State v. Riles

Decision Date06 March 1978
Docket NumberNo. 60841,60841
Citation355 So.2d 1312
PartiesSTATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Lawrence RILES, Appellant.
CourtLouisiana Supreme Court

John M. Lawrence, New Orleans, for appellant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Louise S. Korns, Asst. Dist. Atty., for appellee.

TATE, Justice.

The defendant was convicted of simple robbery, La.R.S. 14:65, and sentenced, as a multiple offender, La.R.S. 15:529.1, to ten years at hard labor. He appeals, making eight assignments of error.

Assignments 1, 2, and 7 present the principal issues of the appeal. They relate to the lawfulness of the defendant's arrest.

A serviceman was robbed at the Greyhound bus depot. Two policemen searched in the vicinity for a person meeting the description of the robber. Eight blocks away, they observed the defendant, who met the description dressed in maroon pants and jacket, big hat, and with heavy mustache and goatee.

They testified that they asked the defendant to come back to the bus depot. They first informed him he was a suspect in an armed robbery, because he met the description of the robber. The defendant came back with them voluntarily. The victim immediately identified him as the robber.

The defendant was arrested. He then told the officers he had merely threatened the victim, not used a gun.

After he was brought to the police station, money identified as that stolen was found in his socks, in the course of a search of his person. The officers further testified that they fully informed the defendant of his Miranda rights, both following the initial detention eight blocks from the robbery and again following the arrest.

This testimony thus shows an initial stop for investigation based upon reasonable belief that the accused may have committed an offense, a voluntary return to the scene of the robbery, a lawful arrest following the victim's identification of him as the robber, a voluntary statement of an inculpatory nature following the arrest, and the discovery of the stolen money in the course of a lawful search of his person subsequent to a custodial arrest.

We find no error in the trial court's acceptance of the officers' testimony to this effect and in its rejection of the accused's testimony to the contrary. These assignments of error are without merit.

The other assignments urged are equally without merit:

Assignment 3: The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying a motion,...

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5 cases
  • State v. McCoy
    • United States
    • Louisiana Supreme Court
    • 19 October 2016
    ...and threatened, the judge and tore his attorney's file and threw papers on the floor) or in two leading Louisiana cases, State v. Riles, 355 So.2d 1312, 1313 (La. 1978) (during his trial the defendant argued with the judge, scuffled with the deputy sheriffs, and "otherwise disrupted the tri......
  • State v. Langley
    • United States
    • Louisiana Supreme Court
    • 14 April 1998
    ...that shown in Allen (defendant threatened the judge and tore up and threw around papers), or in two leading Louisiana cases, State v. Riles, 355 So.2d 1312 (La.1978) (defendant argued with judge and scuffled with sheriffs) or State v. Lee, 395 So.2d 700 (La.1981) (defendant sang the Star Sp......
  • State v. Doyle
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US
    • 22 December 2021
    ...shown in Allen (defendant threatened the judge and tore up and threw around papers), or in two leading Louisiana cases, State v. Riles , 355 So.2d 1312 (La.1978) (defendant argued with judge and scuffled with sheriffs) or State v. Lee , 395 So.2d 700 (La.1981) (defendant sang the Star Spang......
  • State v. Moore
    • United States
    • Iowa Supreme Court
    • 21 March 1979
    ...United States v. Kizer, 569 F.2d 506, 506-07 (9th Cir.), Cert. denied, 435 U.S. 976, 98 S.Ct. 1626, 56 L.Ed.2d 71 (1978); State v. Riles, 355 So.2d 1312, 1313 (La.1978); People v. Harris, 80 Mich.App. 228, 229-30, 263 N.W.2d 40, 40-41 (1977); State v. Corriz, 86 N.M. 246, 247, 522 P.2d 793,......
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