People v. Dombrowski

• Decision Date: 28 March 1968
• Docket Number: Docket No. 2673,No. 3,3
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Henry Stanley DOMBROWSKI, Defendant-Appellant
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

Page 336

159 N.W.2d 336

10 Mich.App. 445

PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Henry Stanley DOMBROWSKI, Defendant-Appellant.

Docket No. 2673.

Court of Appeals of Michigan, Division No. 3.

March 28, 1968.

Released for Publication July 3, 1968.

Dominick R. Carnovale, Detroit, for appellant.

Frank J. Kelley, Atty. Gen., Robert A. Derengoski, Sol. Gen., Lansing, James K. Miller, Pros. Atty. Kent County, Grand Rapids, for appellee.

Before FITZGERALD, P.J., and BURNS and NEAL FITZGERALD, ^* JJ.

FITZGERALD, Presiding Judge.

During the day and evening of April 29, 1966, 3 people cashed or attempted to cash payroll checks drawn by the Peet Packing Company at the Big E supermarket in Wyoming, Michigan. The first incident occurred about 2 p.m. when an unknown man (hereafter designated Mr. X) cashed a check. Leery of Mr. X, the store manager noted the license number of a maroon 1966 Ford which Mr. X entered upon leaving the supermarket. The manager again saw the 1966 Ford when it entered and left the supermarket parking lot about 7 p.m. At sometime between 7:30 and 7:45 p.m., the defendant entered the supermarket and presented the store manager with a Peet Packing Company check. The store manager told him that the check would be cashed if he would purchase groceries, whereupon he began to shop about the market. Becoming suspicious, the store manager summoned the police. During this time, the store manager cashed another Peet Packing Company check for Miss Z who left in the same maroon 1966 Ford. When the defendant attempted to check out the groceries, the store manager demanded identification; whereupon the defendant edged toward the exit. When the store manager urged an employee to seize the defendant, he fled on foot and made good his escape. The manager supplied the license number of the maroon 1966 Ford to the Wyoming police department, and the police arrested defendant, driving that same car, at a motel near Wyoming.

The store manager identified defendant at a police lineup on April 30. Following a jury trial in the Kent County circuit court, defendant was convicted of attempting to utter and publish ¹ and was sentenced to a term of 4 to 5 years in a State prison. His motion for new trial was denied by the trial court and he appeals from that denial to this Court.

The manager of the Big E supermarket testified to the facts set forth above without objection from defense counsel. Defendant now claims that the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of the manager concerning the relation of defendant and the maroon 1966 Ford to the alleged offenses of Mr. X and Miss Z, because these offenses were not charged against defendant in the information. The lack of a contemporaneous objection to admission of these facts now precludes assignment of error thereon. See 2 Gillespie, Michigan Criminal Law & Procedure (2d ed.), § 608, p. 787. See, also, People v. Jury (1966), 3 Mich.App 427, 142 N.W.2d 910; People v. Bradley (1966), 4 Mich.App. 660, 145 N.W.2d 390; People v. Wilson (1967), 8 Mich.App. 651, 155 N.W.2d 210.

Defendant was arrested, as noted above, at a motel on April 29 while driving the maroon 1966 Ford. He was immediately searched, and the Ford was searched except for the trunk, which was locked. Upon his incarceration in the Kent County jail, defendant was searched once again and a key was found concealed in his sweater sleeve. The key was taken to the Ford, still parked at the motel, where the trunk was opened revealing 12 bags of groceries, some bearing the identification of the Big E supermarkets. No search warrant was obtained prior to the use of the key. Defendant alleges that prejudicial error occurred upon the admission into evidence of the grocery bags at his trial, when the trial court denied his motion to suppress, first made at the trial, because the search and seizure without a warrant was made subsequent to his arrest, and he did not know of the existence of this evidence until the trial had begun.

This Court has recently held, under similar facts, that evidence from such a search was admissible when marijuana was found in the trunk of defendant's vehicle. People v. Monroe (1966), 3 Mich.App. 165, 141 N.W.2d 679. However, the provision of Const.1908, art. 2, § 10, as amended (readopted as Const.1963, art. 1, § 11) permits evidence from such warrantless searches to be introduced only where the fruits of the search consist of narcotic drugs or certain other contraband. This Court, in the Monroe Case, supra at p. 168, 141 N.W.2d at p. 681, stated:

'It is observed, however, that if the question of reasonableness of the search of the Buick had to be decided, we would hold the search unreasonable because there is nothing in the record to Show the need for search without a warrant. The car and its occupants were both in custody at the time the search was made.' (Emphasis supplied.)

The 'need' for an immediate search of a vehicle is defined in the case of Preston v. United States (1964), 376 U.S. 364, 84 S.Ct. 881, 11 L.Ed.2d 777, to be those situations where the defendant might be able to reach a concealed weapon, or destroy evidence, or drive away before a warrant could be obtained. Such is not the case, as here and as in the Monroe and Preston Cases, where the defendant and the vehicle were already in police custody. We are urged to distinguish the present seizure from the 'remoteness' objection found in these cases (i.e., the search took place at a time too remote from the arrest to be incident thereto, so as to require a ...