State v. Harris

• Decision Date: 09 March 1959
• Docket Number: No. 46984,46984
• Citation: 321 S.W.2d 468
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Robert HARRIS, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 468

321 S.W.2d 468

STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Robert HARRIS, Appellant.

No. 46984.

Supreme Court of Missouri, En Banc.

March 9, 1959.

Raymond A. Bruntrager, St. Louis, for appellant.

John M. Dalton, Atty. Gen., George E. Schaaf, Asst. Atty. Gen., Thomas F. Eagleton, Circuit Atty., St. Louis, for respondent.

COIL, Commissioner.

A jury found Robert Harris, defendant below, guilty of possession of lottery tickets, a misdemeanor, and fixed his punishment at imprisonment in the city workhouse for a year and a $1,000 fine. He appealed from the ensuing judgment to the St. Louis Court of Appeals. That court, by an opinion reported at Mo.App., 313 S.W.2d 219, transferred the case here on the ground that defendant had properly raised and preserved a question involving the construction of the constitution within the meaning of Article 5, Section 3, Missouri Constitution 1945, V.A.M.S. We are of the opinion that we do not have jurisdiction of the instant case for the reasons we shall state.

The general question involved is whether certain articles, received in evidence at defendant's trial and described as 'policy paraphernalia,' were obtained by members of the St. Louis police force as a result of a search of defendant in violation of Article 1, Section 15, Missouri Constitution 1945, which, insofar as here pertinent, provides 'That the people shall be secure in their persons, papers, homes and effects, from unreasonable searches and seizures; * * *.' The precise question, however, posed by defendant, as conclusively demonstrated by his brief, both under 'Points and Authorities' and in the argument portion thereof, is whether the evidence in question was obtained by a search incident to a lawful arrest and, if so, concededly the search was not in violation of the constitutional provision noted, or whether that evidence was obtained by a search not incident to a lawful arrest and, if so, concededly the search was in violation of the mentioned constitutional provision. That such is true is apparent from defendant's Point I (the only point purporting to deal with the instant question), which is: 'Court erred in overruling defendant's motion to suppress and in permitting oral testimony of such evidence since such evidence was seized by virtue on [of] unreasonable search and seizure, not incident to any lawful arrest.' (Bracketed insert ours.) In his argument under Point I defendant says, inter alia but indicative of his total argument, 'The defendant submits that since the search here was not based on any warrant * * * that to be constitutional such a search must be incident to a lawful arrest. * * * The defendant submits that such an arrest was illegal as not being based on probable cause. * * * Since the arrest was unlawful it follows that any search therefore becomes an unreasonable search and seizure as prohibited by the Missouri Constitution of 1945, Article I, Section 15 * * *.'

Thus, it appears to us that the only question in the instant case involving the construction of the constitution is whether a search and seizure which is not incident to a lawful arrest violates the provision of the Missouri Constitution, supra, against unreasonable searches and seizures. It is the settled law of this state, pronounced by decisions of this court, that the search of one's person is justified, and thus not an unreasonable search, only if it is incident to a lawful arrest. State v. Cuezze, Mo., 249 S.W.2d 373, 376; State v. Morice, Mo., 79 S.W.2d 741, 742[1-3]. And, as noted, instant defendant not only concedes, but affirmatively asserts, that the constitutional provision in question has been so construed. Now, it would appear that whether the search in the instant case was or was not incident to a lawful arrest depends, of course, upon whether there was a lawful arrest, and, of course, whether there was a lawful arrest depends upon the application of the law relating to 'arrest' to the particular facts and does not depend upon the construction of any constitutional provision.

As noted, the only question involving the construction of the constitution has been heretofore adjudicated, viz., that the search of one's person not incident to a lawful arrest is violative of Article 1, Section 15, Missouri Constitution 1945. And this court does not take jurisdiction on the ground that the construction of the constitution is involved when the precise constitutional question has been priorly adjudicated by decisions of this court. Swift & Co. v. Doe, Mo., 311 S.W.2d 15, 20.

It was the view of the St. Louis Court of Appeals, as expressed in its transferring opinion, that 'the rule that the Supreme Court will not assume jurisdiction on constitutional grounds when the identical question has been finally settled by prior decisions of the Supreme Court * * * has no application in appeals involving the question whether a search and seizure is unreasonable, for reasons well stated by Commissioner Boyer in State v. McBride [Mo.App.], 32 S.W.2d loc. cit. 136, namely, that every such appeal involves a different set of facts, and the determination of the question involves the exercise of the judicial function and a construction of the Constitution in the light of the facts in the particular case.' 313 S.W.2d 221. What we have said heretofore indicates that we are not in accord with that view insofar as it has been applied to the instant case or insofar as it may be applied to all appeals 'involving the question whether a search and seizure is unreasonable.'

Questions involving the construction of Article 1, Section 15, Missouri Constitution 1945, not heretofore adjudicated by a decision of this court, properly raised and preserved, are within the exclusive jurisdiction of this court. But where, as in this case, the defendant has limited the question involved, insofar as the construction of the constitution is concerned, to the precise question heretofore settled by decisions of this court, we do not have jurisdiction under the provisions of Article 5, Section 3, Missouri Constitution 1945, which, insofar as here pertinent, provides: 'The supreme court shall have exclusive appellate jurisdiction in all cases involving the construction of the Constitution * * * of this state * * *.'

We hasten to say, however, that the St. Louis Court of Appeals was justified in transferring this case on the basis of some of our prior opinions which have indicated that we have jurisdiction of any appeal wherein an appellant has properly preserved a contention that evidence has been admitted which was obtained as a result of a search and seizure in violation of federal and state constitutional provisions relating to unreasonable searches and seizures. As pointed out in the court of appeals opinion, 313 S.W.2d 221, after the Kansas City Court of Appeals had transferred State v. McBride, Mo.App., 32 S.W.2d 134, to this court for the reason heretofore set forth, we said in the transferred case, 327 Mo. 184, 37 S.W.2d 423, that we agreed we had jurisdiction because the construction of certain sections of the state constitution were involved. In State v. Cobb, 309 Mo. 89, 273 S.W. 736, one of the constitutional questions raised was whether a search was in violation of the unreasonable search and seizure provisions of the Missouri Constitution. We said at page 737 of 273 S.W.: '* * * jurisdiction is conferred upon this court by reason of the constitutional questions heretofore mentioned.' In State v. Barrelli, 317 Mo. 461, 296 S.W. 413, division two of this court said, 'The defendant before the trial filed a motion to quash the search warrant, thereby raising a constitutional question which gave this court jurisdiction of the appeal.' In State v. Pigg, 312 Mo. 212, 278 S.W. 1030, 1032, the court en banc said, 'The defendant was convicted of a misdemeanor, but this court has jurisdiction of the appeal, because appellant contends the search of defendant's automobile and seizure of the jugs and fruit jars found therein without legal warrant...