United States v. James Robert Peltier

500 F.2d 985
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedNovember 11, 1974
Docket73-2509
StatusPublished

This text of 500 F.2d 985 (United States v. James Robert Peltier) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth 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. James Robert Peltier, 500 F.2d 985 (9th Cir. 1974).

Opinion

500 F.2d 985

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,
v.
James Robert PELTIER, Appellant.

No. 73-2509.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

May 9, 1974
Certiorari Granted Nov. 11, 1974
See 95 S.Ct. 302.

Sandor W. Shapery (appeared), La Jolla, Cal., for appellant.

Thomas M. Coffin, Asst. U.S. Atty. (appeared), Harry D. Steward, U.S. Atty., San Diego, Cal., for appellee.

Before CHAMBERS, MERRILL, KOELSCH, BROWNING, DUNIWAY, ELY, HUFSTEDLER, WRIGHT, TRASK, CHOY, GOODWIN, WALLACE and SNEED, Circuit Judges.

ALFRED T. GOODWIN, Circuit Judge:

James Robert Peltier's appeal has been taken en banc so the full court can consider whether the rule announced by the Supreme Court in Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, 413 U.S. 266, 93 S.Ct. 2535, 37 L.Ed.2d 596 (1973), rev'g, 452 F.2d 459 (9th Cir. 1971), should be applied to similar cases pending on appeal1 on the date the Supreme Court's decision was announced. We hold that it should, reverse Peltier's conviction, and remand the matter to the district court.

Peltier was convicted of possessing marijuana, with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1). The evidence was discovered during a search conducted on February 28, 1973, by border-patrol agents on roving patrol on Highway 395 near Temecula, California.

On June 21, 1973, the Supreme Court, in its opinion reversing this court's Almeida-Sanchez opinion, held that border-patrol agents on roving patrol cannot stop and search automobiles pursuant to 8 U.S.C. 1357(a) and 8 C.F.R. 287.1 without probable cause or warrant.

The search in question here was of the same type as that condemned in Almeida-Sanchez. There, the search was conducted 25 miles north of the Mexican border, on a California east-west highway that lies at all points at least 20 miles north of the border. 413 U.S. at 267-268, 273. Here, the search was conducted approximately 70 air miles north of the Mexican border and well to the north of the San Diego metropolitan area. The government concedes that the evidence must be suppressed if the rule announced in Almeida-Sanchez applies to this case.

Until Linkletter v. Walker, 381 U.S. 618, 85 S.Ct. 1731, 14 L.Ed.2d 601 (1965), the Supreme Court traditionally applied new constitutional criminal-procedure standards retroactively in all cases. 381 U.S. at 628. See generally Haddad, 'Retroactivity Should Be Rethought': A Call for the End of the Linkletter Doctrine, 60 J.Crim.L., C. & P.S. 417, 425-26 (1969); Mishkin, The High Court, the Great Writ, and the Due Process of Time and Law, 79 Harv.L.Rev. 56, 56-57 (1965). In Linkletter the Court was required to decide whether Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961), which overruled Wolf v. Colorado, 338 U.S. 25, 69 S.Ct. 1359, 93 L.Ed. 1782 (1949), should be given retroactive effect. After reviewing the history and theory of the problem of retroactivity, the Court concluded that the Constitution neither prohibits nor requires that the Court's decisions be applied retroactively. In each case the Court must determine whether retroactive or prospective application is appropriate. Linkletter v. Walker, 381 U.S. at 629.

In Linkletter's successors the Court devised a three-point test to determine whether or not to apply a new constitutional doctrine retroactively. The test looked to (a) the purpose to be served by the new standards, (b) the extent of reliance by law-enforcement officials on the old standards, and (c) the effect on the administration of justice of a retroactive application of the new standards. See Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 297, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199 (1967).

However, for the doctrine of retroactivity to be relevant at all, the Court must have articulated a new doctrine.

'An issue of the 'retroactivity' of a decision of this Court is not even presented unless the decision in question marks a sharp break in the web of the law. The issue is presented only when the decision overrules clear past precedent * * * or disrupts a practice long accepted and widely relied upon * * *.' Milton v. Wainwright, 407 U.S. 371, 381-382, n. 2, 92 S.Ct. 2174, 2180, 33 L.Ed.2d 1 (1972) (dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Stewart).

See also Gosa v. Mayden, 413 U.S. 665, 672-673, 93 S.Ct. 2926, 37 L.Ed.2d 873 (1973); Michigan v. Payne, 412 U.S. 47, 50-51, 93 S.Ct. 1966, 36 L.Ed.2d 736 (1973); Chevron Oil Co. v. Huson, 404, U.S. 97, 106, 92 S.Ct. 349, 30 L.Ed.2d 296 (1971); Williams v. United States, 401 U.S. 646, 659, 91 S.Ct. 1148, 28 L.Ed.2d 388 (1971).

Linkletter itself fits into the first category-- decisions overruling 'clear past precedent'-- since it involved the retroactivity of Mapp v. Ohio, supra, which overruled Wolf v. Colorado, supra. See also Williams v. United States, supra, involving the retroactivity of Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969), which reversed United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 70 S.Ct. 430, 94 L.Ed. 653 (1950), and Harris v. United States, 331 U.S. 145, 67 S.Ct. 1098, 91 L.Ed. 1399 (1947); Fuller v. Alaska, 393 U.S. 80, 89 S.Ct. 61, 21 L.Ed.2d 212 (1968) (per curiam), involving the retroactivity of Lee v. Florida, 392 U.S. 378, 88 S.Ct. 2096, 20 L.Ed.2d 1166 (1968), which overruled Schwartz v. Texas, 344 U.S. 199, 73 S.Ct. 232, 97 L.Ed. 231 (1952); Desist v. United States, 394 U.S. 244, 89 S.Ct. 1030, 22 L.Ed.2d 248 (1969), involving the retroactivity of Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967), which specifically rejected Goldman v. United States, 316 U.S. 129, 62 S.Ct. 993, 86 L.Ed. 1322 (1942), and Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 48 S.Ct. 564, 72 L.Ed. 944 (1928); Tehan v. Shott, 382 U.S. 406, 86 S.Ct. 459, 15 L.Ed.2d 453 (1966), involving the retroactivity of Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609, 85 S.Ct. 1229, 14 L.Ed.2d 106 (1965), which overruled Twining v. New Jersey, 211 U.S. 78, 29 S.Ct. 14, 53 L.Ed. 97 (1908).

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Related

Twining v. New Jersey
211 U.S. 78 (Supreme Court, 1908)
Weeks v. United States
232 U.S. 383 (Supreme Court, 1914)
Carroll v. United States
267 U.S. 132 (Supreme Court, 1925)
Olmstead v. United States
277 U.S. 438 (Supreme Court, 1928)
Goldman v. United States
316 U.S. 129 (Supreme Court, 1942)
Harris v. United States
331 U.S. 145 (Supreme Court, 1947)
Wolf v. Colorado
338 U.S. 25 (Supreme Court, 1949)
United States v. Rabinowitz
339 U.S. 56 (Supreme Court, 1950)
Schwartz v. Texas
344 U.S. 199 (Supreme Court, 1952)
Mapp v. Ohio
367 U.S. 643 (Supreme Court, 1961)
Escobedo v. Illinois
378 U.S. 478 (Supreme Court, 1964)
Griffin v. California
380 U.S. 609 (Supreme Court, 1965)
Linkletter v. Walker
381 U.S. 618 (Supreme Court, 1965)
Tehan v. United States Ex Rel. Shott
382 U.S. 406 (Supreme Court, 1965)
Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Johnson v. New Jersey
384 U.S. 719 (Supreme Court, 1966)
United States v. Wade
388 U.S. 218 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Gilbert v. California
388 U.S. 263 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Stovall v. Denno
388 U.S. 293 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Katz v. United States
389 U.S. 347 (Supreme Court, 1967)

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