United States v. Francis Michael Evans

447 F.2d 129, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 8263
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 1, 1971
Docket20650, 20690
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 447 F.2d 129 (United States v. Francis Michael Evans) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth 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. Francis Michael Evans, 447 F.2d 129, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 8263 (8th Cir. 1971).

Opinion

HARPER, District Judge.

These appeals stem from judgments of conviction entered in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. Appellants were found guilty on two counts submitted to the jury, in one count for forcibly breaking into a building used in part as a post office with the intent to commit larceny in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 2115, and in one count for causing damage to government property in excess of $100.00 in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 1361.

The defendants-appellants filed motions to suppress the evidence. An evi-dentiary hearing was held on these motions, which were denied by the court. Thereafter, the defendants were convicted after a jury trial on both counts and each was sentenced to five years imprisonment on each count to run concurrently-

Appellants claim error in the admission of certain evidence taken by the police from a motor vehicle operated by defendant, Donald Lee Kness, prejudice by the joint trial, and insufficient evidence to convict defendants Knudtson and Evans.

The facts leading to the seizure of the vehicle and evidence are as follows: On the night of June 4, 1970, the Craw-fordsville, Iowa Post Office was burglarized. Three residents of Crawfordsville, Earl Lowe, Kenneth Stodgill and Richard Griffin, were in the vicinity of the post office at that time. Two of these citizens testified that they heard a pounding noise while at a house catty-corner to the burglarized building. From a distance of one-half block all three witnesses saw four men running down an alley adjacent to the post office. Thereafter, a man walked past them whom Griffin testified resembled defendant, Donald Lee Kness, and Stodgill testified looked like either defendant Kness or Knudtson. A few moments latter these citizens observed a light green 1968 Ford Fastback with one occupant drive up the same alley. Thereafter, they saw the same car parked a half block from the post office, where it remained some fifteen to twenty minutes before it pulled away. A short time later Stodgill, Lowe and Griffin found the door to the building housing the post office pried open and notified the local deputy sheriff.

A description of the car in question was broadcast over area police radio and intercepted by the police at Iowa City, Iowa, which is located on the highway between Crawfordsville and Cedar Rapids. The Iowa City authorities had earlier stopped a car matching the description and had issued a traffic violation summons to Donald Lee Kness of Cedar Rapids. The car containing four occupants then departed from Iowa City. Subsequent to the reception of the radio transmission from Crawfordsville, the Iowa City police notified authorities at Cedar Rapids as to the expected route and time of arrival in Cedar Rapids of the automobile in question.

The police in Cedar Rapids located the described vehicle and followed it to a parking lot adjacent to some taverns. Identification was procured from Donald Lee Kness and Gene Allen Knudtson, but not from defendant Evans. The three defendants, the only occupants of the car, then left the automobile and proceeded toward the taverns. The Cedar Rapids authorities kept the car under surveillance. Two hours later defendant Kness returned with Marjorie Mae Johnson, the owner of the car, and sought to regain its possession. At this time Kness was arrested for intoxication.

The three witnesses who had seen the vehicle near the Crawfordsville Post Office were taken to the car in Cedar Rapids. They positively identified the car as the two-door light green 1968 Ford Fastback which they had earlier seen. They also noted other identifying char *131 acteristics such as snow tires, which matched the only tread marks they had seen in the alley next to the Crawfords-ville Post Office, and a pulled rear bumper.

Elmo Carleton, the postal inspector, ordered the car removed to a public garage. Inspector Carleton testified that at this time he knew that defendants Kness and Knudtson had a very high reputation in the Cedar Rapids area for committing breaking and entering. 1

Early that morning following the burglary, Inspector Carleton sought from the Commissioner a search warrant on the basis of “a positive identification being made of the above described vehicle by three Crawfordsville, Iowa residents, namely Kennneth Stogell, Dick Griffin and Wayne Lowe, each stating that it is the same vehicle which they witnessed at the United States Post Office at Crawfordsville, Iowa, during the burglary of the said post office on the night of June 4, 1970.” The search warrant was issued, resulting in the location of a large quantity of items in the trunk of the vehicle which had been taken from the Crawfordsville Post Office.

Appellants contend that the car was seized prior to the identification of the vehicle by the Crawfordsville residents, and, therefore, without probable cause. The record indicates that there was no seizure of the vehicle prior to the identification by the Crawfordsville residents. The Officers who surveyed the vehicle from the time the appellants left it until its identification, testified that only one attempt was made to retrieve the automobile by Kness, who was arrested for intoxication and, therefore, incapable of driving the car. Marjorie Mae Johnson, who accompanied Kness, made no request to drive the automobile, and left in a cab. The car was impounded only after the Crawfordsville residents identified it, at which time probable cause to seize the car existed.

The court in Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, pages 155-156, 45 S.Ct. 280, page 286, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925) sets forth the standard for determining the reasonableness of a seizure of a vehicle:

“The measure of legality of such a seizure is, therefore, that the seizing officer shall have reasonable or probable cause for believing that the automobile which he stops and seizes has contraband * * * which is being illegally transported.”

In Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970), the court applied the Carroll test in approving a seizure of an automobile primarily on information similar to that known by the authorities here. The police in Chambers, supra, stopped a car on the basis of a description from two teenagers of an automobile seen circling the block in the vicinity of a robbery and speeding from a nearby parking lot. One of the occupants of that car was found to have on a green sweater, and a trench coat was also in the ear, which articles of clothing were said to have been worn by the robbers. The police seized the car, took it to the police station, and searched it. The court found that probable cause existed for the search and seizure.

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Bluebook (online)
447 F.2d 129, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 8263, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-francis-michael-evans-ca8-1971.