State v. Richards
| Decision Date | 24 January 1974 |
| Docket Number | No. 2667,2667 |
| Citation | 518 P.2d 113,110 Ariz. 290 |
| Parties | STATE of Arizona, Appellee, v. Thomas Edward RICHARDS, Appellant. |
| Court | Arizona Supreme Court |
Gary K. Nelson, Atty. Gen., William J. Schafer, III, Asst. Atty. Gen., Phoenix, for appellee.
Garth Nelson, Yuma, for appellant.
This is an appeal by the defendant, Thomas Edward Richards, from a judgment of guilt for the crime of possession of dangerous drugs for sale in violation of A.R.S. 32--1970 and § 32--1996 and a sentence of not less than two and one-half years nor more than five years in the Arizona State Prison.
Defendant raises several issues on appeal but we need only consider one question. Did the arresting officer have sufficient probable cause within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment to believe that the defendant had committed or was committing a violation of the state drug laws? If he did not then the warrantless arrest was illegal and the subsequent search of the defendant and his car and the seizure of dangerous drugs was invalid. The facts necessary for the determination of this question before us are as follows. While on duty the night of September 20, 1972 and the morning of September 21, 1972, Officer Mahoney of the Yuma City Police heard two radio dispatches concerning a 1971 Blue Ford Pinto. The first stated that the car was en route to Yuma, Arizona from San Diego, California and was being driven by a person who was A.W.O.L. from the military. It was also believed that he was carrying dangerous drugs with him. The second dispatch disclosed that the car in question had just passed through the Arizona Inspection Station west of Yuma and was now carrying two male caucasians.
Shortly thereafter Officer Mahoney spotted the car. At the same time a Deputy Sheriff also spotted the car in question. Solely on the basis of the radio dispatches both officers simultaneously stopped the vehicle and ordered the occupants out. One of the occupants was the defendant. Both occupants were then handcuffed. Officer Mahoney then informed the defendant that he was under arrest for possession of dangerous drugs. Neither officer undertook to identify the two occupants, question them in any way, or make any further investigation at the time the vehicle was stopped and the occupants removed. Subsequently a search of both occupants and the vehicle was made. On the defendant's person was discovered a cigar tube containing amphetamines. Inside the car a paper sack containing 5200 Seconals, a barbiturate, was discovered along with a small caliber pistol and a military bayonet.
Testimony given by the officers indicated that during the interval between the time the vehicle was first spotted and the subsequent stopping of it and the removal of the occupants, neither occupant was seen by the officers to have made any suspicious or unusual movements. Both occupants complied fully with orders given by the officers. In addition both officers testified that they had no basis for stopping the car other than the information that they had received over their radios.
Testimony at the preliminary hearing indicated that the information resulting in the two separate law enforcement radio dispatches in Yuma originated with the San Diego Police Department which in turn contacted the Naval Air Station at Miramar, California. The Naval Air Station in turn notified the Marine Air Corps Station at Yuma and form there the information was relayed to the Yuma County Sheriff's Office, the Yuma Police Department, and the Sheriff's Office substation at Winterhaven, California. The record is barren as to the original source of information which initiated the foregoing chain of events. At no time did the prosecution ever establish that the San Diego Police would have had probable cause to arrest the defendant for either being A.W.O.L. from the military or for possessing dangerous drugs.
At his trial the barbiturates found in the car along with the pistol and bayonet were admitted into evidence. Defendant's motion to suppress the evidence was denied. On appeal the defendant contends that it was error to admit the evidence since it was the product of an unreasonable search and seizure. The search was unreasonable, he contends, because it was...
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People v. Carney
...also United States v. Romero (2d cir.) 249 F.2d 371, 374; State v. Sardo (1975) 112 Ariz. 509, 543 P.2d 1138, 1143; State v. Richards (1974) 110 Ariz. 290, 518 P.2d 113, 115.) Agents Williams and Clem had probable cause to believe the camper contained contraband. It was the site of just com......
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...[person] to believe an offense ... has been committed and that the person to be arrested... did commit it." State v. Richards, 110 Ariz. 290, 291, 518 P.2d 113, 114 (1974); see also State v. Keener, 206 Ariz. 29, ¶ 14, 75 P.3d 119, 122 (App.2003) ("[O]ur courts have long recognized that col......
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...to be arrested... did commit it.'" State v. Aleman, 210 Ariz. 232, ¶ 15, 109 P.3d 571, 576 (App. 2005), quoting State v. Richards, 110 Ariz. 290, 291, 518 P.2d 113, 114 (1974). ¶ In her motion below, Rhinehart argued "[t]he mere fact of a single lane violation to go off-road driving, by a p......
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...to be arrested... did commit it.'" State v. Aleman, 210Ariz. 232, ¶ 15, 109 P.3d 571, 576 (App. 2005), quoting State v. Richards, 110 Ariz. 290, 291, 518 P.2d 113, 114 (1974). ¶7 In her motion below, Rhinehart argued "[t]he mere fact of a single lane violation to go off-road driving, by a p......