A.B., In Interest of
| Decision Date | 28 February 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. A89A1746,A89A1746 |
| Citation | 194 Ga.App. 665,391 S.E.2d 683 |
| Parties | In the Interest of A.B., a child. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
John M. Ott, Dist. Atty., William K. Wynne, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., for appellee.
While executing a warrant authorizing the search of appellant's residence for cocaine, an investigating officer found a handgun in appellant's bedroom between the mattress and frame of the bed. A second officer, present to film the search, immediately recognized the gun as possibly being one stolen in a case he was investigating. As the search for drugs continued in other parts of the house, the officers confirmed that the serial number on the gun found matched that of the gun reported stolen. Appellant was arrested and charged with theft by receiving and possession of marijuana. The juvenile court's denial of appellant's motion to suppress evidence and his subsequent adjudication of guilt of the delinquent act of theft by receiving form the basis of this appeal.
1. Appellant, in his first and second enumerations of error, contends that the juvenile court erred in denying appellant's motion to suppress specifically by finding that the discovery and seizure of the gun met the requirements of the plain view doctrine. OCGA § 17-5-21(b) authorizes an officer in the process of executing a lawful search warrant Whittington v. State, 165 Ga.App. 763, 764, 302 S.E.2d 617 (1983).
Appellant does not dispute that the officers were conducting a lawful search. During the course of the search for drugs, the officer looked under the mattress, since this was a place where drugs were discovered in a previous raid, and found the gun. Thus, the officer was not engaged in a general exploratory search. Cook v. State, 134 Ga.App. 712, 715, 215 S.E.2d 728 (1975). The second officer's immediate recognition of the gun as one having possibly been stolen makes its seizure lawful. Whittington v. State, supra 165 Ga.App. at 765, 302 S.E.2d 617. The evidence demonstrates that prior to the search, the officer not only had a description of the gun from a theft report, but he also had information from two sources that the appellant...
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Nichols v. State
...officer here did,] a lawful right of access to the object itself." Id. at 136-137, 110 S.Ct. at 2308; see in tHE interest oF A.B., 194 gA.app. 665, 391 S.E.2d 683. Prior to the seizure of all the objects in plain view, the police had probable cause to believe that the objects were the fruit......
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