Bernie Ludwig v. Louie L. Wainwright, Director, Division of Corrections, State of Florida

434 F.2d 1104, 1970 U.S. App. LEXIS 6232
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided November 25, 1970·No. 30585·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Without an evidentiary hearing the District Court denied Bernie Ludwig’s petition for habeas corpus. We affirm.

Ludwig levels an attack upon his conviction in the Criminal Court of Record of Dade County, Florida, for receiving stolen property. Upon direct appeal the conviction was affirmed. Ludwig v. State, Fla.App.1968, 215 So.2d 898, cert. denied Fla., 225 So.2d 536, cert. denied 396 U.S. 927, 90 S.Ct. 261, 24 L.Ed.2d 225, rehearing denied 396 U.S. 1030, 90 S.Ct. 546, 24 L.Ed.2d 527.

We attach hereto, as an exhibit to this opinion, the Order of the District Court, which is hereby affirmed for the reasons therein set forth.

We likewise attach a copy of the affidavit for the search warrant, which clearly met the requirements of the Constitution.

Affirmed.

EXHIBIT A

ORDER DENYING PETITION

This cause is before the Court on the Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus filed by Bernie Ludwig. The Court has received the Response of Respondent and the Reply of Petitioner and is otherwise fully advised in the premises.

Petitioner presents two grounds in support of his petition.

(1) Admission of evidence obtained by an illegal search and seizure; and
(2) A search warrant, issued pursuant to an affidavit based upon information received from an informant, failed to allege the reliability of the informant.

Petitioner’s first contention is that his conviction was based on seized evidence that was not described in the search warrant in question. Although the Supreme Court has soundly condemned the issuance of general search warrants, the law is clear that a law enforcement officer does not have to ignore stolen property observed during the *1106 execution of a valid search warrant. Abel v. United States, 362 U.S. 217, 80 S.Ct. 683, 4 L.Ed.2d 668 (1960); Harris v. United States, 331 U.S. 145, 67 S.Ct. 1098, 91 L.Ed. 1339 (1947); Gurleski v. United States, 405 F.2d 253 (5th Cir., 1968).

“There is no logical or constitutional reason, in the absence of any showing of unreasonableness, why the fruits of such a discovery should not be admissible evidence. The Supreme Court, speaking through Mr. Justice Frankfurter, spoke logically and directly to this issue when it said:
“ ‘When an article subject to lawful seizure properly comes into an officer’s possession in the course of a lawful search it would be entirely without reason to say that it was not one of the things it was his business to look for.’ Abel v. United States, 362 U.S. 217, 238, 80 S.Ct. 683, 697, 4 L.Ed.2d 668 (1960).” 405 F.2d at 258.

The Court finds that the seizure in question met the tests of being reasonable, in good faith and not. an unwarranted invasion of privacy. Kremen v. United States, 353 U.S. 346, 77 S.Ct. 828, 1 L.Ed.2d 876 (1957). In light of the authorities previously cited, the Court finds that there was probable cause to seize the unspecified objects and that therefore their admission into evidence was proper.

Petitioner next contends that the search warrant, issued pursuant to an affidavit based upon information received from an informant, failed to allege the reliability of said informant and was therefore unconstitutional.

In United States v. Ventresca, 380 U. S. 102, 85 S.Ct. 741, 13 L.Ed.2d 684 (1965), the Court recognized that the Fourth Amendment’s commands, like all Constitutional requirements, are practical and not abstract.

“Recital of some of the underlying circumstances in the affidavit is essential if the magistrate is to perform his detached function and not serve merely as a rubber stamp for the police. However, where these circumstances are detailed, where reasons for crediting the source of the information is given, and when a magistrate has found probable cause, the Courts should not invalidate the warrant by interpreting the affidavit in a hyper-technical, rather than a common sense manner.” 380 U.S. at 109, 85 S.Ct. at 746,13 L.Ed.2d at 689.

In assigning weight to the element of an informer’s tip in a finding of probable cause, the test is whether:

“A magistrate, when confronted with-such detail, could reasonably infer that the informant had gained his information in a reliable way.” Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410 at 417, 89 S.Ct. 584, 589, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 at 645.

In the case at hand, the officer who swore out the affidavit included a substantial number of details, including the fact that informant had not only stolen [the articles described in] the affidavit, but had personally attended the sale to petitioner at a location specified in the affidavit. After a careful study of the affidavit and the authorities cited, the Court feels that the magistrate had probable cause to issue the warrant. It is therefore

Ordered and adjudged that Bernie Ludwig’s Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus be and the same is hereby denied.

Done and ordered at Miami, Florida this 26th day of June, 1970.

C. CLYDE ATKINS

United States District Judge

EXHIBIT B

#66-3086 & 66-3087

AFFIDAVIT FOR SEARCH WARRANT

Filed Mar. 22, 1966

J. F. McCracken, Clerk

STATE OF FLORIDA I >- ss COUNTY OF DADE J

*1107 Before me, JAMES LAWRENCE KING, one of the Circuit Judges of the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida, personally appeared JOSEPH FERNANDEZ, Deputy Sheriff, Dade County, Florida, who first being duly cautioned and sworn according to law, upon his oath deposes and says that he, JOSEPH FERNANDEZ, The Affiant, has received information from Antonio P.

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Bernie Ludwig v. Louie L. Wainwright, Director, Division of Corrections, State of Florida, 434 F.2d 1104, 1970 U.S. App. LEXIS 6232 (5th Cir. 1970).

434 F.2d 1104 (Bernie Ludwig v. Louie L. Wainwright, Director, Division of Corrections, State of Florida) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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