State v. Williams
| Decision Date | 03 December 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 60125,60125 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Plaintiff/Respondent, v. Darrion WILLIAMS, Defendant/Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Deborah B. Wafer, District Defender, St. Louis, for plaintiff/respondent.
Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Attorney General, Christine M. Blegen, Assistant Attorney General, Jefferson City, for defendant/appellant.
Appellant appeals his conviction for possession of heroin, § 195.202, RSMo 1994, and possession of cocaine, § 195.202, RSMo 1994, obtained in the Circuit Court of St. Charles County. Appellant was sentenced to two consecutive ten-year terms of imprisonment. We hold that probable cause existed and the original detainment of appellant was, therefore, an arrest. As a result, the subsequent search of appellant was a legal search incident to arrest. Accordingly, there existed sufficient evidence to support the trial court's denial of appellant's motion to suppress. We hold further that the State (Respondent) presented sufficient evidence at trial from which reasonable jurors could conclude that appellant was guilty of possession of heroin. Lastly, we hold that appellant had no constitutional right to have his Alford plea accepted by the trial court and that the court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to accept it. The judgment is affirmed.
On February 26, 1990, Detective Paul West received an anonymous telephone call at the St. Charles Police Department. West was a former member of the St. Charles County multijurisdictional enforcement group, known as the "MEG unit," which specialized in narcotics investigations. Detective William Bowman (Bowman) was, at the time, the deputy commander of that unit. West took down the information provided by the caller and then drove to the location that housed the MEG unit. He met with the MEG unit officers and advised them of the information that he had received. While West was conferring with Bowman and other MEG unit officers, a second telephone call was forwarded to him. Based on the information received during the second telephone call, West, Bowman and other MEG officers began surveillance at an apartment complex off of Harry S Truman Boulevard. The caller indicated that appellant would be leaving the residence at 2208 Trails of Sunbrook between 3:30 and 5:00 p.m. The caller stated that appellant would enter a red 1989 Suzuki with Illinois plates and would be en route to East St. Louis with some heroin and rock cocaine. According to the caller, additional narcotics could be found inside the residence. The caller also stated that appellant is sometimes armed.
At approximately 4:20 p.m. on that day, a red Suzuki left the apartment complex and proceeded southbound on Harry S Truman Boulevard toward Interstate 70. As Officer Bill Wilcox, who was driving a marked patrol car, approached the Suzuki, the driver made an abrupt right-hand turn into the parking lot of an Amoco gas station. The Suzuki had been in the left-hand lane of the southbound portion of Harry S Truman Boulevard and crossed both lanes of southbound traffic to make the turn into the Amoco parking lot. The driver failed to signal before making the turn. Wilcox pulled into the parking lot behind the Suzuki and activated the lights on his patrol car. West pulled up alongside of Wilcox. Wilcox then ordered the driver, later identified as the appellant, out of the car. He then frisked the appellant for weapons. While searching appellant, Wilcox located a clear bag containing pink and white capsules, later determined to be heroin. He placed the capsules back into appellant's pocket, handcuffed him and placed him in the patrol car.
Shortly thereafter, Bowman arrived at the Amoco station. Wilcox informed Bowman that he had found the capsules on appellant's person. At that time, West, Wilcox and Bowman, went to the patrol car to seize the capsules from appellant. The capsules, however, were no longer on appellant's person but were found by Wilcox between the seat and the back rest on the driver's side of the back seat, where appellant had been sitting. Appellant told Bowman that his name was "Darrion Williams" and his address was 2208 Trails of Sunbrook, the same address which had been under surveillance that day.
Bowman conducted a field test on one of the capsules and the substance tested positive for heroin. Later testing at the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department confirmed that the substance in the capsules was heroin. A pager and $995 in cash were also seized from the appellant's person after his arrest.
West later obtained a search warrant and searched appellant's apartment. West found rock and powder cocaine, as well as an Ohaus triple beam scale and empty gel capsules. A blender with cocaine residue and two bottles of Inositol powder, commonly used to cut cocaine, were also found in the kitchen. Baking soda, which is commonly used to put cocaine in rock form, was also found. The office manager of the apartment complex confirmed that appellant lived at that address, as did several letters addressed to, and phone calls made to, the appellant.
At trial, the state and the appellant arranged a plea agreement whereby if the appellant entered a guilty plea, he would be sentenced to seven years. Appellant later entered an Alford plea and the trial court refused to accept it. Appellant then proceeded to trial.
At the close of the evidence, instructions and arguments of counsel, the jury found appellant guilty of possession of heroin and cocaine. Prior to trial, the court had found appellant to be a prior and persistent offender. Appellant was sentenced to two consecutive ten year sentences.
In appellant's first point, he asserts that the trial court erred in overruling his motion to suppress and admitting the evidence of heroin seized from him. Appellate review of a ruling on a motion to suppress is limited to determining whether the evidence is sufficient to support the trial court's ruling. State v. Burkhardt, 795 S.W.2d 399, 404 (Mo. banc 1990). In reviewing the trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress, the facts and any reasonable inferences arising therefrom are to be stated most favorably to the order challenged on appeal. State v. Blankenship, 830 S.W.2d 1, 14 (Mo. banc 1992). Evidence that contradicts that order is to be disregarded. State v. Hutchinson, 796 S.W.2d 100, 104 (Mo.App. S.D.1990).
Appellant raises three different arguments in support of his assertion that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. In his first argument, appellant asserts that the respondent presented insufficient evidence at the motion hearing to find that police had knowledge of specific and articulable facts sufficient to create a reasonable suspicion that appellant had committed or was committing a crime or to support probable cause for an arrest. He argues further that Bowman's testimony at the hearing was insufficient to carry the respondent's burden of proof. We find that probable cause existed to arrest appellant when he was searched at the Amoco station. As a result, the search was a legal search incident to arrest. An arrest is justified only when there exists probable cause to believe that a person is committing or has committed a crime. United States v. Espinosa, 782 F.2d 888, 891 (10th Cir.1986). The determination of probable cause depends on the specific facts and circumstances of each case and no specific test exists which can be readily applied. State v. Wiley, 522 S.W.2d 281 (Mo. banc 1975). Probable cause may be based on the hearsay of an anonymous informant "so long as the informant's statement is reasonably corroborated by other matters within the officer's knowledge" and there is a substantial basis for crediting the hearsay. Id. quoting Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 269, 80 S.Ct. 725, 735, 4 L.Ed.2d 697 (1960), overruled on other grounds.
Looking at the evidence presented at the motion hearing, we find that the information received by West from the anonymous caller was sufficiently corroborated to create probable cause. Bowman was with West when he received the second phone call and they corroborated the information together. Their surveillance of 2208 Trails of Sunbrook discovered only one red Suzuki with Illinois plates at the address. After receiving appellant's name, Bowman received confirmation...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Williams
...a substantial basis for crediting the hearsay statements in an affidavit." Dawson, 985 S.W.2d at 950; see also State v. Williams, 937 S.W.2d 330, 332 (Mo. App. 1996). In Berry, the Missouri Supreme Court addressed the level of corroboration that is necessary to establish probable cause on t......
-
State v. Mitchell
...creates a substantial basis for crediting hearsay statements in an affidavit." Dawson, 985 S.W.2d at 950. See also State v. Williams, 937 S.W.2d 330, 332 (Mo. App. E.D. 1996). Defendant's argument ignores these principles, and concentrates almost entirely on the lack of recitation in the af......
-
State Carolina v. Jarvis
...found that Defendant's conviction ‘did involve the physical, mental, or sexual abuse of a minor.’ ”). FN4. But see State v. Williams, 937 S.W.2d 330, 334 (Mo.App.1996) (when plea agreement is reached with a defendant who initially agrees to plead guilty, but who subsequently agrees to a ple......
-
People v. Bilski
...S.Ct. 160,27 L.Ed.2d 162 (1970). Proceeding in this manner is, at best, an equivocal acceptance of responsibility. See State v. Williams, 937 S.W.2d 330, 334 (Mo.App.1996) ("A subsequent guilty plea pursuant to Alford eliminates any showing of remorse or taking of responsibility by the appe......