United States v. Burke

215 F. Supp. 508, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6358
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedMarch 29, 1963
DocketCr. 63-35
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 215 F. Supp. 508 (United States v. Burke) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Burke, 215 F. Supp. 508, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6358 (D. Mass. 1963).

Opinion

CAFFREY, District Judge.

The defendants were indicted on January 16, 1963, in a two-count indictment which charges them with violation of 18. U.S.C.A. § 2114, mail robbery, and 18 U.S.C.A. § 371, conspiracy to rob the mails. Each defendant filed a motion to-suppress on the ground of allegedly illegal seizure from John and Leo Burke of various articles of personal property in violation of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. The motions were heard on February 13, 1963, at which time movants called as witnesses three Boston police officers and two United States postal inspectors. The Government called no witnesses.

I find and rule as follows: On December 26, 1962, Post Office Inspector Thomas E. Agnew, one of the inspectors assigned to this case, considered the defendant John E. Burke a suspect in a mail robbery which had occurred in Dor-chester, Massachusetts, on December 20, and was engaged in investigating John Burke’s background. Inspector Agnew was then in possession of information *510 that John Burke had worked in the Fields 'Corner Post Office from February to March 1962, that he was transferred to the Roxbury Post Office in March, and that he quit his Post Office job in July •of 1962 for no good reason. Inspector Agnew knew that John Burke had done .some letter-carrying, that he had formerly owned a mail carrier’s uniform and that he had recently obtained a carrier’s uniform. Inspector Agnew also knew that John Burke met the description of one of the holdup men given by the driv•er of the mail truck involved in the Dor-chester robbery on December 20. No evidence was presented at the hearing indicating that on December 26 or December 27 Leo Burke was considered a suspect or was under investigation for the ■mail truck robbery by any Federal law •enforcement official.

On December 26, 1962, Inspector Agnew who wanted to find John Burke and question him about the mail robbery was searching the Dorchester area for John. Pie was assisted in his search by three Boston police officers who knew and could identify John if found. About 11 :- 00 p. m. the police officers and Inspectors Agnew and Kelly went to John Burke’s home at 99 Harvard Street, Dorchester. The policemen spoke to his wife who told them John was not there. The officers then proceeded to 174 Harvard Street where John Burke also maintained a room. This room was sometimes used by his brother, Leo Burke. Finding neither John nor Leo in the room at 174 Harvard Street, it was agreed that there was no need of the Post Office inspectors “hanging around any later,” since the police officers’ shift required them to work until 3:00 a. m., and that the inspectors would •go home and the police officers would notify Inspector Agnew if they found John prior to 3:00 a. m. when they went off duty. At 2:30 a. m., December 27, the police officers returned to 174 Harvard Street. In response to persistent ringing of the doorbell, the landlady opened the door, advised the officers that John Burke was not in, and offered to let the officers inspect his room. They looked around the room, under the bed and in the closet for John Burke, did not find him, observed a postal uniform jacket, and left. Nothing was seized at this time. The police officers did not have a search warrant nor did they then have probable cause as to either Burke. Their examination of the room at 174 Harvard Street was an illegal search. Since Inspector Agnew already knew that John Burke had recently acquired a letter-carrier’s uniform, no new evidence was discovered during this illegal search and the so-called “fruit of the poison tree” doctrine (see Nardone v. United States, 308 U.S. 338, 341, 60 S.Ct. 266, 84 L.Ed. 307 (1939) ) has no application to this 2:30 a. m. search.

As the officers were leaving 174 Harvard Street about 2:40 a. m., they observed a young man start to turn in the front walk who stopped when he saw the officers and began to run away. They apprehended the young man, who was under the influence of liquor, and he proved to be Leo Burke. He was arrested, taken in a cruiser to Police Headquarters, booked, searched, and sent to Boston City Jail. The search disclosed that he had in his pockets a wallet containing $118.00 and a bottle of pills. Neither counsel for the movants nor counsel for the Government saw fit to introduce into evidence the charge on which Leo Burke was booked. In the absence of as much as a scintilla of evidence then indicating probable cause to arrest Leo Burke on any charge connected with the mail robbery, the only conceivable justification for his then arrest by the Boston Police would be violation of Gen.Laws, Ch. 272, sec. 44, intoxication in a public place. However, there is no evidence before this Court on the basis of which a finding can now be made that Leo Burke was arrested for intoxication. In fact, the only testimony offered tends to negative intoxication as the grounds for arrest: Detective Cunningham testified that while he and Leo Burke were riding in the rear seat of the police cruiser immediately after the arrest, in answer to a question from Leo “What is this concerned with,” he replied *511 “You are under suspicion of a mail robbery job in Dorchester.” I rule that the arrest of Leo Burke without a warrant and without probable cause was illegal. Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 15, 68 S.Ct. 367, 92 L.Ed. 436 (1948); Mu-niz v. Mehlman, 327 Mass. 353, 356, 99 N.E.2d 37 (1951).

After arrival at the police station Detective Cunningham telephoned Inspector Agnew at about 3:20 a. m. as agreed and told him that the brother of John Burke had been picked up, that he had $118.77 on his person, that he had been drinking quite heavily and that there was no point in Inspector Agnew’s coming to the police station seeking to question Leo because he was then under the influence of liquor. I find that at about 9:30 a. m. December 27, Inspectors Agnew and John J. Sullivan questioned Leo Burke at Boston Police Headquarters and that prior to questioning Leo, Inspector Agnew fully and fairly advised him of his constitutional rights, including specific advice to the effect that the inspectors were investigating the Dorchester mail robbery, that Leo had a right not to talk to them, that he had a right not to answer any questions and that he had a right to counsel. I further find that Inspector Sullivan asked Leo if the inspectors could look at what he had in his pockets and Leo brought out a wallet and emptied it. Inspector Agnew told Leo “We are not trying to kid you about this” and that some of the bills taken in the mail robbery were marked. The inspectors, who observed markings on two of the $20 bills that Leo had taken out of his wallet, requested him to swap the two marked bills for two other $20 bills. I find that Inspector Agnew advised Leo that the marked bills could be identified by a Post Office Dispatch Clerk and that if Leo gave the bills to them they would be taken to the Dispatch Clerk for identification. Leo told them that he had received the bills in question from the Cod-man Square Bank the previous afternoon and voluntarily swapped the two $20 bills.

I do not read the recent decision in Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
215 F. Supp. 508, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6358, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-burke-mad-1963.