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State v. Luna1/28/1980
is not enough. Additional requirements are that the officers be lawfully in the position from which they observe the evidence, that they discover it inadvertently, and that the incriminating nature be immediately apparent. Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 91 S. Ct 2022, 29 L. Ed. 2d 564 (1971), reh. denied, 404 U.S. 874, 92 S. Ct. 26, 30 L. Ed. 2d 120 (1971); United States v. Berenguer, 562 F.2d 206 (2d Cir. 1977). Here, at the time the speakers were first seen, their incriminating nature was not apparent, and at the time they were seized, the discovery was no longer inadvertent. The speakers, and anything else discovered as a result of this search should be suppressed as evidence. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S. Ct. 407, 9 L. Ed. 2d 441 (1963).
The harm complained of, however, was not that the speakers were introduced as evidence at trial, but that they were a basis for a search warrant being issued for defendant's home. After reading the affidavits for the search warrant, it is our judgment that there remained sufficient independent cause for the warrant to have issued. Even if the particular items seized from the car, and anything connected with them had not been included as reasons in support of the warrant, it still could have been validly issued. The affidavit contained information that defendant had been arrested for three burglaries where property was recovered from him and those he sold it to; that he was implicated in three more burglaries; that a footprint matching defendant's shoe was found next to a purse taken from the Taylor residence; that keys taken from the Taylor residence were found at the point of entry of the Nelson burglary and homicide; and that defendant was identified by reliable persons as being in the area prior to the burglary. This information alone was sufficient for the issuance of the search warrant. The only supporting factor which could not have been used was that "items taken in [the Sanchez] burglary were found in Mike Luna's car." Those items, being the speakers which were illegally seized, could not have been used in support of the warrant. The liquor bottle, also stolen in the Sanchez burglary, was seized validly and could have been properly used. Thus, the search of the defendant's home was valid, and the items seized therefrom not suppressable.
II. The defendant claims that the trial court abused its discretion in denying defendant's motion for a bifurcated trial. He argues that when an insanity defense is raised, the trial court, in order to avoid a violation of a defendant's fifth amendment rights and due process rights, should separate the issue of insanity from the issue of guilt. In order to effectively present his defense of insanity, the defendant argues, he had to introduce evidence of prior acts and self-incriminating statements made to psychologists and psychiatrists. He further argues that an admonition to the jury that such evidence should not be used on the issue of guilt is insufficient, so the trial should be divided into two stages. In one stage the jury would determine whether the defendant was sane at the time of the offense and whether he was capable of forming a specific intent. The other stage of the trial would be for the determination of whether the defendant committed the physical acts. The same jury could be used for both stages, or separate juries could be used, depending on which stage comes first.
We agree that there may be circumstances where a bifurcated trial might be preferable to an ordinary trial. We are
not willing to hold, however, that due process requires bifurcation. See Higgins v. United States, 130 U.S. App.D.C. 331,
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