State v. Billups
| Decision Date | 08 February 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 4016-PR,4016-PR |
| Citation | 575 P.2d 323,118 Ariz. 124 |
| Parties | STATE of Arizona, Appellee, v. Ronald BILLUPS, Appellant. |
| Court | Arizona Supreme Court |
Bruce E. Babbitt, Atty. Gen., by William J. Schafer, III and Galen H. Wilkes, Asst. Attys. Gen., Phoenix, for appellee.
Ross P. Lee, Maricopa County Public Defender by Anne Kappes, Deputy Public Defender, Phoenix, for appellant.
Appellant Ronnie Lee Billups was tried and convicted of grand theft. He was placed on probation for a period of four years with one of the conditions of probation being that the appellant serve one year in the Maricopa County Jail. A timely appeal was filed. The Court of Appeals reversed a ruling of the trial court that the appellant did not have standing to challenge the search of certain premises, and the appellate court ordered that the case be returned to the trial court to determine whether the appellant had consented to the search of the premises. We granted the petition of the state for review. The decision of the Court of Appeals, State v. Billups, 118 Ariz. 133, 575 P.2d 332 (App.1977), is vacated. The judgment of the Superior Court is reversed.
On October 23, 1975, officers of the Phoenix Police Department undertook the investigation of a reported theft of a rotary table saw. Their investigation disclosed that two males had been seen carrying a table saw away from the premises of the owner. One of the investigating officers found a trail of scratch marks on the sidewalk leading from the premises where the saw had been located. The scratch marks led to appellant's house which was located about a block away. Further investigation disclosed that the table to which the saw had been attached was found abandoned in an alley behind appellant's home, but the saw had been detached from the table. Acting on this information and the limited description of the individuals seen carrying the saw from the premises, the officers arrested appellant, advised him of his rights and brought him to his home. The appellant gave the officers consent to search his house, but the officers did not find the saw on the premises.
In the backyard of appellant's home some ten feet or more from the house was located an unattached shed. The appellant denied having a key to the shed. The officers secured a flashlight, and with its aid they were able to observe a portion of the shed by shining the light through the space between the door and wall of the shed. They observed the saw in the shed. The officers then removed the screws from the door latch and entered the shed to recover the stolen saw.
The appellant was charged by information with grand theft. A timely motion to suppress was filed upon appellant's behalf. The evidence submitted at the hearing on the motion to suppress consisted solely of the reporter's transcript of proceedings at the preliminary hearing, the parties having agreed to submit the matter on that evidence.
In addition to the facts related above the evidence at the preliminary hearing indicated that the shed in question belonged to appellant's sister and that the keys to the shed were usually kept in the kitchen of appellant's house where he lived with his mother. Based on the evidence presented the trial court ruled that the appellant did not have standing to challenge the search of the shed.
Subsequently the appellant and the state submitted the case for determination by the trial court based on the preliminary hearing transcript and an additional stipulated set of facts. The appellant waived his right to trial by jury and agreed that the trial court could determine the case on the foregoing matters.
The additional facts stipulated were that the appellant had ready access to the shed by the authority of his sister, the owner of the shed, and that for the use and convenience of the appellant and his mother a key to the shed was provided by the sister, which key was kept at appel...
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State v. Holman
...Here, as noted, the "cabin" was not occupied by Holman or anyone else. Perhaps the closest case cited by Holman is State v. Billups, 118 Ariz. 124, 575 P.2d 323 (1978). There, property was seized from a locked shed situated about ten feet from the defendant's house. Although the defendant's......
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State v. Walker
...on the general requirement of standing is Brown v. United States, 411 U.S. 223, 93 S.Ct. 1565, 36 L.Ed.2d 208 (1973). See State v. Billups, 118 Ariz. 124, 575 P.2d 323 (filed February 8, 1978). In Brown the Supreme Court held that a person would not have standing if: 1) he was not on the pr......
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State v. Pinder
...intended the consent to extend or how the police reasonably construed his consent." 2 W. LaFave,supra at 625. In State v. Billups, 118 Ariz. 124, 575 P.2d 323 (1978), the Arizona Supreme Court held that a consent to a search of a house did not authorize a search of a shed behind the house. ......
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State v. Crutchfield
...divorce himself from the physical transportation of the contraband and to this end used the third party's vehicle. In State v. Billups, 118 Ariz. 124, 575 P.2d 323 (1978), the Arizona Supreme Court held that a defendant had standing to question the search of a shed owned by the defendant's ......