Williams v. State
Williams v. State
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
Appellant, Robert Lee Williams, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged in the District Court, Tulsa County, Case No. CRF-75-3082, with the offense of Robbery With Firearms, in violation of 21 O.S. Supp.1973, § 801. He was tried and convicted by a jury, with punishment being set at twenty (20) years in the penitentiary. From said judgment and sentence a timely appeal has been perfected to this Court.
The defendant’s sole assignment of error is that the trial court committed error in overruling his motion to quash the arrest and suppress the evidence seized. He argues that Officer Hadley did not have probable cause to stop the car or to arrest the defendant and search the vehicle.
Under the facts as set forth above, however, the Officer was justified in stopping the defendant on an investigatory basis. In Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 32 L.Ed.2d 612 (1972), the United States Supreme Court said:
“In Terry this Court recognized that a ‘police officer may in appropriate circumstances and in an appropriate manner approach a person for purposes of investigating possibly criminal behavior even though there is no probable cause to make an arrest.’ [Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968)] The Fourth Amendment does not require a policeman who lacks the precise level of information necessary for probable cause to arrest to simply shrug his shoulders and allow a crime to occur or a criminal to escape. On the contrary, Terry recognizes that it may be the essence of good police work to adopt an intermediate response. See id., at 23, 88 S.Ct. at 1881, 20 L.Ed.2d at 907. A brief stop of a suspicious individual, in order to determine his identity or to maintain the status quo momentarily while obtaining more information, may be most reasonable in light of the facts known to the officer at the time. . . .” (Citations omitted)
And see, Cooper v. State, Okl.Cr., 510 P.2d 983 (1973), in which this Court upheld the following jury instruction:
“ ‘You are instructed that for the purpose of preserving the peace and to prevent crime, a peace officer . . may make reasonable inquiry of persons coming under his observation or brought to his knowledge under circumstances which reasonably suggest that a crime has been or is about to be committed’ . . . ”
Then, after discovering the second person and the pistol in the car, the officer had probable cause to arrest both persons. See, Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 85 S.Ct. 223, 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964), wherein the United States Supreme Court stated:
“. . . Whether that arrest was constitutionally valid depends in turn upon whether, at the moment the arrest was made, the officers had probable cause to make it — whether at that moment the facts and circumstances within their knowledge and of which they had reasonably trustworthy information where sufficient to warrant a prudent man in believing that the petitioner had committed or was committing an offense. . . ” (Citations omitted)
And having made the arrest, it was proper to search the car. Since Officer Hadley had probable cause to arrest the defendant for
Therefore, we hold that the trial court acted properly in overruling the defendant’s motion to quash the arrest and suppress the evidence. The judgment and sentence is AFFIRMED.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Robert Lee WILLIAMS v. The STATE of Oklahoma
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published