Leonard Curtis Fraker v. United States

294 F.2d 859, 1961 U.S. App. LEXIS 3545
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 29, 1961
Docket16734
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 294 F.2d 859 (Leonard Curtis Fraker 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
Leonard Curtis Fraker v. United States, 294 F.2d 859, 1961 U.S. App. LEXIS 3545 (9th Cir. 1961).

Opinion

STEPHENS, Circuit Judge.

Appellant was indicted with two others under a one count indictment wherein he was charged with aiding, abetting, counseling, inducing, and procuring the commission of a robbery of a national bank under Title 18 United States Code Section 2 and Section 2113(a) (d). The charge involved the robbery of a messenger of the Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association, Arroyo-Colorado Branch, located in Pasadena, Los Angeles County, State of California. The other two named in the indictment entered a plea of guilty. Appellant, after consultation with counsel, waived his right to trial by jury. The trial ensued as to him alone, and appellant was adjudged guilty. From the judgment of *861 the District Court, appellant brings this appeal, which the court has jurisdiction to entertain and review under the provisions of Sections 1291 and 1294 of Title 28 United States Code.

Appellant specifies four allegations of error. First, that the court erred in finding appellant guilty because there is no substantial evidence to support the judgment. Basically, it is appellant’s contention that although he was guilty of a crime, it was not the crime for which he was indicted and found guilty. Specifically, he asserts that the crime which he agreed to was the robbery of the business establishment to whom the bank messenger was to deliver the money, not the robbery of the messenger. To accept this contention, this court would be compelled to reject the testimony of appellant’s accomplices, who testified and who were believed in their testimony by an experienced trial judge, that appellant planned the robbery. Further, we would have to reject the testimony of two other witnesses who by their testimony linked appellant to the planning of the crime for which he was indicted. Finally, we would have to ignore the manner in which the crime was committed, which strongly suggests, as was noted by the trial judge, that the crime committed was the crime planned. In fact, the only testimony tending to substantiate appellant’s claim is his own, which the trial judge expressly disbelieved. In this appeal, appellant claims that the inexperience of his trial counsel prevented the development of this defense. The record clearly shows that the contrary is the case, that his counsel attempted at appropriate occasions by cross-examination to establish appellant’s ignorance of the crime for which he was indicted. That counsel failed in this regard tends to show that this defense was without merit far more than if it had not been asserted at all. The verdict of the trial judge as sole trier of fact must be sustained if there is substantial evidence, taking the view most favorable to the Government, to support it. Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 80, 62 S.Ct. 457, 86 L.Ed. 680. Under this rule, we find appellant’s first claim without merit.

Appellant’s second contention is that certain matter introduced into evidence was the product of an illegal search and seizure, and by virtue of such introduction, the court committed error. It is to be noted that there was neither a pre-trial motion to suppress the evidence now complained of, nor was there an objection to its admission at the trial. In these circumstances, the proper rule is stated in Hill v. United States, 9 Cir., 261 F.2d 483, 489:

“Rule 51 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure obviates the necessity for taking formal exception to matters occurring during the course of a trial. However, it retains the requirement that in some way alleged error must be brought to the attention of the trial court. An appellate court will not consider matters which are alleged as error for the first time on appeal, except where the evidence complained of, in light of all the facts, so improperly prejudiced appellant * * * as to deny him a fair trial.”

Under the facts of this case, even if the search was improper, which conclusion an examination does not support, there was still ample evidence entirely unrelated to the search upon which the court below could have found the appellant guilty as charged. See, for example, the discussion under appellant’s first claim, supra. Although unnecessary to our holding, in the interest of full discussion of appellant’s claim, the facts complained of are as follows: At approximately 7:30 P.M. on the day following the robbery, appellant was arrested by a Pomona, California police officer upon the basis of a radio message he had received which stated that appellant was wanted for armed robbery, and described both appellant and the car he was driving. The patrolman searched the interior of appellant’s vehicle. He was promptly taken to the Pomona City Jail and his car was impounded in a nearby garage. Upon his arrival at the jail, appellant was *862 booked, and personal items were removed from his person, among which were a wallet and key. The wallet was subsequently found to contain some of the proceeds of the robbery. Upon inquiry, appellant stated the key opened the trunk of his automobile. Approximately one hour and a half after appellant was first apprehended, two agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation who had been assigned to the bank robbery and who had been looking for appellant arrived for the purpose of taking him to the Pasadena City Jail. Receiving from the Pomona police, inter alia, the key, one of the agents went to the garage where appellant’s car was impounded, opened the trunk, • and discovered money which was taken from the bank messenger in the robbery. Based upon these facts, it is asserted that the searching of the trunk without appellant’s permission and without first obtaining a search warrant, violated the constitutional prohibition against illegal searches and seizures.

Only unreasonable searches and seizures come within the interdiction of the Fourth Amendment, and what is reasonable depends upon the facts and circumstances of each case. Harris v. United States, 331 U.S. 145, 150, 67 S.Ct. 1098, 91 L.Ed. 1399. Certainly here, in view of the fact that appellant was wanted in connection with a bank robbery, the search of the car in which he was arrested would not have been unreasonable had it been conducted in connection with the original arrest. A search may be conducted, extending to agencies within the control of the arrested person, if incident to a valid arrest. United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 61, 70 S.Ct. 430, 94 L.Ed. 653. Where the search is not incident to an arrest, search warrants must be procured when practicable. Trupiano v. United States, 334 U.S. 699, 705, 68 S.Ct. 1229, 92 L.Ed. 1663. The question here is whether the search was so disjoined in time from the arrest as to be no longer incident thereto. The key to the trunk of appellant’s automobile was not found until personal articles were taken from his person at the time he was booked. It was only at this point that there was an opportunity to search the trunk.

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Bluebook (online)
294 F.2d 859, 1961 U.S. App. LEXIS 3545, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leonard-curtis-fraker-v-united-states-ca9-1961.