State v. Williams

• Decision Date: 20 March 1969
• Docket Number: No. 1904,1904
• Parties: The STATE of Arizona, Appellee, v. Jack Lee WILLIAMS, Appellant.
• Court: Arizona Supreme Court

Page 112

452 P.2d 112

104 Ariz. 319

The STATE of Arizona, Appellee, v. Jack Lee WILLIAMS, Appellant.

No. 1904.

Supreme Court of Arizona, In Banc.

March 20, 1969.

Tupper, Skeens & Rapp, by Edw. Crehan Rapp, Phoenix, for appellant.

Gary K. Nelson, Atty. Gen., and Wm. E. Eubank, Chief Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

UDALL, Chief Justice:

Jack Lee Williams, hereinafter defendant, brings this appeal from a judgment of conviction for robbery and attempted robbery.

According to the testimony of Joe Rose, on April 22, 1967 Rose and Lionel Turcotte boarded a gondola car of a Southern Pacific freight train in Los Angeles, California. They got off the train the next morning in Tucson, Arizona where they purchased some food which they ate in the railroad yard. At that point the two men were joined by defendant. Rose, Turcotte and defendant then got on an open-doored box car headed for El Paso, Texas. They all slept for the first couple of hours of the journey. Upon awakening, defendant unsuccessfully attempted to pick a fight with Turcotte. After several minutes passed he approached Turcotte again and began punching him with his fists. Rose persuaded him to stop and then defendant turned on Rose and hit him in the stomach, doubling him over. Defendant took a pocket knife from Rose and held it against Rose's stomach while he robbed him of a sum of money and a few items of personal property. Defendant then pointed to Turcotte and said to Rose, 'How about him?' Rose replied that Turcotte didn't have anything. Defendant then went over to Turcotte, knife still in hand, and reached out toward Turcotte's shirt pocket. Turcotte kicked defendant in the leg and defendant began swinging at him with the knife. Rose grabbed at defendant's arm and at some point during the scuffle Turcotte left the car while it was traveling at a high rate of speed. Defendant pulled his arm away from Rose and Rose jumped from the car.

In the fall from the train Rose suffered a broken leg and multiple lacerations. When he was able to get up he hobbled and crawled back to where Turcotte was lying beside the track. He found Turcotte unconscious but still alive. Rose then attempted to find a highway in order to summon help but instead fell asleep under some bushes. Some two hours after he jumped from the box car he flagged down a westbound freight train and was taken to a hospital.

Turcotte's body was found by the track later that day by deputies from the Cochise County Sheriff's office. The coroner's report indicated that Turcotte's death was caused by the aspiration of blood. The coroner testified that Turcotte had received deep lacerations to the neck and face, minor abrasions to the head, several fractured ribs and general lacerations and bruises to the hands and knees. It was his opinion that death was caused by blood from the neck lacerations leaking into a crushed larynx and voice box and filling the lungs and air passages. The coroner further testified that some of the injuries received by Turcotte were not consistent with jumping or falling from a train.

Authorities from Arizona notified one Sheriff McCarty in Lordsburg, New Mexico that a 6 6 , 185 pound, 23 to 25 year old Negro male was on the train who was wanted in connection with a homicide in Arizona. Sheriff McCarty relayed the message to the dispatcher at the Luna County Sheriff's office in Deming, New Mexico, who in turn gave the message to the Luna County Sheriff, Clifford Gray. Sheriff Gray was notified that the railroad depot in Lordsburg had been contacted and that the train would be pulled off on a siding at a certain point. Sheriff Gray and other officers proceeded to the area and located the train. One officer started at one end of the train and one at the other. As they got close to a box car with both doors open they observed the defendant (a Negro male, 6 3 , 172 pounds, 23 years old) getting out of the car. Sheriff Gray handcuffed defendant and frisked him. A pocket knife was found on defendant's person and seized.

The knife taken from defendant at the time of his arrest was admitted into evidence at trial. Defendant's motion to suppress the evidence was denied. He contends that it was error to admit the evidence since it was the product of an unreasonable search and seizure. The search was unreasonable, contends defendant, because it was made pursuant to an unlawful, warrantless arrest.

To be lawful a warrantless arrest must be based upon 'probable cause'. The arresting officer must have probable cause to believe that a felony has been committed and that the person to be arrested committed it. A.R.S. § 13--1403. Probable cause exists where the arresting officers have reasonably trustworthy information of facts and circumstances which are sufficient in themselves to lead a reasonable man to believe that an offense is being or has been committed and the person to be arrested is committing or did commit it. Ker v. State of California, 374 U.S. 23, 83 S.Ct. 1623, 10 L.Ed.2d 726; State v. Pederson, 102 Ariz. 60, 424 P.2d 810 (1967); State v. Vaughn, 104 Ariz. 240, 450 P.2d 698 (Feb. 20, 1969.)

Information is 'reasonably trustworthy' when it is received through official sources. State v. Pederson, supra; People v. Lara, 67 Cal.2d 365, 62 Cal.Rptr. 586, 432 P.2d 202 (1967). The arresting officers obtained their information from police authorities in Lordsburg, New Mexico who, in turn, received the information from authorities in Arizona. Cooperation between authorities of different states, as in the instant case, is essential to effective law enforcement. The arresting officers were directed to arrest a 6 6 , 185 pound, 23--25 year old Negro male. They were informed that he was riding a box car on a certain train and that the train would be pulled off on a siding at a certain point. Defendant is a 6 3 , 172 pound, 23 year old Negro male. He was observed climbing out of a box car on the train which had been pulled off on the siding at the direction of the Lordsburg authorities. It is our conclusion that under those circumstances the arrest was based upon probable cause.

Defendant...