Cuff 'N Stuff
The Internal Newsletter of the Wise County Sheriff's
Department
03-10-00
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Cuff 'N Stuff 03-10-00 |
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Dumb Crooks Man asks police for demonstration R.C. Gaitlin, 21, walked up to two patrol officers who were showing their squad car computer to children in a Detroit neighborhood. When he asked how the system worked, the officers asked him for a piece of identification to use for demonstration purposes. Gaitlin gave them his driver's license. They entered it into the computer and moments later arrested Gaitlin because information on the screen showed he was wanted for a two year-old armed robbery in St. Louis. Intoxicated robber calls police When two service station attendants in Ionia, Michigan refused to hand over the cash to an intoxicated robber, the man threatened to call the police. They still refused, so the robber called the police and was arrested. Shoplifter runs out of gas Shoplifters cost retail stores and their customers billions of dollars every year. Too bad they’re not all as inept as this one from Tukwila, Washington: "I work in a Target store. Today a guy grabbed a VCR and ran out the fire door. I ran out to the parking lot to get his license number. He had no license plate but instead had a three-day trip permit with his name and address printed on it. He couldn’t start his van because he was out of gas. "He got out of the van and walked to the gas station next door to buy some gas, taking the VCR with him. He came back to the parking lot with a gas can in one hand and the store’s stolen VCR in the other. He was trying to fill the gas tank when store security and police approached him."
From the Chief Deputy DONKEY BASKETBALL GAME- NEED PLAYERS The sheriff's office will be playing the Decatur VFD in Donkey Basketball on March 24th at 7:00 pm. David Walker is the captain, and we need both male and female teams members. If you are interested in participating contact David Walker. PRIMARY ELECTION- NEED VOTERS Today is you last day to absentee vote...YOU NEED TO VOTE. You can absentee vote through today at the old treasurer's office. Next Tuesday, you have to go to your polling place where you live. If you are not sure of the location, call me and we'll find out. BUT BE SURE AND VOTE, YOU HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE A CHANGE !!
What Do You Know About the Wise County Sheriffs?
Submit your answers by March 22 via E-Mail to Cuff ‘N Stuff at cuffnstuff@sheriff.co.wise.tx.us. First person with all correct answers wins a prize! Answers and winner will appear in next issue of Cuff ‘N Stuff. Contest open to all!
Legal Issues - Search and Seizure CAR USED IN COMMISSION OF CRIME MAY BE IMPOUNDED AND INVENTORIED: After the defendant and his wife filed for divorce, he began threatening her and the man with whom she was living. He told a co-worker that he wanted to kill his wife’s boyfriend, and offered $3000 for the co-worker to spy on the couple. The defendant asked another co-worker about the law of murder and capital murder, as well as child custody and his concern about his wife carrying a gun. Other remarks in this vein were made on several days leading up to the murder of the wife’s boyfriend. The day before the man was killed, the defendant took his children to the home of a couple he knew and asked if he could borrow their car to take to work the next day. Early the following morning, he left for work. A short time later, the defendant’s wife heard a shot, then heard the front door of her apartment open. A person wearing a mask entered and struggled with her boyfriend before shooting him in the chest. Because of his appearance and the shape of the attacker’s head, the woman believed the masked man was her husband. When the defendant arrived at work on the day of the shooting, he appeared nervous and tired. His clothes were wrinkled and muddy, and his feet were wet. The defendant’s car was found parked at the couple’s home where the defendant had left his children. The investigator assigned to the case told other officers to seize it “in anticipation of…obtaining a search warrant.” At that time, he did not know whether the car had been used to get to and from the crime scene. No warrant was obtained. The detective ordered the car released, and as part of the release procedure, they inventoried the car. In the inventory search, officers found a shotgun shell that matched the spent casings found at the crime scene. The car also contained a hand-drawn map of the wife’s apartment. The defendant was arrested and charged with capital murder. He moved to suppress the evidence seized during the inventory, and the State responded by arguing that the impoundment and inventory were lawful. HOLDING: A valid vehicle inventory requires a lawful impoundment. Impoundment may be reasonable when: (1) the vehicle has been used in the commission of a crime; (2) an unattended vehicle is abandoned, illegally parked, or otherwise endangering traffic; (3) the driver is unable to remove the vehicle; or (4) the driver is removed from his automobile, parked under custodial arrest, and his property cannot be protected by any means other than impoundment. In the absence of some valid reason for impounding a vehicle, any inventory search is unlawful. The arrest of the owner or driver of a vehicle, for example, is not insufficient, by itself, to justify impoundment and inventory. Impoundment has been permitted when there is “a reasonable connection between a crime and the vehicle.” The defendant in this case was driving a borrowed car when he was arrested and the interior was wet as if it had been washed. The defendant’s own car was discovered at the home of the couple caring for his children, and it was reasonable for officers to conclude that the defendant had driven that car to their home, trading cars, and used the borrowed car when he committed the crime. Based on this reasonable belief, it also was reasonable for the officers to conclude that the defendant’s own car was part of a plan to set up an alibi, and that the car was used, even if indirectly, in the commission of the offense. An automobile that has been used in the commission of a crime may be impounded, and the seizure of the defendant’s vehicle from a public place was reasonable. Because the impoundment of defendant’s car was lawful, the inventory search of that car pursuant to impoundment also was reasonable. The defendant was not entitled to have suppressed the evidence seized from his automobile in that valid inventory. (Lagaite v State, 995 S.W.2d 860 (Tex. App.-Houston 1999). Reprinted from TEXAS POLICE JOURNAL
From the Chaplain - Marilyn Featherstone Once there was a wise old man who lived at the top of a mountain. This wise old man meditated and shared valuable insights about life with people from a nearby village. One day, three teenagers decided to trick the wise old man. One of the boys said, “This old man thinks he knows everything. Well, I’ll show him. I’m going to hold a bird behind my back and ask the old man if the bird is alive or dead. If he says it’s alive, I’ll crush the bird. If he says it’s dead, I will let the bird loose to fly away.” With the plan set, the three boys climbed to the top of the mountain. There they saw the wise old man meditating in peaceful splendor. The boys walked over to the man and the one boy asked, “Wise old man, what do I have in my hand?” Because the wise old man knew everything, he continued looking straight ahead and said, “It’s a bird, my son.” Now the boy winked at his friends and said, “Wise old man, is the bird dead or alive?” The wise old man turned and looked the boy in the eye and said, “The answer is in your hands, my son.” I tell you this story for many reasons, but mainly to convey
that, like the boy with the bird, the answer to your destiny is in your hand. |
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Crime Does Not Have To Be A Fact Of Life |
