State v. St. Germain

• Decision Date: 30 September 1974
• Docket Number: No. 6693,6693
• Citation: State v. St. Germain, 325 A.2d 803, 114 N.H. 608 (N.H. 1974)
• Parties: STATE of New Hampshire v. John William ST. GERMAIN.
• Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court

Page 803

325 A.2d 803

114 N.H. 608

STATE of New Hampshire v.John William ST. GERMAIN.

No. 6693.

Supreme Court of New Hampshire.

Sept. 30, 1974.

Warren B. Rudman, Atty. Gen., and Gregory H. Smith, Concord, for the state.

Cristiano & Kromphold, Keene (Eric J. Kromphold, Jr., Keene, orally), for defendant.

GRIMES, Justice.

Defendant was convicted by jury for possession of heroin.RSA ch. 318-B(Supp.1973).He excepted to the rulings of the trial court admitting and excluding evidence and from denial of a motion to suppress evidence raising issues of the validity of his warrantless arrest, warrantless search of a car and seizure of evidence, and the validity of a warrant obtained to search the vehicle at the police station.Defendant's exceptions were reserved and transferred by Grant, J.

On July 3, 1971 at about 10:30 p.m., Inspector Douglas Fish was called to the Keene police station to investigate a report that one Michael Hare would be arriving in Keene carrying a supply of heroin.The inspector was told that Hare would be driving a green Pontiac with Maine registration number 360-985 and that Hare would be meeting people at an apartment located on Harmony Lane.On his way to the station Inspector Fish drove to Harmony Lane and saw the described car parked near the apartment.At the police station Inspector Fish talked with a fellow inspector and with two other people who corroborated that Mr. Hare was to have heroin with him and was to meet one Frank Torres, Jr.An independent investigation verified a statement by the informants that Torres had a prior conviction in New York for drug abuse.

Inspector Fish then consulted by telephone with the county attorney.At midnight a second check of the apartment at Harmony Lane revealed that the suspect car was missing.A couple of hours later, when checked a third time, the car had returned.At the time of this third check, Inspector Fish saw Frank Torres walking along the street.The inspector called a police cruiser and had Torres picked up and taken to the police station for questioning.Torres appeared to be under the influence of drugs.When asked about a red inflammation on his arm, he said he had just shot some heroin from a sample he had obtained from Hare and that he had thrown the sample into some bushes when he was arrested.He also told the police that Hare and a friend (St. Germain) had driven from Maine on their way to New York with the heroin, that the heroin was of a high grade and worth around $10,000, and that Hare and St. Germain wanted Torres to help them sell it.Torres was then released on his promise that he would return to the station at noon of that day, July 4, with the sample which he had thrown away.

Torres returned at noon with the sample and reassured the police he would continue to cooperate with them.At 2:00 p.m. he returned and reported that he and Mssrs.Hare and St. Germain had made all the arrangements to go to New York to sell the heroin, that the heroin would be in the car when they left town, but that all three were broke and needed travelling money.Inspector Fish loaned him a few dollars.At 2:45 p.m., with two officers in a cruiser standing by, Inspector Fish in an unmarked car staked out the green Pontiac.The inspector noticed a person, whom he could not identify, leave the apartment and walk towards the car carrying a package.Five minutes later the car left Harmony Lane and drove past the inspector's stake out point.From his vantage point, the inspector saw three men in the car.He recognized Torres in the back seat and he subsequently identified Hare as the driver and St. Germain as the front-seat passenger.

The suspect car was followed by Inspector Fish and, some distance back, by the marked police cruiser.At the outskirts of Keene, when it appeared the vehicle was heading out of the town toward Vermont, Inspector Fish passed the Pontiac and radioed the cruiser to stop the car and take the passengers into custody.

The Pontiac was stopped.The two uniformed policemen approached it from the rear, one on each side, and plain clothesman Fish approached it from the front.One of the officers asked Hare for his license and registration.When Hare said he did not have them, the officer ordered the three suspects to get out of the car on the driver's side.As St. Germain slid across the front seat he took something out of the glove compartment and tucked it in the sleeve of a jacket lying on the front seat.Having been forewarned by Torres that his friends had a pistol, the police drew their weapons.The suspects were frisked, cuffed and taken into custody.Meanwhile,...