United States v. Garcia

3 M.J. 927, 1977 CMR LEXIS 724
CourtU.S. Army Court of Military Review
DecidedJuly 29, 1977
DocketCM 435184
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 3 M.J. 927 (United States v. Garcia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Army Court of Military Review primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Garcia, 3 M.J. 927, 1977 CMR LEXIS 724 (usarmymilrev 1977).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

FULTON, Judge:

The validity of the appellant’s conviction for wrongfully possessing approximately two pounds of marihuana turns upon the constitutional correctness of a search of his automobile.

At 1400 hours, 14 April 1976, in the criminal investigation detachment office at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Special Agent Frederick Gleffe introduced an informant to Special Agent Stephen Butts. The informant told Butts that he had seen the appellant that day in his unit mess hall taking orders for marihuana and that, at about 1700 hours, the appellant would be driving his 1973 blue-and-white Volkswagen bus bearing North Carolina license JCY-164, in the on-post Anzio Acres housing area for the purpose of delivering marihuana. The informant indicated that the vehicle would contain seven or more pounds of marihuana.

Gleffe stated that the informant had worked with him before and always had proved reliable. Butts checked with the military police, who confirmed that the appellant was the registered owner of the described vehicle. A stakeout of the Anzio Acres housing area ensued.

At about 1700 hours, the appellant appeared, driving his vehicle along the main thoroughfare into the housing area. The agents stopped him, told him that he was suspected of possessing marihuana, and walked a marihuana dog around the vehicle. The actions of the dog indicated to its han[929]*929dler that there was marihuana in the vehicle. The appellant declined to consent to a search of the vehicle.

Leaving other agents to guard the vehicle, Butts handcuffed the appellant and took him to the office. There, he telephoned the resident military judge, Lieutenant Colonel Yelton, and “explained the situation and circumstances to him.” As a result of that conversation, Butts typed out a warrant and supporting affidavit and took them to Judge Yelton’s quarters. The material portion of the affidavit read as follows:

[0] n 14 April 76, I received information through a confidential informant, who has proven his reliability in the past, that PFC Ronald M. GARCIA would be transporting pounds of marihuana on the Fort Bragg Military Reservation. He further stated that GARCIA would be driving a 1973 Blue and White VW Bus bearing NC 76, license plates JCY-164, and that the vehicle would be in the vicinity of South Dougherty St., Ft. Bragg, NC. This vehicle djscribed by the informant was stopped at about 1700 hours this date on South Dougherty St., driven by GARCIA. Based that there may be marihuana in the vehicle SGT STINES and his Marihuana Dog were taken to the area, where the vehicle was stopped and then walked around the vehicle. The dog alerted on the vehicle and SGT STINES felt that based on the dogs reaction there was marihuana in the vehicle. The informant has in the past worked with CW2 Dan Malkinski, Chief Narcotis Div and Mr. Malkinski informs this affiant that his information is reliable.

The final sentence was added by the military judge before Agent Butts swore to the affidavit. Judge Yelton then issued a warrant for the search of the described vehicle then located adjacent to 308 South Dougherty Drive. The warrant was executed at about 1930 hours (two and one-half hours after the vehicle was stopped). Approximately two pounds of marihuana were found in a compartment beneath the rear seat.

Tried before an eight-member general court-martial, the appellant moved to suppress evidence of the marihuana on the grounds that he had been apprehended without probable cause, the use of the dog was a search without probable cause, and the search warrant was not supported by probable cause. The trial judge denied the motion. The appellant was convicted of wrongfully possessing marihuana and was sentenced to a bad-conduct discharge and confinement at hard labor for six months. The convening authority approved the sentence. Our review is pursuant to Article 66 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. § 866.1

The affidavit contains at least a minimal recital fairly indicating that the informant was reliable because he had furnished correct information in the past.2 There is, however, no mention that the informant had observed the appellant in the mess hall taking orders for marihuana. Accordingly, it fails to disclose any underlying circumstances in support of the informant’s belief that the appellant was engaged in criminal activity.

[930]*930As has often been stated, two things must be shown in order for information given by an informant to furnish a sufficient foundation for . exercise of authority to search. First, there must be circumstances laid out on the record tending to prove the reliability of the informant. Secondly, there must be circumstances demonstrating that the items sought to be seized were ... at the place to be searched.

United States v. Llano, 23 U.S.C.M.A. 129, 130, 48 C.M.R. 690, 691 (1974). The second of the requirements has not been met in this case.3

The warrant, which now is seen to be deficient, was not the only possible basis for the search. On the facts in this case, we believe that,' under Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970), the agents were entitled to search the appellant’s vehicle without a warrant. The information given them by their informant afforded probable cause to believe that the vehicle contained marihuana and to search it therefor. Id. at 47-51, 90 S.Ct. 1975. In the course of its opinion, the Supreme Court said:

. In Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925), the issue was the admissibility in evidence of contraband liquor seized in a warrantless search of a car on the highway. . . . [T]he Court held that automobiles and other conveyances may be searched without a warrant in circumstances that would not justify the search without a warrant of a house or an office, provided that there is probable cause to believe that the car contains articles that the officers are entitled to seize .
Neither Carroll, supra, nor other cases in this Court require or suggest that in every conceivable circumstance the search of an auto even with probable cause may be made without the extra protection for privacy that a warrant affords. But the circumstances that furnish probable cause to search a particular auto for particular articles are most often unforeseeable; moreover, the opportunity to search is fleeting since a car is readily movable. .
. Carroll, supra, holds a search warrant unnecessary where there is probable cause to search an automobile stopped on the highway; the car is movable, the occupants are alerted, and the car’s contents may never be found again if a warrant must be obtained. Hence an immediate search is constitutionally permissible.

Id. at 48, 50-51, 90 S.Ct. at 1979. In Chambers, the search was immediate only in the sense that the officers did not take time to present the probable cause issue to a magistrate.

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4 M.J. 671 (U.S. Army Court of Military Review, 1977)

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Bluebook (online)
3 M.J. 927, 1977 CMR LEXIS 724, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-garcia-usarmymilrev-1977.