Thomas Eugene Moran v. United States

404 F.2d 663, 1968 U.S. App. LEXIS 4566
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedDecember 9, 1968
Docket10055_1
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 404 F.2d 663 (Thomas Eugene Moran v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thomas Eugene Moran v. United States, 404 F.2d 663, 1968 U.S. App. LEXIS 4566 (10th Cir. 1968).

Opinion

THEIS, District Judge.

Appellant was convicted under a one-count indictment of unlawfully causing to be transported in interstate commerce a false and forged $10.00 check, payable to J. C. Penney Company, in Oklahoma City, signed “James R. Cox,” and drawn upon the North Fort Worth State Bank at Fort Worth, Texas.

He claims error in his trial on two principal bases, viz., (1) overruling by the trial court of his motion to suppress as evidence certain identification cards taken by alleged illegal search and seizure from him in a motel room by an F.B.I. agent; and (2) admission of evidence to show the commission of other crimes by appellant.

Since, as in most search-and-seizure cases, the facts are essential to disposi *665 tion of the issues of law in the ease, they are here set forth in some detail. 1

On April 26, 1967, Agent Logg, of the F.B.I., was in Wichita Falls, Texas, for the purpose of apprehending a federal parole violator by the name of Hugh J. Crenshaw. Investigation by the agent had disclosed that Crenshaw and a person by the name of James B. Cox, whose physical description was obtained, had recently registered at two motels there; that these two persons, in the preceding few days, had used four different cars, a 1963 Pontiac belonging to Crenshaw, a 1967 Chevrolet rented by Crenshaw using the Cox identification, a 1966 Chevrolet similarly obtained by a person fitting appellant’s description using the Cox identification, and a 1967 red Mercury with an Oklahoma license, which agent Logg ascertained to have been stolen in Oklahoma City; that one, Mérito, was located in Wichita Falls at 6:30 p.m. on April 26, 1967, while driving the 1963 Pontiac titled in the name of Crenshaw, which he said had been borrowed from Crenshaw; that Mérito said Crenshaw and a man fitting the description attributable to Cox, and subsequently to appellant, were registered as “Crossland” and “Moore,” in rooms 114 and 115 at the Wayfarer.Motel in Wichita Falls, but had gone to Tyler, Texas, earlier in the day; that the day previous (April 25, 1967) Mérito had accompanied Crenshaw and the man described as “Cox” to Oklahoma City on April 25, where Crenshaw and he had remained in Crenshaw’s car while “Cox” went into the Penney store where the bogus check was cashed, and later had accompanied the man described as “Cox” into another Penney store where “Cox” used a Penney credit card in the Cox name to purchase a suitcase; that Mérito drove Crenshaw’s car back to Wichita Falls while Crenshaw and the man described as “Cox” drove back in a 1967 red Mercury obtained by them in Oklahoma City. Officer Logg further testified that he and a deputy sheriff staked out the two motel rooms for surveillance; that about 10:00 p. m., on April 26, a red 1967 Mercury was driven up in front of rooms 114 and 115 and a man fitting the “Cox” description got out and went into one of the rooms; that he approached the 1967 red Mercury and apprehended Crenshaw and a female companion in the car, where he made an arrest of Crenshaw as a parole violator. Logg testified he and other state officers then went to the room where “Cox” had entered, obtained admittance to the room by knocking on the door, then identified himself, backed “Cox” to the wall and asked “Cox” for identification. Cox presented a wallet containing various identification cards in the name of “James R. Cox-” Thereupon, the agent handcuffed “Cox,” took him into custody and proceeded to the county jail. The agent then advised “Cox” of his constitutional rights. Upon inquiry, “Cox” denied any knowledge of the stolen 1967 red Mercury. Thereafter, appellant, as “Cox,” volunteered to the agent his true identity as being Thomas Eugene Moran, the fact that he was a federal parole violator, and that the agent would ascertain these facts as soon as the agent fingerprinted him. The description of “Cox” originally given Logg was the same as appellant’s physical appearance. Appellant was retained in custody, a federal parole violator’s warrant was later served on him, and later yet he was charged and convicted of the offense from which he has here appealed. His companion Crenshaw was charged and convicted of the Dyer Act offense involving the 1967 red Mercury. It is conceded that the agent did not have an arrest or search warrant at the time appellant was taken into custody and at the time the search incident to the arrest was made.

At the trial a James Robert Cox, a government employee in Fort Worth, testified as to the loss of his wallet con *666 taining pictures of his family, a J. C. Penney credit card, and a Texas driver’s license; that he had not signed or cashed the check in question, or authorized anyone to sign his name; that he had never been in Oklahoma City or Wichita Falls; and that he did not know the appellant.

Testimony was also received from a Mrs. Winfrey, the clerk in the Penney store in Oklahoma City who cashed the bogus check, that a man whose description by her fit appellant, using “Cox” identification via a Penney credit card and a Texas driver’s license, had passed the check.

It is upon this set of facts that appellant claims error by the trial court in failing to suppress the evidence in the form of identification cards in the name of “James R. Cox.”

The appellant concedes that a search made incidental to lawful arrest is valid, but his contentions here are that he was neither under arrest at the time of the search and seizure complained of nor was there probable cause for arrest, and hence the evidence obtained during the search-i. e., the Cox identification cards, should have been suppressed. The facts of this case definitely make such contentions untenable in our view.

Appellant relies on the fact that agent Logg did not specifically advise appellant “he was under arrest” at the time of his apprehension, and that it was some time later that appellant was served with a federal parole violator’s warrant. To constitute an “arrest” there must be an actual or constructive seizure or detention of the person, performed with an intention to effect an arrest and so understood by the person detained. Brinegar v. United States (10 Cir., 1947), 165 F.2d 512, affirmed 338 U.S. 160, 69 S.Ct. 1302, 93 L.Ed. 1879.

If a suspect is interrupted and his liberty of movement restricted by the arresting officers, then arrest is complete. Henry v. United States, 361 U.S. 98, 80 S.Ct. 168, 4 L.Ed.2d 134; Sibron v. State of New York, supra. Under the facts here, appellant’s arrest was complete as soon as the agent entered the motel room and restricted appellant’s movements with the command “not to move” and to “get up against a wall.” Following immediately thereafter, in response to the agent’s demand for identification from appellant, he furnished his wallet containing the “Cox” cards, and was then handcuffed and led away for incarceration. No formal words are required, nor is a declaration necessary at the time of arrest. United States v. Baxter, 361 F.2d 116 (6 Cir., 1966).

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Bluebook (online)
404 F.2d 663, 1968 U.S. App. LEXIS 4566, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thomas-eugene-moran-v-united-states-ca10-1968.