United States v. Hooper

306 F. Supp. 715, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12639
District Court, E.D. Tennessee·Decided November 20, 1969·No. Crim. No. 7072·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

NEESE, District Judge.

Aggrieved by a seizure from his back porch of contraband liquor, the defendant Mr. Hooper has moved the Court to suppress such contraband for use as evidence herein on the ground that it was seized illegally without a warrant. Rule 41(e) (1), Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Evidence was received on the issues of fact necessary to the decision of the motion on June 20, 1969. Final briefs were filed on September 12, 1969.

The search and seizure were accomplished on February 25, 1969 at the residence of Mr. Hooper near the elementary school at Cosby, Tennessee. Mr. Hooper testified that he had been away from his community all that day; that when he returned home at approximately 5:00 o’clock, p. m., he saw an automobile parked off his driveway in his front yard, some 15 feet from his dwelling house, and about 25 feet from the Cosby-Newport highway; that he recognized as its occupants his codefendant Clayton (“Peawoody”) Williamson, and a man whom he had met previously and had since learned was William M. Reece, a special investigator of the alcohol, tobacco & firearms division of the Internal Revenue Service, Treasury Department; that he had neither invited either of these visitors to his home nor given them permission to come there; that, after an interchange of greetings among them, without further conversation, he proceeded to his rear porch; that both his visitors did likewise, one of them parking the visiting automobile with its trunk next to this porch; that he noticed some cartons on the porch which were not there when he had left that morning and about which he knew nothing; that Mr. Reece made [717]*717some inquiry or comment in connection with the quality “ * * * of the whisky * * *». ancj that; when his visitors opened the trunk-lid of the visiting automobile to load the cartons into the vehicle, special AT&FD investigators Charles Riddle and Steve B. Whitlow, who were concealed therein, emerged therefrom and placed him and his codefendant Mr. Williamson under arrest for unlawfully possessing tax unpaid whiskey.

Nothing more appearing, under such testimony, it is evident that these officers intruded upon the privacy of Mr. Hooper’s residential premises, arrested him without probable cause, and seized contraband discovered on the porch of his home in contravention of his right against unreasonable searches and seizures as guaranteed him by the Fourth Amendment to the federal Constitution. United States v. Cook, D.C.Tenn. (1962), 213 F.Supp. 568, 571 [1-4], [5], 571-572 [6, 7], Accordingly, resort must be had to the particular facts preceding such entry, United States v. Souther, D.C.Tenn. (1962), 211 F.Supp. 848, 851 [2], to determine whether probable cause existed, justifying the raiding officers in arresting the defendant Mr. Hooper without a warrant, searching the cartons on his back porch, and seizing the contraband found therein, i. e., warranting a prudent person of reasonable caution in believing that an offense was being committed. Rios v. United States (1960), 364 U.S. 253, 261, 80 S.Ct. 1431, 4 L.Ed.2d 1688, 1693 [6].

The three officers, viz., Messrs. Riddle, Whitlow and Reece, were investigating violations of the federal internal revenue laws relating to liquor in Cocke County, Tennessee (of which Cosby is a most distinctive part for these purposes) and its environs. Mr. Reece was working in an undercover capacity, and Mr. Riddle supervised his work. The latter had obtained a warrant for the arrest of the defendant Mr. Williamson for an alleged earlier offense.

On the day before the raid herein, Mr. Reece had arranged with Mr. Williamson for the purchase of 90 gallons of tax unpaid whiskey. When this information was communicated to Messrs. Riddle and Whitlow, it would have been sheer folly for Mr. Riddle to have served the arrest warrant upon Mr. Williamson until the outcome of Mr. Reece’s agreed transaction was determined. As Mr. Reece had no information concerning the place the whiskey he was purchasing would be delivered to him, it was decided by the investigators that Messrs. Riddle and Whitlow would conceal themselves in the vehicle Mr. Reece was to drive the next day. Thus, the officers could apprehend Mr. Williamson and whoever else might be implicated in any further law violation and simultaneously be available to protect Mr. Reece, if his undercover status became known to the suspected violaters.

Messrs. Reece and Williamson met the next day in Newport, Tennessee in furtherance of their agreed transaction. Mr. Williamson directed Mr. Reece over the route to the point of delivery, known to Mr. Williamson but not to Mr. Reece. Pursuant to such directions, Mr. Reece stopped his vehicle twice: once for the installation thereon of overload-springs, and another time for Mr. Williamson to purchase paper bags for use in packaging the immediate containers of the liquor about to be delivered. While Mr. Williamson was out of the car on these occasions, Mr. Reece relayed to his concealed fellow-officers whatever information he had acquired since their most recent communication theretofore.

After the second stop, Mr. Williamson caused Mr. Reece to stop a third time and assumed the driving duties, in order that Mr. Reece might count-out to him the purchase money. Mr. Reece was advised that the liquor would he delivered to him in cartons. On arriving at his destination (i. e., Mr. Hooper’s home), Mr. Williamson again departed the vehicle and conversed with a female in the Hooper dwelling, while Mr. Reece described aloud the scene. The concealed officers assumed therefrom that Mr. [718]*718Williamson had brought Mr. Reece to the Cleona Hooper residence.

On his return to the car, Mr. Williamson announced to Mr. Reece that “* * Cleona * * * ” was not at home but was expected momentarily. From his position in the automobile, Mr. Reece could see cartons stacked on the rear porch of the dwelling. He inquired of Mr. Williamson “* * * if that was the whiskey * * and Mr. Williamson replied in the affirmative. The sum total of the knowledge acquired by Mr. Reece to, and including, this juncture would have warranted any prudent man of reasonable caution in believing that the occupant of this building was in the unlawful constructive possession, jointly with Mr. Williamson, of tax unpaid whiskey — a misdeameanor- — ; that delivery of the liquor theretofore purchased and paid for by Mr. Reece was to be made to him at that place; and that Messrs. Williamson and “Cleona” were engaging in a common unlawful plan.

That the defendant Mr. Hooper was the “* * * Cleona * * *” to whom Mr. Williamson had referred earlier, and was the person engaged in the commission of the offense by common plan with Mr. Williamson, were facts made to appear more fully when Mr. Hooper arrived on the scene. After Messrs. Hooper and Williamson conversed briefly, it was Mr. Hooper who preceded the vehicle, as Mr. Williamson drove it to the rear of the dwelling and directed its movement into the aforedescribed position at the porch.

Both the visible occupants of the car then alighted therefrom and joined Mr. Hooper on the porch. Mr. Reece removed from one of the cartons one jar, stating he wanted to check the quality of the liquor before it was loaded into his car. Mr. Hooper assured him it was “* * * good.

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United States v. Hooper, 306 F. Supp. 715, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12639 (E.D. Tenn. 1969).

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