Campbell v. Cochran

• Decision Date: 05 June 1980
• Citation: 416 A.2d 211
• Parties: Eric CAMPBELL v. Colonel Norman COCHRAN. STATE of Delaware v. Eric CAMPBELL.
• Court: Delaware Superior Court

Page 211

416 A.2d 211

Eric CAMPBELL v. Colonel Norman COCHRAN.

STATE of Delaware v. Eric CAMPBELL.

Superior Court of Delaware, New Castle County.

Submitted Dec. 21, 1979.

Decided June 5, 1980.

David R. Hodas and Stephen B. Potter, Wilmington, for Eric Campbell.

Charles M. Gruver, III, Deputy Atty. Gen., Dept. of Justice, for State.

O'HARA, Judge.

Three motions are presently before the Court requiring a determination of the right to certain funds found in this State. Two cross-motions for summary judgment arise from the civil action entitled Campbell v. Cochran, C.A. No. 78C-DE-75. Additionally, the plaintiff in that action has filed a motion for return of property in a related criminal action entitled State v. Campbell, Cr. A. Nos. I-78-01-0417, 0419.

Procedurally, this mixed bag of criminal and civil motions presents a rather unique situation to the Court. Substantively, they involve novel and complex questions of first impression in this State concerning common law and statutory rights and duties of finders of money. Factually, the events leading up to the instant litigation are so bizarre that one might expect this tale to have been spun from the colorful imagination of Robert Louis Stevenson or Mark Twain. Therefore, due to the thoroughly unique nature of this case, the Court will set out the relevant facts, largely undisputed by the parties, in some detail. ¹

For the sake of convenience, the Court will hereafter refer to the parties as they are denominated in the civil action. Therefore, Campbell will be referred to as "plaintiff," and Col. Cochran will be referred to as "defendant."

I.

Early in 1977 plaintiff was indicted on multiple charges. Plaintiff entered an agreement with the State whereby he pled guilty to two counts of Burglary Third Degree and one count of misdemeanor Theft and the State dismissed all other charges. On September 7, 1977, plaintiff was sentenced on the above charges to eighteen months imprisonment to be followed by two years probation. See State v. Campbell, Cr.A. Nos. I-77-02-0060, 0061, 0062.

Shortly after plaintiff began serving the above sentence, he was contacted by representatives of the Wilmington Bureau of Police ("City Police") who were desirous of using plaintiff as an undercover informant. At that time the City Police were investigating a certain individual with whom plaintiff was acquainted. As a result of discussions between plaintiff, the City Police and a representative of the Office of the Attorney General, plaintiff agreed to cooperate with the City Police in their investigation of the named subject. The City and State officials agreed that in consideration of plaintiff's agreement they would join with him in moving for a reduction of his sentence. On November 4, 1977, a written stipulation containing this agreement was signed by plaintiff, a City Police official and a Deputy Attorney General, Charles Meuse, Esq. The stipulation indicated that the target suspect was known by the parties to be a violent and dangerous person, and that the State would take every precaution to preserve the confidentiality of plaintiff's identity and to assure his safety. Pursuant to the parties' agreement, a motion for reduction of plaintiff's sentence was submitted and granted on November 4, 1977. Plaintiff's new sentence suspended the term of imprisonment and substituted a three and a half year probation term.

Upon release from prison, plaintiff immediately began working as an informant with the City Police, as agreed. However, the scope of plaintiff's informant activities was soon expanded, and he became involved in a similar capacity with certain investigations being conducted by the Delaware State Police. As a further inducement to get plaintiff's agreement to perform these services, the State agreed to grant plaintiff immunity from prosecution for all past crimes he had committed, except for murder or rape. ² Plaintiff continued to perform the agreed upon services for the State Police at least into January, 1978.

On the evening of December 10, 1977, plaintiff was equipped by the State Police with a hidden radio transmitter on his body. The State Police were interested in obtaining evidence against two individuals. One was Charles Rifon, a friend of plaintiff's, and the other person was an associate of Rifon's who was suspected of dealing in stolen goods, i. e., a "fence." The plan was for plaintiff to get Rifon to set up a meeting with the fence, so that plaintiff could sell a "stolen" typewriter to the fence which had been supplied by the State Police. Due to the limited range of the body transmitter, the officers with whom plaintiff was working had to keep within a quarter to a half mile of plaintiff. Consequently, it was arranged for these officers to follow plaintiff at a reasonable distance in an unmarked car.

On the night in question, plaintiff drove his vehicle to a prearranged meeting place and picked up Rifon at approximately 8:30 P.M. Plaintiff and Rifon then proceeded to drive to a local liquor store. Although Rifon believed they were simply going to buy some beer, plaintiff had previously arranged for the State Police to begin following from this point in their unmarked car. Plaintiff and Rifon, with the officers following, then drove to the vicinity of the fence's home, but for some reason Rifon was reluctant at that time to make direct contact with the fence. Consequently, the two men decided to drive to a secluded area, colorfully known as "Bazoobie Land," apparently to drink their beer and pass the time.

Bazoobie Land can most accurately be described as an unauthorized junk yard. It is located in a relatively remote section of New Castle County and was used generally by persons wanting to dump trash. There is also evidence indicating that Bazoobie Land was a popular dumping ground for thieves who desired to get rid of stolen cars and safes. Rifon, himself, had on more than one occasion abandoned stolen safes in Bazoobie Land after removing the contents.

Plaintiff and Rifon arrived at Bazoobie Land at approximately 11:00 P.M. As they were walking through the area Rifon spotted a safe which he recognized as one he had stolen and then abandoned in the area in 1974. The door to the safe had been removed by Rifon in 1974 at which time he also removed all of the safe's contents. When the safe was found on the night of December 10, 1977, it was lying on its face frozen to the ground so that the inside compartment was concealed from view. Plaintiff hit the safe with a large rock to break it loose from the ground, and the men turned the safe over.

At this point the men discovered a package wedged inside the safe. The packaged was wrapped in green plastic and covered with tape. Although they could not immediately see what was in the package, neither plaintiff nor Rifon was a na ive babe in the woods (more accurately, they were not na ive babes in Bazoobie Land). It was apparent that the package had been purposely placed in the safe by someone, as Rifon had completely emptied the safe before abandoning it in 1974. Moreover, as both men knew, Bazoobie Land was sometimes frequented by other members of the criminal element. They were, therefore, not anxious to wait around with the package and possibly be discovered themselves. Consequently, the men carried the package to the top of a hill some distance from the safe before attempting to ascertain its contents.

It is important to reiterate here that while these events were occurring, the conversations between plaintiff and Rifon were still being monitored by the State Police officers, who were parked in their car somewhere near Bazoobie Land. Rifon, who was still unaware of the radio transmitter, was apparently talking in an excited manner about the discovery, while plaintiff kept telling Rifon to be quiet.

Upon reaching the top of the hill, plaintiff and Rifon partially tore the package open to see what they had found. Mere words are probably inadequate to describe the amazement of the two men when they discovered that the package contained several bundles of United States currency in $5, $10. $20, $50 and $100 denominations. The money was not new, i. e., the bills were not in serial number sequence, but the bills were not frayed or torn and the package did not appear to have been in the safe for a long time. Rifon began exclaiming excitedly that they were rich. Plaintiff kept telling him to be quiet and suggested that they take the money to a motel room and split it. Plaintiff's words, as recorded by the State Police officers, upon opening the package were as follows:

"Just be quiet. Hear me, Just be quiet. Don't say nothing, you just think, and I'll think, we got to get out of here. I got money for a motel room (unintelligable) (sic) we'll split it 50/50 and then we're gone.

"We got $20,000 in cash, we got to go count it and take care of it.

"We got to lay this money out somewhere. We can't cut it up and start spending it. We have to count it, wrap it back up and hide it.

"I want to get out of the Valley."

See affidavits of Officers Capuano, Maher, and Ford, attached to defendant's answering brief.

The men then began to walk back to plaintiff's car, but plaintiff stopped momentarily to pick up the typewriter which the State Police had given him and which he had earlier carried away from the car. While thus engaged and out of Rifon's immediate presence, Campbell spoke to the State Police officers through the hidden transmitter, saying:

"Hang on guys. We hit it big. Bear with me. I repeat bear with me. Don't stop me now."

See affidavits of Officers Capuano, Maher, and Ford, attached to defendant's answering brief.

Plaintiff and Rifon got into plaintiff's car and drove away from Bazoobie Land. As they were leaving the area, plaintiff observed the State Police officers sitting in their car. Plaintiff began driving on Rt. 82 toward Wilmington, and the officers began to follow. However, after a few...