State v. Freeland

• Decision Date: 14 January 1964
• Docket Number: No. 50953,50953
• Citation: 125 N.W.2d 825,255 Iowa 1334
• Parties: STATE of lowa, Appellee, v. Charles FREELAND, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 825

125 N.W.2d 825

255 Iowa 1334

STATE of lowa, Appellee, v. Charles FREELAND, Appellant.

No. 50953.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Jan. 14, 1964.

Rothschild & Nadler, Waterloo, for appellant.

Charles Hinton, Asst. County Atty., William C. Ball, County Atty., John H. Allen, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Evan Hultman, Atty. Gen., for appellee.

THORNTON, Justice.

Defendant appeals his conviction of breaking and entering contrary to section 708.8 of the 1962 Code of Iowa, I.C.A.

I. Defendant urges three errors for reversal. The first is the court erred in overruling his motion to suppress evidence. His argument here differs from the matters contained in his motion to suppress in the trial court. There he complained because the arrest and search were made without a warrant for either and such was in violation of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The principal thrust of his argument here is directed to a failure to comply with sections 758.1 and 758.2, Code of Iowa, 1962, I.C.A. Section 758.1 in part provides, 'When an arrest is made without a warrant, the person arrested shall, without unnecessary delay, be taken before the nearest or most accessible magistrate in the county * * *.' Section 758.2 provides for a hearing before the magistrate.

The testimony of the arresting officers shows they did not take defendant before a magistrate at that time but directly to the county jail. The arrest was made shortly after midnight on Sunday morning, May 13, 1962. The principal difficulty with defendant's position is the evidence defendant wants suppressed is the fruits of the crime, candy bars and tools, found at his feet in the automobile in which he was seated at the time of his arrest.

The claimed unlawful detention did not result in any evidence now being used against him. The fact of unlawful detention alone, if such there be, has not in any case that has been called to our attention been held to entitle an accused to his freedom nor does it exclude evidence otherwise obtained. Unlawful detention is most frequently urged as excluding a confession obtained during the unlawful detention. As excluding the confession in the federal courts, see Mallory v. United State, 354 U.S. 449, 453, 77 S.Ct. 1356, 1359, 1 L.Ed.2d 1479; and as being an element to be considered in determining the voluntariness of the confession in state courts, see State v. Jones, 253 Iowa 829, 837, 113 N.W.2d 303; Culombe v. Connecticut, 367 U.S. 568, 81 S.Ct. 1860, 6 L.Ed.2d 1037; and State v. Keating, Wash., 378 P.2d 703. In such cases, however, 'The critical period is that between arrest and confession. 'Detention after a confession plainly does not affect its admissibility.'' Jackson v. United States, 114 U.S.App.D.C. 181, 313 F.2d 572,575. It must follow the admissibility of evidence obtained prior to or at the commencement of the illegal detention is in no way affected.

II. The state's evidence does show the arrest of defendant and what is claimed to be a search are both legal.

The facts are, Mr. Howard and Mr. Joens, private citizens, saw an old model Dodge parked at the Bader Implement Company in LaPorte City at about midnight May 12, 1962. One of them approached the car and inquired as to what was wrong. The driver mumbled. there was another man lying in the back seat. Howard and Joens drove off. The Dodge drove by them and turned into Brown's Service Station. They reported the incident to the town marshall, Mr. Burch. They advised the marshall the license plate was partially obscured by paint. Mr. Burch stopped the Dodge and requested Howard and Joens to check the Bader Implement Company. They found a rear window broken in. They so advised the marshall. Then they contacted Mr. Bader, the owner of the implement company.

The reason the marshall stopped the car was the license plate was painted over and there had been breakins in the vicinity. He checked the drivers licenses of the occupants of the Dodge. He recognized the name of the driver, Weekly, from a list of parolees. He called the sheriff's deputies to check for a parole violation. When the deputies arrived the marshall went to the Bader Implement Company. He there found there had been a breakin. This information was immediately radioed to the deputies and they took defendant and Weekly into custody. The defendant was in the back seat of the Dodge, a two door. When defendant was taken from the car it was necessary to remove a box containing candy bars and hand tools. These were identified by Mr. Bader as being taken from his implement company.

It is apparent the marshall checked the drivers licenses of Weekly and defendant and actually detained them while the implement company was being checked and he obtained the assistance of the deputies. This detention or arrest was for the purpose of investigation. This was proper. The car in which defendant was riding was parked near a warehouse near midnight. It moved to another location within a mile or mile and one-half of the first. The license plate was partially painted over. There had been breakins in the neighborhood. Under the circumstances it was reasonable for the marshall to make a reasonable investigation of this car and its occupants. He could not be expected to leave the car and its occupants and take time to obtain a warrant. He properly obtained help and when it was learned there had been a breakin the candy bars and tools taken were found in the back seat of the car, not found after a search, but in the process of taking defendant from the car the candy and tools were in plain sight. These were identified as stolen. There was probable cause. The deputies had reasonable grounds to believe an indictable offense had been committed and defendant had committed it. The arrest and search and seizure of the stolen property were valid. In fact there is no evidence to the contrary. State v. Post, Iowa, 123 N.W.2d 11, 16-17, and citations. In Bell v. United States, 102 U.S.App.2d 383, 254 F.2d 82, 87, is this concise statement by Judge Prettyman:

'The sum total of the reams that have been written on the subject is that a peace officer may arrest without a warrant when he has reasonable grounds, in light of the circumstances of the moment as viewed through his eyes, for belief that a felony has been committed and that the person before him committed it. We require police officers to be reasonable; we too must be reasonable.'

Defendant also urges in connection with this assignment of error that the burden is on the state to prove the evidence used to prove the guilt of defendant was lawfully obtained when such issue is injected in the case by defendant. Here the state has done so. All of the evidence produced on the hearing to suppress shows the arrest was lawful. The only evidence then obtained was the fruits of the crime then in the possession of defendant. Property so found incident to a lawful arrest is lawfully obtained. State v. Post, Iowa, 123 N.W.2d 11, 17.

III. Defendant contends it was error for the trial court to overruled his motion to require the state to give him, or arrange for him to take a polygraph test. In his motion he consented to taking the test. Orally on the hearing on the motion he consented in open court to the results of the test being admitted in evidence. Defendant's motion was filed September 18, 1962, the trial started October 10th. It was on this date the motion was called to the attention of...