United States v. Dupree

1 C.M.A. 665, 1 USCMA 665
CourtUnited States Court of Military Appeals
DecidedSeptember 9, 1952
DocketNo. 364
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 1 C.M.A. 665 (United States v. Dupree) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Military Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Dupree, 1 C.M.A. 665, 1 USCMA 665 (cma 1952).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court

Paul W. BROSMAN, Judge:

The accused was convicted by general court-martial, sitting at Taegu, Korea, of wrongful possession of an opium derivative, in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 134, 50 USC § 728. He was sentenced to dishonorable discharge, total forfeitures, and confinement at hard labor for four years. The convening authority approved the findings and sentence, and a board of review in the office of The Judge Advocate General, United States Army, affirmed without opinion. We granted the accused’s petition that we might consider the issue of admissibility in evidence of a package containing a narcotic taken from the person of the accused. In view of our determination of this issue, it is unnecessary that we report the facts. However, we note the presence of ample evidence to support the findings of the court-martial.

II

It is to be observed at the outset that, although defense counsel objected at the trial to the introduction in evidence of the narcotic allegedly taken from petitioner’s person, the objection was not based on a theory of unlawful search. The objection was, instead, directed to lack of proof to show that the substance contained in the package taken from the [667]*667accused’s person was in fact a narcotic.2 Therefore, we are confronted with the preliminary question of whether failure of petitioner to object on the basis of unlawful search at the trial is fatal to his subsequent effort to raise the matter on appeal.

In dealing with this problem, which, in basic nature is one of waiver, it is necessary that we inquire in some detail into the policy foundation for, and the characteristics and history of, the rule which excludes from evidence the product of an unlawful search. The rule in military law is derived from the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 1951, paragraph 152, which provides that evidence is inadmissible against an accused person if it is obtained as the result of an unlawful search of his property by persons acting under authority of the United States. This rule in turn is clearly derived from a similar principle obtaining in the civilian Federal courts. See Legal and Legislative Basis, Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 1951, paragraph 152. We turn, therefore, to an examination of the rule as it is applied in the Federal courts of the civilian community.

Ill

The policy basis of the Federal rule of exclusion lies in the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which provides that “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated . . . .” The exclusionary rule was first laid down in Weeks v. United States, 232 US 383, 58 L ed 652, 34 S Ct 341, and has since been applied rigorously by all Federal courts. Although it was derived originally from the Fourth Amendment, it appears today that it is a rule of evidence, based primarily on the desirability of providing a means for enforcing the protections afforded by the Amendment. Wolf v. Colorado, 338 US 25, 93 L ed 1782, 69 S Ct 1359; see Allen, Wolf Case: Search and Seizure, Federalism, and the Civil Liberties, 45 Ill L Rev 1 (1950) ; and Note, 35 Cornell L.Q. 625 (1950). It is important to note that at common law the seizure of evidence through improper or illegal methods bore no relation whatever to the question of its admissibility in evidence. Wigmore, Evidence, 3d ed., § 2183. The Federal rule of exclusion is not based on any concept having to do with unreliability of the evidence seized. Nueslein v. District of Columbia, 115 F2d 690 (CA, DC Cir) see People v. Defore, 242 NY 13, 150 NE 585. It is also worthy of mention that, although the Supreme Court has held that the protections afforded by the Fourth Amendment are applicable to the states through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the rule of exclusion is not mandatory in the criminal trials of the several states. Wolf v. Colorado, supra. Today only 16 North American states [668]*668have adopted the Federal rule of exclusion.

The manner in which the rule is enforced, and the exceptions to its application, also shed light on its characteristics. First, the right to have evidence wrongfully seized excluded at the trial is a personal right, and must be asserted by, the person whose privacy'has been inVaded. Kitt v. United States, 132 F2d 920 (CA 4th Cir); Goldstein v. United States, 316 US 114; Matthews v. Correa, 135 F2d 534 (CA2d Cir). The right to seek exclusion has been likened to a remedy provided for the victim of an unlawful search to compensate for the invasion of personal rights. Connolly v. Medalie, 58 F2d 629 (CA 2d Cir). See Comment, Judicial Control of Illegal Search and Seizure, 58 Yale LJ 144 (1948). The rule itself may be assimilated to that which excludes confessions obtained during illegal detention. McNabb v. United States, 318 US 332, 87 L ed 819, 63 S Ct 608. Or that which renders inadmissible evidence secured through wire tapping. Nardone v. United States, 308 US 338, 84 L ed 307, 60 S Ct 266. Finally, the rule of exclusion is applied only to Federal officers — that is, if the search is made by state officials it does not apply. Gilbert v. United States, 163 F2d 325 (CA 10th Cir).

From the foregoing principles and decisions several conclusions may be drawn. First, the rule of exclusion in Federal courts is primarily a rule of evidence, based on what are deemed sound policy considerations. Second, the rule has no relation to the reliability or trustworthiness of the evidence. Third, the rule is personal in nature, and must be asserted by the person whose rights have been infringed. Fourth, the rule is not applied universally, and is probably not commanded by the Constitution.

IV

We turn next to a consideration of the rule of exclusion as it is applied in the field of military law. We recognize at the outset that the principle is nowhere made mandatory by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 50 USC §§ 551-736. Instead it is provided by the Manual for Courts-Martial, supra. ' Since it is derived from the Federal practice, it may be inferred that, all — certainly most — of the restrictions imposed on its application in a civilian setting will be operative in the area of courts-martial procedure. The rule in the military, as in the Federal civilian law, has no relation to the trustworthiness of the evidence, and is personal in nature. We conclude, therefore, that this principle of Federal practice — military and otherwise — is nothing more nor less than an evidentiary rule of exclusion, provided for the protection of an individual’s right to privacy in his personal property and effects. Finally and in summary, the rule confers on an individual the power to object at the trial to the reception in evidence of the products of an unlawful search. Does the failure to raise the objection waive the right? We think that it does.

In United States v. Masusock (No 15) 1 USCMA 32, 1 CMR 32, decided November 9, 1951, we established for the military practice a fundamental rule regarding the effect of failure to object at the trial upon the right to raise the issue on appeal. We noted there that we would not ordinarily consider an assignment of error based on inadmissibility of evidence where no objection was made at the trial.

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