Donahue v. United States

56 F.2d 94, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 2715
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 8, 1932
Docket6568
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 56 F.2d 94 (Donahue v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Donahue v. United States, 56 F.2d 94, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 2715 (9th Cir. 1932).

Opinions

WILBUR, Circuit Judge.

Appellant was convicted of operating a still, and he appeals from the judgment solely on the ground that the evidence adduced against him was procured by an unlawful search and seizure, and that the court erred in denying his motion to suppress this evidence. Upon the motion to suppress, witnesses were introduced on behalf of the appellant and on behalf of the government. The motion was denied as to appellant and granted as to a codefendant, one Rash, in whose favor the court ordered a directed verdict.-

At the time appellant was arrested he and Rash were operating a still for the re-distillation of moonshine whisky in a dwelling house upon a farm or ranch owned by appellant. It was contended by appellant that this was his private dwelling house when he was there, notwithstanding his residence elsewhere. He had lived there with his wife and minor children until September, 1929, when he moved his family to the town of Sandpoint, Idaho, about sixteen miles from the ranch, where he and his family continued to reside and where the children attended school. Appellant had employed Rash to operate the ranch for him and Rash moved into the dwelling house thereon in October, 1929. Appellant visited the ranch on an average of one or two nights a week and remained there more or less continuously during the hunting season. The theory upon which the trial court ruled upon the motion to suppress was that the dwelling house was the dwelling house of Rash and not of appellant.

The question involved is not that of the residence of appellant, which was clearly in Sandpoint, but is whether he was in fact actually using the dwelling house on the ranch as such at the time of the arrest and search. A man cannot have two domiciles (Goodrich on Conflict of Laws, p. 26), but he can have a residence in one place and actually occupy a dwelling place in another within the meaning of the term dwelling house as used in the statute (27 USCA § 39) limiting the right of search of dwelling houses. This house was actually being used by appellant as a dwelling house at the time of the arrest and search; that is, it was “occupied as such” within the mean[95]*95ing o£ the statute, unless we adopt the theory that has sometimes been advanced [United States v. Apple (D. C.) 1 F.(2d) 493], but universally repudiated [see, United States v. A Certain Distillery (D. C.) 24 F.(2d) 557, 559, 560, and eases there collated], that appellant, by making the major use of the dwelling house that of manufacturing alcoholic liquor, in fact converted the dwelling house into a distillery or place of business within the meaning of the statute (27 USCA § 39), and that therefore his use of the premises as a sleeping place was not the occupation of the dwelling house as such. The government points out the statutory provision (27 USCA § 39) with reference to apartment houses, hotels, and boarding houses as indicating that a private dwelling house temporarily occupied as such is not a dwelling house within the meaning of the law regulating the search of private dwelling houses. The provision is as follows: “The term ‘private dwelling’ shall be construed to include the room or rooms used and occupied not transiently but solely as a residence in an apartment house, hotel, or boarding house.” Title 2, § 25, National Prohibition Act, 27 USCA § 39.

We think, however, that the provision as to hotels, etc., does not modify the term “private dwelling” as applied to a farm house or individual house used as a dwelling.

On February 7, 1931, Sheriff Traue received information from one Atkinson, a neighbor of appellant, that appellant intended to make a second run of liquor at his ranch on Sunday, February 8, 1931. Atkinson told them that, if appellant was engaged in distilling liquor, the gate across the lane leading from the main highway would be padlocked. Acting on this information, the sheriff and a deputy and two prohibition agents went out to appellant’s ranch. As they appreached the house, to within a couple of hundred feet, they could smell whisky and also the odor of mash, and noticed that the outbuildings were locked. As they moved closer to the house the smell of liquor became very strong and they could hear the still in operation. Agent Webb testified that he has had ten years’ experience seeing stills in operation; that the odor they noticed as they approached the' house was the characteristic odor from a still in operation ; that when they approached the kitchen door they knocked, but received no response; that they opened the door, which was unlocked, and could then see part of the still; that upon entering the door they passed through the kitchen to the door leading into the sitting room and saw appellant and Rash in the sitting room, with the still in full operation; that appellant made a move toward a rifle which was laying on a table, but, upon observing that the officers were armed, stopped, approached them, and said: “You fellows have got me right this time.” The witness also testified that appellant stated Rash had nothing to do with the still, but was staying at the ranch to look after the cattle.

Appellant took the stand upon the motion to suppress and testified that he had made 60 gallons of whisky in the stillhouse in December, 1930, but never made any prior to that time; that the still was being operated in the dwelling house on the morning of February 8, but that there was no odor from it.

Atkinson, called on behalf of appellant, denied that he had told the sheriff on February 7, or at any time, that appellant was going out to his ranch on February 8 to run whisky a second time for the Elks, or words to that effect, and that he never had any such conversation with the sheriff, and that he did not say that, if the gate across the road was locked, it would indicate that appellant was operating the still. On cross-examination he testified that when he worked for appellant he was arrested and convicted of a felony.

On the ranch there was another building, about ten by fourteen, which was used as a stillhouse. It contained five barrels .of 180 gallons capacity each; two 50-gallon barrels; a foundation for a still and apparatus, and five burners built into the frame and connected with pressure tanks in the garage. There was a distinct odor of mash coming from the stillhouse. In addition to the still, some 50 or 60 gallons of moonshine whisky were found in the dwelling house.

It must be conceded that the search of a dwelling house, as such, for a still is not authorized by the terms of the National Prohibition Act. Agnello v. United States, 269 U. S. 20, 32, 46 S. Ct. 4, 70 L. Ed. 145, 51 A. L. R. 409. It is contended, however, that this search was justified as an incident to the arrest of appellant for the commission of a felony in the presence of the officers. We have no doubt that the officers were justified in concluding from all the circumstances brought to their attention that there was probable cause to believe that a felony was being committed in their presence within the meaning of that term as used [96]*96in the law authorizing arrests in such instances. If the officers entered the premises for the purpose of making an arrest, a search would have been justified as an incident thereto. The difficulty we encounter in the record, however, arises from the fact that the officers do not expressly claim to have entered the premises for the purpose of making an arrest, hut assert that their purpose was to “look for a still,” as the following quotations from their testimony will indicate.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Schraff v. State
544 P.2d 834 (Alaska Supreme Court, 1975)
State v. Deltenre
424 P.2d 782 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1966)
Clyde Albert Walker v. United States
225 F.2d 447 (Fifth Circuit, 1955)
United States v. Sutter
127 F. Supp. 109 (S.D. California, 1954)
Moore v. State
44 So. 2d 262 (Alabama Court of Appeals, 1950)
Koch v. United States
150 F.2d 762 (Fourth Circuit, 1945)
United States v. Vlahos
19 F. Supp. 166 (D. Oregon, 1937)
United States v. Kaplan
17 F. Supp. 920 (E.D. New York, 1936)
Papani v. United States
84 F.2d 160 (Ninth Circuit, 1936)
Rocchia v. United States
78 F.2d 966 (Ninth Circuit, 1935)
Leubbert v. United States
74 F.2d 357 (Eighth Circuit, 1934)
United States v. Shultz
3 F. Supp. 273 (D. Arizona, 1933)
Donahue v. United States
56 F.2d 94 (Ninth Circuit, 1932)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
56 F.2d 94, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 2715, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/donahue-v-united-states-ca9-1932.