Wiley v. State

170 P. 869, 19 Ariz. 346, 1918 Ariz. LEXIS 87
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 16, 1918
DocketCriminal No. 429
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 170 P. 869 (Wiley v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wiley v. State, 170 P. 869, 19 Ariz. 346, 1918 Ariz. LEXIS 87 (Ark. 1918).

Opinion

ROSS, J.

(After Stating the Pacts as Above). — The complaint as to the admission of evidence is without merit and will not be noticed. The court instructed the jury upon the theory that appellants, and each of them, might be found guilty under the facts as above detailed, of murder in the first degree, or murder in the second degree, or voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. The question is, Did the court give the law applicable to the facts, or did he misdirect the jury or fail to direct them as to, the. law pertinent to the facts of the case?

Giving our attention to the particular facts of this case for the moment, we find the appellants were officers of the law, specially clothed with the power and duty to run down and apprehend criminals and persons charged with and suspected of committing crimes. Two of them were deputy sheriffs of Pima county, and the other was a policeman of the city of Tucson. They had received information that a felony had been committed at a place where but a short time before a circus performance had taken place; a woman had been beaten and robbed of jewelry valued at $2,000. In going to the scene of the crime for the purpose of investigating the charge, and to search out and arrest the perpetrator of the crime, the appellants, it will be conceded by all, were in the performance of a legal duty. They had no warrant, nor was [353]*353one necessary under the law before they could make an arrest of any person if they had reasonable cause to believe he had robbed and beaten the woman. Section 854 of the Penal Code provides, among other things:

“A peace officer . . . may, without a warrant, arrest a person: ... (5) At night, when there is a reasonable cause to believe that he has committed a felony.”

This section of the statute is a practical restatement of the common-law authority of a peace officer.

SHAW, C. J., in Commonwealth v. Carey, 12 Cush. (Mass.) 246-251, states the rule correctly, as we believe, as follows:

“If a constable or other peace officer arrest a person without a warrant, he is not bound to show in his justification a felony actually committed, to render the arrest lawful; but if he suspects one on his own knowledge of facts, or on facts communicated to him by others, and thereupon he has reasonable ground to believe that the accused has been guilty of felony, the arrest is not unlawful.” Commonwealth v. Phelps, 209 Mass. 396, Ann. Cas. 1912B, 570, 95 N. E. 868.

Indeed, it has always been the law, where not restricted by statute, that a peace officer could, without a warrant, make an arrest of a person committing or attempting to commit a crime in his presence, or of a person who had committed a felony out of his presence, or one who, though guilty of no crime, he had reasonable cause to believe guilty of a felony. 2 R. C. L. 446; 5 C. J. 399; Harness v. Steele, 159 Ind. 286, 64 N. E. 875; State v. Evans, 161 Mo. 95, 84 Am. St. Rep. 669, and note 684, 61 S. W. 590.

Before the appellants could forcibly stop the Bates car, however, the surrounding facts and circumstances must have been such as to induce, in the mind of a reasonably cautious and prudent person, the belief or well-founded suspicion that the occupants of the car had committed a felony, or, as stated by SHAW, C. J., in Bacon v. Towne, 4 Cush. (Mass.) 217:

“There must be such a state of facts as would lead a man of ordinary care and prudence to believe, or entertain an honest and strong suspicion, that the person is guilty.”

The statément of the crime committed at Pastime Park, while definite and certain in its character of a felony, did not name or describe the person accused of committing it, nor state whether he had fled from the scene of the crime or not. The sole and only reason the appellants had to suspect the [354]*354occupants of the Bates car was the fact that the appellants, as they state, believed the car was coming toward them and suddenly turned, and, when overtaken, refused to stop when spoken to. That neither Captain Bates nor the deceased heard the appellants’ outcries is quite certain; and that it was not possible for them to hear the outcries, both cars going at the rate of approximately 25 miles an hour, with the mufflers on them both wide open, should have been realized by the appellants. If the Bateses had heard their outcries and refused to stop, no inference of guilt could have been reasonably drawn therefrom, as the situation was more suggestive of a holdup by highwaymen than an arrest by peace officers. “The wicked flee when no man pursueth” could not be said of them, for they had committed no wrong. However, we are satisfied that an ordinarily prudent man would.have perceived the impossibility of the outcries made by appellants being heard by the occupants of the Bates car, under the circumstances. The Bateses were not fleeing from appellants, and slight reflection upon appellants’ part, it seems, would have suggested that the Bateses might have been peaceable and respectable people traveling for a legitimate purpose on the public highways. We do not think that ordinary care and prudence would have dictated the course pursued by the appellants.

There is no dispute as to the facts in this case, and as to whether they constitute reasonable or probable cause is a question of law for the determination of the court (People v. Kilvington, 104 Cal. 86, 43 Am. St. Rep. 73, 37 Pac. 799); and we are satisfied that no reasonably prudent or cautious man would have shot at the moving car occupied by the Bateses in the manner the appellants did. The means used, therefore, by the appellants for the purpose of .stopping the Bates car were unlawful; the act of trying to stop the ear by shooting at it was an unlawful act. Captain Bates and the deceased, having committed no crime, were entitled to proceed on their way without interruption or molestation, to their destination, and no person or officer could forcibly interfere with their movements without violating the law: What the appellant Johns actually did was to shoot at the car in such a reckless and heedless manner as to kill one of the occupants and arrest the further progress of the other one. The personal liberty of both Captain Bates and the deceased was [355]*355violated. Section 205, Penal Code. When a false imprisonment is effected by violence or menace, under our statute, it is a felony. Section 206, Penal Code. The means used by the appellants to effect their purpose of stopping the Bates car were of the most violent and threatening hind, so dangerous and lethal, in fact, as to cause the death of Mrs. Bates.

The extent of the power of an officer to arrest on mere suspicion is well stated by HOBSON, J., in Petrie v. Cartwright, 114 Ky. 103, 102 Am. St. Rep. 274, 59 L. R. A. 720, 70 S. W. 297, and we quote his words with entire approval:

“We have been unable to find any common-law authority justifying an officer in killing a person sought to be arrested, who fled from him, where the officer acted upon suspicion, and no felony had in fact been committed. The common-law rule allowing an officer to kill a felon in order to arrest him rests upon the idea that felons ought not to be at large, and that the life of a felon has been forfeited; for felonies at common law were punishable by death.

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Bluebook (online)
170 P. 869, 19 Ariz. 346, 1918 Ariz. LEXIS 87, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wiley-v-state-ariz-1918.