United States v. Clarke Raymond Moore and John Bernard Spelz

452 F.2d 569, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 6628
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedDecember 14, 1971
Docket71-1212
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 452 F.2d 569 (United States v. Clarke Raymond Moore and John Bernard Spelz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Clarke Raymond Moore and John Bernard Spelz, 452 F.2d 569, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 6628 (6th Cir. 1971).

Opinion

PHILLIPS, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal from a conviction for manufacturing and possessing depressant or stimulant drugs, following a Jury trial and the denial of a motion for a new trial.

Clarke Moore, John Spelz, and Charles Reinking were indicted for conspiring to knowingly manufacture, compound, process and process for sale, depressant or stimulant drugs; to wit: diethyltryptamine, in violation of Title 21, U.S.C. § 331(q) (1) (Count 1) and unlawfully and knowingly engaging in the manufacture of diethyltryptamine, a depressant or stimulant drug, in violation of Title 21, U.S.C. §§ 331(q) (1); 321 (v) (3) and 21 C.F.R. 166.3 (Count 2). 1

Spelz was also indicted for violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 331(q) (3), 360a(c), by un *571 lawfully and knowingly possessing dimethyltryptamine, a “depressant or stimulant drug” within the meaning of Title 21, U.S.C. § 321 (v) (3) and 21 C.F.R. 166.3 (Count 3) and unlawfully and knowingly possessing chloral hydrate, a “depressant or stimulant drug” within the meaning of 21 U.S.C. § 321 (v) (3), 21 C.F.R. 166.3 and 26 U.S.C. § 4744(a) (1) (Count 4).

The facts, although somewhat technical, are largely undisputed. On March 31, 1968, federal agents executing a search warrant entered commercial premises in Covington, Kentucky. They found Moore and Spelz standing over a 30 gallon plastic can containing 3-in-dolediethylglyoxylamide. The can was resting on an ice bed and its contents were being agitated by* an electric mixer. They also found a large quantity of laboratory apparatus, numerous chemical reagents, including diethylamine and lithium aluminum hydride, approximately 500 parsley cigarettes, loose parsley, a paint sprayer, a chemistry handbook, a bottle containing chloral hydrate and a bottle containing a small quantity of dimethyltryptamine. Reinking was discovered in an adjacent room washing laboratory glassware.

The building was leased to Spelz. He had purchased, directly or through agents, everything on the premises. Some of the chemicals had been purchased through a Chicago mail-drop in the name of Ansonia Associates by the stamped signature of Thomas Anderson, a fictitious name. Moore, through the efforts of a Chicago acquaintance, had made arrangements for the mail-drop, had forwarded Spelz’s orders for chemicals to be delivered to the mail-drop, and had picked up chemicals at the mail-drop and transported them to the laboratory in Covington.

The record contains Government testimony that hallucinogens such as diethyltryptamine (DET) and dimethyltryptamine (DMT) can be ingested by smoking parsley cigarettes which have been soaked in or sprayed with the hallucinogen. The Government also introduced, as Exhibit 11, documents denominated “SYNTHESIS OF N, N-DIMETHRYLTRYP-TAMINE (DMT)” and “SYNTHESIS OF TRYPTAMINES.” These documents described the procedures and chemicals required for the production of DMT and tryptamines, respectively. DMT is a species of the genus tryptamine. Government agents testified that Exhibit 11 was found on a laboratory table near the plastic can.

Expert testimony by Government chemists, supported by cross examination of the defense chemist, showed that addition of lithium aluminum hydride to the contents of the can would yield DET. Exhibit 11 showed, as a final step in the production of DMT, the addition of lithium aluminum hydride to the final intermediate, 3-indoledimethylgly-oxylamide. The testimony further revealed that the synthesis of DET and DMT were essentially identical except that diethylamine was used to produce DET while dimethylamine was used to produce DMT and that following the synthesis outlined in Exhibit 11 with diethylamine would yield 3-indolediethyl-glyoxylamide as the final intermediate.

Spelz and Moore testified that Spelz was engaged in basic organic chemistry research. They denied any connection with or knowledge of Exhibit 11. Cross-examination of Government chemists and direct examination of the defense chemist showed that, by following known procedures with various chemicals, the contents of the can could yield a vast number of organic compounds. Specific patents were introduced as representative of such procedures. Reinking did not testify and was acquitted.

Following a verdict finding them guilty, Moore and Spelz filed a motion for a new trial, alleging that Exhibit 11 was in Reinking’s car at the time of the raid. The motion was denied without hearing.

Moore and Spelz attack their conviction on the following grounds: (1) that the search warrant was not based on probable cause; (2) that Exhibit 11 was *572 not listed on the return; (3) that the verdict is unsupported by the evidence; and (4) that motion for a new trial should have been granted because the verdict is based on perjured testimony.

I

The search warrant was supported by the affidavit of Agent Wysor, which is made an Appendix to this opinion. The fourth amendment mandates that “no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation . . .” The principles for evaluating supporting affidavits are well established :

“ [Affidavits for search warrants, such as the one involved here, must be tested and interpreted by magistrates and courts in a commonsense and realistic fashion. They are normally drafted by nonlawyers in the midst and haste of a criminal investigation. Technical requirements of elaborate specificity once exacted under common law pleadings have no proper place in this area. A grudging or negative attitude by reviewing courts toward warrants will tend to discourage police officers from submitting their evidence to a judicial officer before acting.” United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 108, 85 S.Ct. 741, 746, 13 L.Ed.2d 684 (1965). Accord, United States v. Harris, 403 U.S. 573, 577, 91 S.Ct. 2075, 29 L.Ed.2d 723 (1971).

Probable cause is made out where:

“[T]he facts and circumstances within [the agents’] knowledge and of which they had reasonably trustworthy information were sufficient in themselves to warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that [a crime is being committed].” Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 162, 45 S.Ct. 280, 288, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925).

We have reviewed the affidavit and hold that it contains facts from which the Commissioner who issued it appropriately could have found probable cause.

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Bluebook (online)
452 F.2d 569, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 6628, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-clarke-raymond-moore-and-john-bernard-spelz-ca6-1971.