State v. Emerson
| Decision Date | 27 June 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 41638,41638 |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Gerald Jennes EMERSON, Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Douglas M. Head, Atty. Gen., Richard H. Kyle, Sol. Gen., J. Dennis O'Brien, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Glen W. Swenson, County Atty., Buffalo, for respondent.
Heard before KNUTSON, C.J., and NELSON, MURPHY, OTIS, and FRANK T. GALLAGHER, JJ.
Defendant appeals from a conviction for possession of burglary tools in violation of Minn.St. 609.59. 1 He was tried without a jury and sentenced to a term of 3 years in prison.
On the evening of February 1, 1968, at about 11:15 p.m., the chief of police of Delano, Cornelius Stein, was patrolling a county road when he noticed footprints in the snow headed in the direction of a school building some 2,000 feet away. He got out of his car and followed the tracks to a tree about 75 feet from the highway, behind which he found defendant crouched. At gunpoint he took defendant back to the squad car where he searched him. In so doing he found a pair of binoculars, a sledge hammer, a two-cell flashlight, two pairs of brown jersey gloves, one pair of leather chopper mittens with liners, a pair of zipper overshoes, heavy winter clothing, a ski mask, and a loaded revolver. Thereafter, defendant's car was located and was searched without a warrant. It contained two large chisels, a roll of adhesive tape, and a jar of vaseline. The following day, upon returning to the tree where defendant was apprehended, a police officer found a crowbar 18 inches long. These items were received in evidence without objection.
1. We hold that the evidence was sufficient to sustain the conviction. Defendant was a stranger in the community; it was a late winter evening approaching midnight; he was in an isolated, wooded area headed toward the school building some 2,000 feet away, laden with burglary tools. His only explanation was that he was working off tension; that the tools were symbolic of his prior history which had been marked by criminal activity; and that having the tools 'was kind of like being able to rise up above your past.' On this record the court was justified in finding defendant guilty. State v. Valstad, 282 Minn. 301, 165 N.W.2d 19.
2. Although it seems clear that there was probable cause for making the arrest and the articles taken from defendant's person were seized as an...
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Scott v. State
...originally designed and intended for legitimate purposes. Numerous other courts have reached the same conclusion. See State v. Emerson, 284 Minn. 540, 169 N.W.2d 63 (1969); State v. Bowman, 17 Ohio App.2d 195, 46 Ohio Ops.2d 271, 245 N.E.2d 380 (1969); Corn v. State, 250 Miss. 157, 164 So.2......
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State v. Edmonds
...The witness also testified that the adhesive tape in this case was 'large, quite wide' and not the normal household tape. In State v. Emerson, Minn., 169 N.W.2d 63, a conviction for the possession of burglary tools was upheld when they consisted of two chisels, a roll of adhesive tape, and ......
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State v. Conaway
...and there was evidence that he was about to commit a burglary. State v. Valstad, 282 Minn. 301, 165 N.W.2d 19 (1969); State v. Emerson, 284 Minn. 540, 169 N.W.2d 63 (1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 946, 90 S.Ct. 967, 25 L.Ed.2d 129 In this case, the tools were found in the house and the ones ......