State v. Coffey

• Decision Date: 20 September 1961
• Docket Number: No. 2,2
• Citation: 121 S.E.2d 736,255 N.C. 293
• Parties: STATE, v. Herman H. COFFEY.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 736

121 S.E.2d 736

255 N.C. 293

STATE, v. Herman H. COFFEY.

No. 2

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Sept. 20, 1961

T. W. Bruton, Atty. Gen., and G. Andrew Jones, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

Hamrick & Hamrick, Rutherfordton, for defendant.

MOORE, Justice.

Defendant made eleven assignments of error based on seventeen exceptions. Assignments 2, 5, 8, 10 and 11 are not brought forward in the brief and no reason or argument is stated or authority cited in support thereof, and they are deemed abandoned. Rule 28, Rules of Practice in the Supreme Court. 211 N.C. 563.

With respect to the occurance of 3 March 1961 when defendant was in the car driven by Boyd Sisk, defendant contends that the evidence is insufficient to support the finding that he was in possession of whiskey.

The evidence as to this incident is, in substance, as follows: In consequence of a phone call the sheriff of Rutherford County, on the night of 3 March 1961, went to the Shiloh Baptist Church which is located south of Rutherfordton on the Forest City-Tryon Road. About 20 or 30 minutes after his arrival there he stopped a car which was proceeding from the direction of Tryon toward Forest City. It was about 8:30 or 9:00 o'clock. Boyd Sisk was driving and defendant was in the front seat on the right. Sisk's wife and child occupied the rear seat. There was a gallon of taxpaid whiskey between defendant's legs. It was in a paper bag. The sheriff saw the bag but did not recognize it then as containing whiskey. He asked for permission to search the car, and Sisk gave permission. Defendant made no objection. The sheriff did not have a search warrant. He was on the driver's side and Sisk handed the bag to him. He opened the bag and found that it contained a gallon of taxpaid whiskey. The stamps on the containers were from the Tryon ABC store and were dated 3 March 1961. During that month the Tryon ABC store closed at 9:30 p. m. Defendant did not hand the whiskey to the sheriff. The sheriff testified: 'I did not see him touch the whisky, it was just between his legs.' The car belonged to defendant's wife, and defendant had the registration card and showed it to the sheriff. It was in defendant's pocketbook. The sheriff took defendant in custody and asked him if Sisk might drive the car to Forest City. The sheriff testified: '* * * he (defendant) gave me permission to drive it.' Defendant and Sisk lived in Forest City. They had been seen together on former occasions, and defendant had been seen in Sisk's home. Sisk had served prison sentences within two years of this date for violating the prohibition laws. Defendant had the reputation of 'dealing in whiskey.'

In the first place, defendant insists that the evidence with respect to the whiskey in the car was obtained as a result of an unlawful search and was therefore incompetent.

G.S. § 18-6 provides that officers have no authority 'to search any automobile * * * or baggage of any person without a search warrant * * * except where the officer sees or has absolute personal knowledge that there is intoxicating liquor * * * in such vehicle or baggage.' It is questionable as to whether this provision of the statute applies in the instant case. G.S. § 18-6 relates to cases in which persons are 'in the act of transporting, in violation of the law, intoxicating liquor * * *.' (Emphasis added.) Here, there was no violation of law for there was only a gallon of taxpaid whiskey. G.S. § 18-49. However, decision as to the competency of the evidence need not rest on this ground.

G.S. § 15-27.1 provides: 'No facts discovered or evidence obtained * * * without a legal search warrant in the course of any search, made under conditions requiring a search warrant, shall be competent as evidence in the trial of any action.' To render evidence incompetent under the foregoing section, it must have been obtained (1) 'in the course of * * * search,' (2) 'under conditions requiring a search warrant,' and (3) without a legal search warrant. The purpose of this and similar enactments (G.S. § 15-27) was 'to change the law of evidence in North Carolina, and not the substantive law as to what constitutes legal or illegal search.' Therefore a search that was legal without a warrant before these enactments is still legal, and evidence so obtained still competent. 30 N.C.Law Review 421. It will be noted that the statutes use the phrase 'under conditions requiring a search warrant.' No search warrant is required where the officer 'sees or has absolute personal knowledge' that there is intoxicating liquor in an automobile. State v. Giles, 254 N.C. 499, 119 S.E.2d 394; State v. Hammonds, 241 N.C. 226, 85 S.E.2d 133. No search warrant is required where the owner or person in charge consents to the search. State v. McPeak, 243 N.C. 243, 90 S.E.2d 501.

In the instant case no search warrant was required. In the presence of defendant, the sheriff asked the driver, who was apparently in control and had apparent custody of the car, for permission to search. The driver consented and handed the sheriff the package of whiskey which was between defendant's legs. Defendant made no objection. If, as defendant contends in his brief, he was a mere guest passenger in the car, he had no ground to object to a search. State v. McPeak, supra. When request for permission to search was made, the sheriff did not know the car belonged to defendant's wife, that defendant was carrying the registration card and was exercising any control or had custody of the automobile. These matters were not made known to the sheriff until after the whiskey was placed in the sheriff's hands and he had inspected it. If, as the State contends, defendant had custody of the vehicle, and joint control thereof with Sisk, he failed to speak and assert his immunity to unreasonable search and seizure, which is a personal right, when he knew the driver, who was in apparent control, had consented to the search. Under the circumstances, defendant's conduct amounted to a voluntary consent to search. No search warrant was required.

Defendant further contends that, even if the evidence is competent, it is insufficient to reasonably satisfy the court that he was in possession of the whiskey. He relies upon State v. Ferguson, 238 N.C. 656, 78 S.E.2d 911, 913. There, a car containing a case of illicit liquor was stopped by officers. The liquor was between the feet of the car owner who was riding in the rear seat. The driver and a passenger were in the front seat. The three were charged with the possession and transportation of intoxicating liquor. All were convicted. On appeal, this Court held that the evidence was sufficient to carry the case to the jury as to the driver and owner. But as to the passenger (Pringler Ferguson) the Court said: '* * * we are constrained to the view that the evidence does not make out a prima facie case against Pringler Ferguson. The evidence is silent in respect to when, where, or under what circumstances Pringler Ferguson entered the car. Nothing is shown respecting his or her relationship or association with the other occupants of the car--it does not even appear whether Pringler Ferguson is male or female. On this record he or she was a mere passenger in the automobile. That is not enough. To hold a mere passenger, knowledge of the presence in the automobile of contraband whiskey is insufficient. (Citing cases). The evidence must be sufficient to support an inference of some form of control, joint or otherwise, over the automobile or the liquor.'

The evidence indicates that the defendant Coffey in the instant case was something more than a guest passenger. His position is more nearly analogous to that of the owner in the Ferguson case. Like her, he had the whiskey between his feet. She owned the car in which she was riding. Coffey was in his wife's car, with the registration in his billfold. His wife was not present. He directed the disposition of the car after the whiskey was found, and gave permission for the sheriff to drive it to Forest City. It is a reasonable inference that he had custody of the car and at least joint control. Coffey and Sisk had been seen together on prior occasions, and Coffey had been seen at Sisk's home. Sisk had served prison sentences within the two preceding years for prohibition law violations; and Coffey had the reputation of dealing in whiskey. The whiskey found in the car had been purchased on that date in Tryon; the car was proceeding from the direction of Tryon toward Forest City where both Coffey and Sisk lived. The whiskey was between Coffey's legs. At the time the sheriff stopped the car the liquor store in Tryon was still open. The evidence is sufficient to support an inference of control, joint or otherwise, by defendant over the automobile and the liquor. State v. Ferguson, supra.

A hearing to determine whether or not the terms of a suspended sentence have been violated is not a jury matter, but is to be determined in the sound discretion of the judge. The alleged violation need not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. 'All that is required is that the evidence be such as to reasonably satisfy the judge in the exercise of his sound discretion that the defendant has violated a valid condition upon which the sentence was suspended.' State v. Robinson, 248 N.C. 282, 285, 103 S.E.2d 376, 379. Stated another way, 'There must be substantial evidence of sufficient probative force to generate in the minds of reasonable men the conclusion that defendant has in fact breached the condition in question.' State v. Millner, 240 N.C. 602, 605, 83 S.E.2d 546, 548. In our opinion, the evidence, when considered in the light of the foregoing rules of law, is sufficient to justify the court's finding that defendant had intoxicating beverages in...