State v. Farmer
| Decision Date | 13 December 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 15843,15843 |
| Citation | 173 W.Va. 285,315 S.E.2d 392 |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE of West Virginia v. Rex Allen FARMER. |
Syllabus by the Court
1. Syllabus point 1 of State v. Canby, W.Va., 252 S.E.2d 164 (1979), which covers arrests without warrants, requiring both probable cause to believe that a felony has been committed and exigent circumstances, is limited to arrests made in the home.
2. In order for police officers to make an arrest without a warrant in the home of a suspect, they must have had at the time of the arrest sufficient reliable evidence that they could have made a strong showing of probable cause, and, in addition, there must be exigent circumstances, not of the police officers' creation, which militate in favor of immediate arrest. In addition, a police officer may always make a warrantless arrest for a felony committed in his presence or when there is an outstanding warrant for the individual arrested, although the warrant may not be in the possession of the arresting officer.
3. Syl. pt. 2, State v. Canby, W.Va., 252 S.E.2d 164 (1979).
4. "Whether a consent to a search is in fact voluntary or is the product of duress or coercion, express or implied, is a question of fact to be determined from the totality of all the circumstances." Syl. pt. 8, State v. Craft, W.Va., 272 S.E.2d 46 (1980).
Fredrick S. Wilkerson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Charleston, for appellee.
J. Peter Richardson, Bluefield, for appellant.
The appellant, Rex Allen Farmer, pled guilty to forgery on 22 January 1982 and was placed on probation for two years. On 10 March 1982, he was arrested and charged with grand larceny for the theft of a number of items of personal property from a van.
On 17 March 1982, Robert L. Mazingo, chief probation officer of the Mercer County Circuit Court, filed a petition to revoke the appellant's probation. The circuit court conducted a probation revocation hearing and found that the appellant had violated the conditions of his probation and, therefore, revoked appellant's probation pursuant to W.Va.Code 62-12-9 [1983]. 1 The appellant now appeals that revocation of probation on the grounds that the evidence used to sustain the revocation should have been excluded. We find that there was adequate admissible evidence to justify the circuit court in concluding that the appellant had violated a law of the State of West Virginia and, therefore, we affirm.
On 10 March 1982, the Mercer County Sheriff's Department received a complaint that some vehicles had been broken into at Chaser's Lounge near Princeton, West Virginia. A witness, Danny Russell Ballard, observed people running from a van parked in the lot adjacent to Chaser's Lounge toward a passenger car bearing West Virginia license number 3CL-625.
At approximately 7 a.m. the same morning, the reported license number was fed into the computer at the sheriff's department which indicated that the license belonged to a blue 1974 Chevrolet passenger car owned by Rex A. Farmer, General Delivery, Lashmeet, West Virginia. The vehicle's description matched the description given by Mr. Ballard in the complaint. The complaint further indicated that the following items had been stolen from the van: two Jenson speakers, one Trancredi booster, a Playmate cooler, a digital clock and an 8-track tape. The description of this merchandise was also provided in the complaint.
After this information was put together, Sergeant R.E. Baughman of the Mercer County Sheriff's Department, accompanied by another officer, went to Lashmeet. Shortly after arriving in Lashmeet the officers asked where they could find Mr. Farmer and learned that he was living with his ex-wife on Beeson Road near Lashmeet. When Sergeant Baughman and the other officer arrived at the address given to them, they observed a blue 1974 Chevrolet passenger car parked near the house with a license number matching the one that had been given by Mr. Ballard. The officers checked the locked vehicle from the outside and observed a Playmate cooler and an 8-track tape of the same type as the one reported stolen. A pair of speakers not matching the speakers referred to in the complaint were also inside the vehicle. Sergeant Baughman was aware that another vehicle had been broken into the same evening and that two other speakers had been stolen.
The officers went to a neighboring house to ask whether the appellant lived next door. The neighbor advised them that the appellant was living there with his ex-wife. The officers then went to the ex-wife's house and knocked on the door. Immediately after knocking, the officers saw the appellant jump out of bed and run through the house. The officers testified that they continued knocking on the door periodically for approximately thirty minutes. Finally, the appellant's ex-wife came to the door and denied the appellant was present inside. She was informed that the appellant had been observed inside the house and that the officers were going to arrest him. Sergeant Baughman entered the house and found the appellant hiding in a closet.
Sergeant Baughman placed the appellant under arrest and orally advised him of his rights. The appellant stated that he knew nothing about why he was being arrested and further stated that he had been drunk the previous night. The appellant was then told that a search warrant would be obtained to search his car. Once apprised of the officers' intentions to impound and search his vehicle, the appellant said that he would allow his ex-wife to open the trunk. The appellant then gave his ex-wife a key which she used to open the trunk of the vehicle. Inside the vehicle's trunk were two Jenson speakers which the owner, Mr. Kenny Cook, later identified as the speakers stolen from his van at Chaser's Lounge. The Playmate cooler and 8-track tape also belonged to Mr. Cook. Neither the Trancredi booster nor the digital clock was recovered.
After the stolen merchandise in the trunk had been recovered, the appellant's ex-wife unlocked the vehicle's passenger compartment and handed Sergeant Baughman the other merchandise which had previously been in plain view. These stolen items were taken back to the sheriff's department to be marked as evidence.
The appellant was taken to the Mercer county jail where he was again advised of his rights. He then executed a waiver of rights form, and gave a written statement. Later that morning at approximately 10 a.m., Sergeant Baughman took the appellant before the magistrate to obtain a warrant which charged the appellant with grand larceny. Appellant's statement was not introduced into evidence at the presentment.
The appellant's primary assignment of error is that his arrest without a warrant was illegal and that the subsequent search of his vehicle, although pursuant to his consent, was also illegal as the fruit of an illegal arrest.
Our criteria for determining whether a lawful arrest can be made without a warrant in a person's own home were set forth in State v. Canby, W.Va., 252 S.E.2d 164 (1979). Although that case involved an arrest made at the defendant's home, we did not explicitly limit our holding to that factual context. Today we clarify that ruling by stating that the test laid out in Canby, which requires exigent circumstances in addition to probable cause, is limited to arrests without warrants that are made in the home. See, State v. Craft, W.Va., 272 S.E.2d 46, 55 (1980). In Canby we said:
In order for police officers to make an arrest without a warrant, they must have had at the time of the arrest sufficient reliable evidence that they could have made a strong showing of probable cause, and, in...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Howerton
...9) whether the accused has repudiated an extra judicial statement at a later date.' " (Citation omitted).9 In Syllabus Point 1 of State v. Farmer, W.Va., 315 S.E.2d 392 (1983), we expressly limited the exigency requirement to arrests in the home, stating: "Syllabus Point 1 of State v. Canby......
-
State ex rel. Dechristopher v. Gaujot
...that have been consented to." Syl. Pt. 1, in part, State v. Angel , 154 W. Va. 615, 177 S.E.2d 562 (1970).54 State v. Farmer , 173 W. Va. 285, 289, 315 S.E.2d 392, 396 (1983).55 Schneckloth v. Bustamonte , 412 U.S. 218, 227, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973) ; see also Syl. Pt. 8, State ......
-
State v. Schofield
...forth its criteria for determining whether a lawful arrest can be made without a warrant in a person's own home in State v. Farmer, 173 W.Va. 285, 315 S.E.2d 392 (1983). In Farmer, supra, strengthened the ramparts of every man's castle and upheld a high standard for police to satisfy before......
-
State v. Justice
...is voluntary is a question of fact to be determined from the totality of the circumstances. State v. Worley, Id.; State v. Farmer, 173 W.Va. 285, 315 S.E.2d 392 (1983); and State v. Craft, 165 W.Va. 741, 272 S.E.2d 46 In the present case, there was evidence that the defendant indicated that......