State v. Andries

• Citation: 297 NW 2d 124
• Decision Date: 09 September 1980
• Docket Number: No. 50688.,50688.
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Mary Ellen ANDRIES, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

297 N.W.2d 124 (1980)

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Mary Ellen ANDRIES, Appellant.

No. 50688.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

July 3, 1980.

Rehearing Denied September 9, 1980.

C. Paul Jones, Public Defender, and Evalynn Welling, Asst. Public Defender, Minneapolis, for appellant.

Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen., Thomas L. Fabel, Deputy Atty. Gen., and John H. Daniels, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Richard Swanson, County Atty., Grand Marais, for respondent.

Considered and decided by the court en banc without oral argument.

WAHL, Justice.

The sole issue on this appeal by defendant from her judgment of conviction of possession of marijuana with intent to sell is whether the search warrant resulting in the discovery of the evidence which incriminated her violated either the Fourth Amendment or state law because it was authorized over the telephone by a judge who fully complied with the requirements of the relevant statutes except that he did not personally sign the warrant but instead delegated that ministerial act to the applicant. We hold that the warrant was properly issued and affirm the judgment of conviction.

At 6:30 a. m. on Sunday, July 6, 1978, a deputy sheriff in Cook County contacted the county attorney and informed him of information he had obtained which established probable cause to believe that marijuana would be found at a certain residence but that haste in obtaining a warrant was required because it was believed that the possessor of the marijuana would soon be leaving town. Because the nearest judge lived 85 miles away, the county attorney called the judge and sought telephonic authorization for a search warrant. The judge then went to his chambers and the deputy to the jail, and a three-way conference call, recorded by both the deputy and the judge, was arranged. The deputy then read the affidavit which the county attorney had prepared, as well as the proposed warrant. The deputy then signed the affidavit in the presence of a witness, and the judge, after making his substantive determination that there was probable cause and that a warrant should issue, delegated to the deputy the task of signing the judge's name to the warrant.

A complete transcript of the telephone conversation as well as the copy of the affidavit and the warrant were available at the omnibus hearing, and the omnibus court denied the motion to suppress.

We have no hesitancy in upholding the constitutionality of the procedures followed in this case. Our...