United States v. Hefferman

35 F.2d 605, 1929 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1620
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 6, 1929
DocketNo. 3369
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 35 F.2d 605 (United States v. Hefferman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Hefferman, 35 F.2d 605, 1929 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1620 (E.D. Pa. 1929).

Opinion

McVICAR, District Judge.

The indictment in this case contains six counts — two charging the unlawful sale of intoxicating liquor; two unlawful possession; one the maintenance of a nuisance; and one alleging two former convictions of the defendant. Count 3, charging an unlawful sale, was withdrawn from the consideration of the jury. The jury returned a verdict of guilty as to counts 1, 2, 4, and 5, and also found that the defendant had been convicted in the two eases alleged in count 6. This case is now before us on defendant’s motion for a new trial, which alleges that the verdict was against the law, the evidence, and the weight of the evidence. These reasons are so general and indefinite that the motion for a new trial might have been refused without further consideration. However, we will consider the four reasons argued orally and in the brief of the defendant.

The first reason is that the court erred in receiving evidence of samples of liquor taken from liquor seized which had been subsequently destroyed. The answer to this reason appears in McGuire v. U. S., 273 U. S. 95, 98, 47 S. Ct. 259, 260, 71 L. Ed. 556, where the same question was raised, and wherein the Supreme Court said:

‘‘That the destruction of the liquor by the officers was in itself an illegal and oppressive act is conceded. But it does not follow that the seizure of the liquor which was retained violated constitutional immunities of the defendant or that the evidence was improperly received. * * •
[606]*606“Even if the officers were liable as trespassers ab initio, which we do not deeide, we are concerned here not with their liability but with the interest of the government in securing the benefit of the evidence seized, so far as may be possible without sacrifice of the immunities guaranteed by the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. A criminal prosecution is more than a game in which the government may be checkmated and the game lost merely because its officers have not played accordingly to rule. * * *
“The seizure of the liquor received in evidence was in fact distinct from the destruction of the rest. Its validity so far as the government is concerned should be equally distinct.”

This point is also ruled upon in the ease of U. S. v. Griffin, 17 F.(2d) 811 (D. C. E. D. Pa.)

The second reason of the defendant is that the court erred in refusing to strike out all the testimony obtained by the search warrants, for the reason that the agents searched a different place than that named therein. In Cogen v. U. S., 278 U. S. 221, 49 S. Ct. 118, 119, 73 L. Ed. 275, the Supreme Court, speaking by Mr. Justice Brandeis, said:

“It is true that the order deals with a matter which, in one respect, is deemed collateral. As was said in Segurola v. United States, 275 U. S. 106, 111, 112, 48 S. Ct. 77, 79 (72 L. Ed. 186): ‘ * * * A court, when engaged in trying a criminal case, will not take notice of the manner in which witnesses have possessed themselves of papers or other articles of personal property, which are material and properly offered in evidence because the court will not in trying a criminal cause permit a collateral issue to be raised as to the source of competent evidence. To pursue it would be to halt in the orderly progress of a cause and consider incidentally a question which has happened to cross the path of such litigation and which is wholly independent of it.’ Hence, a defendant will, ordinarily, be held to have waived the objection to the manner in which evidence has been obtained unless he presents the matter for the consideration of the court seasonably in advance of the trial; and he does this commonly by a motion made in the cause for return of the property and for suppression of the evidence. The rule is one of practice; and is not without exceptions. See Gouled v. United States, 255 U. S. 298, 305, 41 S. Ct. 261, 65 L. Ed. 647; Agnello v. United States, 269 U. S. 20, 34, 35, 46 S. Ct. 4, 70 L. Ed. 145, 51 A. L. R. 409; Panzich v. United States (C. C. A.) 285 F. 871, 872.”

A true bill was found in this case May 29, 1929; the case was tried June 19, 1929. There was no motion made in advance of the trial to return or suppress the evidence obtained by the search and seizure. Therefore the defendant has waived that objection, and his motion must fall unless his case is controlled by the rule laid down in Agnello v. United States, 269 U. S. 20, 34, 46 S. Ct. 4, 7, 70 L. Ed. 145, 51 A. L. R. 409 wherein the Supreme Court said:

“Where, by uncontroverted facts, it appears that a search and seizure were made in violation of the Fourth Amendment, there is no reason why one whose rights have been so violated, and who is sought to be incriminated by evidence so obtained, may not invoke protection of the Fifth Amendment immediately and without any application for the return of the thing seized.”

Do the uneontroverted facts in this case show an unlawful search and seizure in the manner claimed? The defendant offered no evidence; the search warrants were not offered in evidence. The agents, who made the seizure, testified that the place where the search was made was located at the intersection of Sixth street, Ontario street, and Morton avenue, Chester, Pa., and was numbered 600 Morton avenue. This description, with the exception of the number, was used in all of the counts in the indictment excepting the nuisance count, which also included the number on Morton avenue. The agents further testified that the building searched was a three-story brick with an entrance at the comer of Sixth street and Morton avenue, with a saloon on the first floor. Agent Litchfield, on cross-examination, was asked the following question, which appears upon page 9 of the testimony:

“Q. That (referring to a search warrant) calls for a three-story brick Building, having a saloon on the first floor thereof, located on a triangle at 6th and Ontario Streets and Morton Avenue, Chester, Delaware County, Pennsylvania?”

He made answer thereto “Yes.” There was no evidence that the place searched was a different place than that named in the search warrants, and while there were slight inaccuracies in the description, given in the search warrants, there is no evidence that the officers with reasonable effort could not have ascertained and identified the place described therein. In Steele v. United States, 267 U. S. 498, 503, 45 S. Ct. 414, 416, 69 L. Ed. 757, the Supreme Court said:

“It is enough if the description is such that the officer with the search warrant can, [607]*607with reasonable effort, ascertain and identify the place intended.”

The Supreme Court also cited as authority for the above proposition the case of Rothlisberger v. United States, 289 F. 72, 73 (C. C. A. 6). In that case the warrant described the premises as “121 Hay Street, occupied by L. Rothlisberger.” As a matter of fact the premises were 123 Hay street, and L.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
35 F.2d 605, 1929 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1620, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-hefferman-paed-1929.