City of Saint Paul v. Page

• Decision Date: 26 December 1969
• Docket Number: No. 41360,41360
• Citation: City of Saint Paul v. Page, 173 N.W.2d 460, 285 Minn. 374 (Minn. 1969)
• Parties: CITY OF SAINT PAUL, Respondent, v. Willie PAGE, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 460

173 N.W.2d 460

285 Minn. 374

CITY OF SAINT PAUL, Respondent, v. Willie PAGE, Appellant.

No. 41360.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Dec. 26, 1969.

Syllabus by the Court

1. The rules prescribed by State ex rel. Rasmussen v. Tahash, 272 Minn. 539, 141 N.W.2d 3, requiring the state to give defendant notice of its intention to offer evidence obtained by a search warrant, apply to prosecutions under municipal ordinances which permit a sentence of confinement, unless tried to the court without a jury.

2. Evidence introduced by the state in a prosecution for operating a disorderly house Held sufficient to sustain a conviction.

Andrew P. Engebretson, St. Paul, for appellant.

Joseph P. Summers, Corp. Counsel, Thomas M. Mooney, Asst. Corp. Counsel, Daniel A. Klas, Spec. Asst. City Atty., St. Paul, for respondent.

Heard before KNUTSON, C.J., and MURPHY, OTIS, ROGOSHESKE, and SHERAN, JJ.

OPINION

OTIS, Justice.

Defendant appeals from a conviction for operating a disorderly house in violation of St. Paul Legislative Code, § 469.01, which provides as follows:

'Any person or persons who shall within the limits of the City of St. Paul, keep a house of ill-fame, or a place resorted to for the purpose of prostitution or lewdness, or who shall keep a disorderly or ill-governed house or place, or a house or place for the practice of fornication, or for the resort of persons of evil name or fame, or dishonest conversation, or who shall permit or suffer to come together, at such houses or place, persons of ill name or fame, or who shall commit or suffer to be committed therein any inmoral, immodest, or other improper conduct or behavior, or any tippling, revelling, rioting, or disturbance, and all persons, male or female, who resort to or visit such disorderly houses or house of ill-fame for the purpose of fornication or dishonest conversation or any immoral, immodest or other improper conduct or behavior, or any tippling, revelling, rioting, or disturbance, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.'

Defendant was prosecuted in the municipal court of the city of St. Paul on a tab charge and was tried by the court without a jury.

Two issues are raised. First, whether it was error to receive evidence obtained by a search warrant without giving defendant prior notice as required by State ex rel. Rasmussen v. Tahash, 272 Minn. 539, 141 N.W.2d 3; and, second, whether the evidence sustains a finding of guilty.

On January 20, 1968, at 2:30 a.m., members of the St. Paul police morals squad armed with a search warrant, entered the premises at 624 Selby Avenue and arrested defendant. In the process of their search, the police took a number of photographs which were subsequently offered in evidence as the city's exhibits C to N. Their admissibility is challenged on this appeal.

1. The photographs which were received show chairs and tables with glasses on them, a bar and stools, an assortment of bottles of hard liquor and soft drinks, a jukebox, a dice table, and decor typical of a drinking and gambling establishment. In addition, one picture shows an automatic pistol and a revolver on a table littered with glasses. Defendant objected to the introduction of these photographs on the ground that they were the products of a search and seizure and the city had failed to advise defendant of its intention to offer them in evidence as required by State ex rel. Rasmussen v. Tahash, Supra.

The city cites State v. Thomas, 279 Minn. 326, 156 N.W.2d 745, as authority for excluding prosecutions for ordinance violations from application of the Rasmussen rule. However, the Thomas case dealt only with the limited question of whether the state had a right to appeal the dismissal of a complaint in an...