State v. Muegge

McGRAW, Chief Justice:

This is an appeal by William Hubert Muegge from a final judgment order entered in the Circuit Court of Marshall County following a jury verdict finding him guilty of shoplifting in violation of West Virginia Code § 61-3A-3(a)(l) (1984 Replacement Vol.). We reverse the conviction and remand the case to the circuit court because evidence obtained from the appellant and used against him at trial was improperly admitted.

On September 29, 1984, the appellant, who was then the mayor of Wheeling, West Virginia, was shopping at Rink’s Department Store in Benwood, a town located a…