Graves v. State

• Decision Date: 05 April 1976
• Docket Number: No. 1,No. 51757,51757,1
• Citation: Graves v. State, 226 S.E.2d 131, 138 Ga.App. 327 (Ga. App. 1976)
• Parties: Calvin GRAVES v. The STATE
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

Page 131

226 S.E.2d 131

138 Ga.App. 327

Calvin GRAVES v.The STATE.

No. 51757.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Division No. 1.

April 5, 1976.

Murray M. Silver, John M. Turner, II, Atlanta, for appellant.

Lewis R. Slaton, Dist. Atty., Joseph J. Drolet, Thomas W. Hayes, Carole E. Wall, Asst. Dist. Attys., Atlanta, for appellee.

STOLZ, Judge.

Defendant Graves came to the door of an apartment where police were executing a search warrant.Graves knocked and was admitted to the apartment where one of the officers present recognized him from previous observation.The officer testified that a reliable informant ¹ had told him, about a week before this incident, that Graves 'always carries a weapon with him.Be careful.'The officer immediately frisked the defendant and found a pistol.Graves was arrested for carrying a pistol without a license and for carrying a concealed weapon.The policeman then searched the defendant, whereupon several packets of cocaine were found on his person.

Appellant Graves' only enumeration of error is the denial of his motion to suppress evidence found during the allegedly unlawful 'pat-down.'Held:

In Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 32 L.Ed.2d 612(1972), the United States Supreme Court considered the 'pat-down' of a man who, according to a confidential informant, was carrying narcotics and had a gun at his waistband.The court upheld the frisk, stating that: 'In Terry (Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889)this Court recognized that 'a police officer may in appropriate circumstances and in an appropriate manner approach a person for purposes of investigating possibly criminal behavior even though there is no probable cause to make an arrest.'The Fourth Amendment does not require a policeman who lacks the precise level of information necessary for probable cause to arrest to simply shrug his shoulders and allow a crime to occur or a criminal to escape.On the contrary, Terry recognizes that it may be the essence of good police work to adopt an intermediate response . . . A brief stop of a suspicious individual, in order to determine his identity or to maintain the status quo momentarily while obtaining more information may be most reasonable in light of the facts known to the officer at the time.

'. . . Thus, while the Court's decisions indicate that this informant's unverified tip may have been insufficient for a narcotics arrest or search warrant, . . . the information carried enough indicia of reliability to justify the officer's forcible stop of Williams.

'In reaching this conclusion, we reject respondent's argument that reasonable cause for a stop and frisk can only be based on the officer's personal observation, rather than on information supplied by another person.Informants' tips, like all other clues and evidence coming to a policeman on the scene, may vary greatly in their value and reliability.One simple rule will not cover every situation.

'. . . Under the circumstances surrounding Williams' possession of the gun seized by Sgt. Connolly, the arrest on the weapons charge was supported by probable cause, and the search of his person and of the car incident to that arrest was lawful . . . The fruits of the search were therefore properly admitted at Williams' trial, and the Court of Appeals erred in reaching a contrary conclusion.'407 U.S. 145, 149, 92 S.Ct. 1923.

Moreover, once a defendant has been placed under custodial arrest, police may search his person, incident to that arrest, for...