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Bland v. State5/16/2000
ational judgment by the jury - - then they should not be admitted into evidence. Id.
The photographs in the present case were 8" x 14" color views of the log pile under which the body was found (Exhibits 4A and 4B), and the body once the logs had been removed (Exhibits 5 and 6A). The photos were relevant as they corroborated testimony that the body was found under a pile of logs and that the victim suffered a single gunshot wound to the head. That Appellant may not have contested this evidence at trial is irrelevant. It remains the State's burden to prove, first, the corpus delicti, and second, that the crime was committed by the accused. Neill v. State, 896 P.2d 537, 551-552 (Okl.Cr.1994). Pictures of the murder victim are always useful in establishing the corpus delicti of the crime. Id.
Appellant further complains that a view of the victim's head in an advanced state of decomposition in Exhibit 6A is unnecessarily gruesome. The victim's head is not visible in 6A. Only the back of the head is visible in Exhibit 5 and the photo is not so gruesome or "so repulsive as to be inadmissible." Thomas v. State, 811 P.2d 1337, 1345 (Okl.Cr.1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1041, 112 S.Ct. 895, 116 L.Ed.2d 895 (1992). Accordingly, we find the photographs in this case relevant and any prejudicial effect does not outweigh their probative value. This assignment of error is denied.
D.
Appellant contends in his ninth assignment of error that his arrest for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle was illegal and the evidence obtained as a result was inadmissible. Prior to trial, Appellant filed a motion to suppress the arrest arguing it was illegal as not founded upon probable cause and because it was merely a subterfuge for investigating Appellant for the homicide. This motion was overruled. These objections are now raised again on appeal.
Initially, Appellant argues the information in the affidavit supporting the arrest warrant was insufficient to establish probable cause. Appellant contends the only way Sheriff Hanes could have had probable cause to believe that he was in the unauthorized possession of the victim's vehicle was to believe Connie Lord's statement that Appellant had killed the victim. He argues that information from Connie Lord was unreliable. In support of his argument, Appellant urges this Court to abandon the "totality of the circumstances" test in reviewing affidavits for probable cause and return to the standard set forth in Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 87 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964) and Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969).
In Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983) the United States Supreme Court rejected the two-pronged test of Aguilar and Spinelli for determining probable cause for a totality of the circumstances test. This Court adopted Gates and the totality of the circumstances test in Langham v. State, 787 P.2d 1279, 1280-81 (Okl.Cr.1990). We are not persuaded to revisit the issue and will analyze the affidavit in this case under the totality of the circumstances. See Gregg v. State, 844 P.2d 867, 874 (Okl.Cr.1992); Newton v. State, 824 P.2d 391, 393 (Okl.Cr.1991).
Under the totality of the circumstances approach, the task of the issuing magistrate is simply to make a practical, common sense decision whether, given all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit before him, including the veracity and basis of knowledge of persons supplying hearsay information, there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place. Langham, 787 P.2d at 1281 citing Gates, 462 U.S. at 238-39, 103 S.Ct
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