People v. Neyra
| Decision Date | 29 September 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 26900,26900 |
| Citation | 189 Colo. 367,540 P.2d 1077 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Norma NEYRA a/k/a Norma Neyra Sosa, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Nolan L. Brown, Dist. Atty., Dan B. Fahrney, Chief Deputy Dist. Atty., L. Gary Hebenstreit, Deputy Dist. Atty., Golden, for plaintiff-appellant.
Jerald J. Devitt, Golden, for defendant-appellee.
Defendant Neyra, charged with felony theft, filed a motion to suppress evidence seized from her automobile after a warrantless search. The trial court granted this motion. In this interlocutory appeal, the district attorney asserts that the trial court erred in granting this motion. We perceive no error and therefore affirm the trial court's ruling.
The defendant was detained by a security officer as she departed from a department store in the Villa Italia shopping center. He stopped her after observing a man's leather jacket lying in a stroller occupied by the defendant's baby daughter. He had reason to believe this item of clothing had been stolen from the department store. The police were called and took the defendant into custody, whereupon she was advised of her rights. When asked for identification, she stated that her identification was in her automobile in the parking lot of the shopping center. The police agent and security officer accompanied her to the vehicle for the purpose of obtaining identification.
At the suppression hearing, the police agent testified that, as the defendant reached into her vehicle for identification, he observed a shopping bag lying on the floor on the passenger side. It appeared to contain a blue nightgown and a fur coat turned inside out. He further testified that he observed department store price tags on these items. The department store security officer offered similar testimony. In her testimony, however, the defendant denied that any of the contents of the shopping bag could be viewed from any position outside her vehicle.
The police agent testified that he asked the defendant about the contents of this shopping bag, and that she stated that the items in the shopping bag belonged to her daughter and that she had no receipts for them. According to the testimony of the police agent, the defendant then handed the shopping bag to him. The defendant testified that she did not hand over the shopping bag to the police agent but he took it from the vehicle without her consent.
Thereafter, another police agent arrived. The defendant was then presented with a consent form to search her automobile. The police agent testified that the defendant was given time to read the form and after five to eight minutes, she signed it. The defendant, however, testified that the form was not read to her nor explained to her, but that she was merely told to sign it as 'they' were going to search her automobile anyway. She testified that she did not voluntarily consent to the search of her automobile.
The defendant was transported to the county jail while the police agents conducted a warrantless search of her automobile. The police agent took possession of the keys and had the vehicle in police custody at the time of the search. Various items allegedly stolen from several business houses in the shopping center were found in the vehicle and seized as evidence.
The trial court found that the defendant was under arrest at the time she was taken to her vehicle, and that since there was no necessity shown for taking items from the vehicle or searching the vehicle without a search warrant, the defendant's motion to suppress was granted and the items of evidence taken from the vehicle were ordered suppressed.
The district attorney on this appeal argues that the trial court erred in suppressing this evidence because not only had the defendant given her consent to the search, but the 'plain view doctrine'...
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People v. Hinchman
...search fits into one of the narrow exceptions to the general requirement that a warrant be obtained for every search. People v. Neyra, 189 Colo. 367, 540 P.2d 1077 (1975); Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971). The same burden must be borne if the pro......
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People v. Wieckert
...premises. The burden rests upon the prosecution to prove that the consent to search was freely and intelligently given. People v. Neyra, Colo., 540 P.2d 1077 (1975); People v. Hancock, 186 Colo. 30, 525 P.2d 435 (1974); People v. Railey, 178 Colo. 297, 496 P.2d 1047 (1972). The defendant ap......
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People v. Amato
...presumptively illegal, and the prosecution has the burden of establishing an exception to the warrant requirement. E.g., People v. Neyra, Colo., 540 P.2d 1077 (1975). We agree with the prosecution's assertion that the seizure was valid under the plain view exception to the warrant requireme......
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People v. Hicks, 28455
...conducted without a warrant is presumptively illegal unless it falls within certain narrowly defined categories. People v. Neyra, 189 Colo. 367, 540 P.2d 1077 (1975). We have recognized that a properly conducted inventory search of an automobile is valid and fits within such a category. Peo......