 323 N.E.2d 634; Ferry v. State (1970), 255 Ind. 27, 262 N.E.2d 523; Johns v. State (1968), 251 Ind. 172, 240 N.E.2d 60. “Probable cause” for a search warrant, as for an arrest warrant, does not mean a prima facie case against any defendant. Beck v. Ohio (1964), 379 U.S. 89, 85 S.Ct. 223, 13 L.Ed.2d 142. Accord, United States v. Ventresca (1965), 380 U.S. 102, 85 S.Ct. 741, 13 L.Ed.2d 684; Ferry, supra 262 N.E.2d at 529 (Givan, [94]*94J., dissenting). Moreover, the probable cause which must be shown for a search warrant is not the same as the probable cause which must be shown for an arrest warrant. See generally Berner, Search and Seizure : Status and Methodology, 8 Val.U. L.Rev. 471, 493-94 (1974). What must be “probable” for a search warrant is that (1) the item for which the search is conducted is in a particular place, and (2) the item is crime-related. See Zurcher v. Stanford Daily (1978), 436 U.S. 547, 98 S.Ct. 1970, 56 L.Ed.2d 525. See also Snedegar v. State (1926), 198 Ind. 182, 150 N.E. 367, 368. See generally Amsterdam, Perspectives on the Fourth Amendment, 58 Minn.L.Rev. 349 (1974); Comment, 28 U.Chi.L.Rev. 664, 687 (1961). Obviously, when the item is contraband it is definitionally crime-related. It is “property, the possession of which is unlawful” as contemplated by Ind.Code § 35-1-6-1.

How probable cause is to be shown is dictated by statute.

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Bluebook (online)
412 N.E.2d 90, 1980 Ind. App. LEXIS 1766, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/watt-v-state-indctapp-1980.