United States v. John Darwin Puckett

Fifth Circuit

United States v. John Darwin Puckett

551 F.2d 59, 1977 U.S. App. LEXIS 13746

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

DecidedApril 20, 1977

Docket76-3941

StatusPublished

This text of 551 F.2d 59 (United States v. John Darwin Puckett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth 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. John Darwin Puckett, 551 F.2d 59, 1977 U.S. App. LEXIS 13746 (5th Cir. 1977).

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Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Defendant Puckett appeals his conviction for possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun, 26 U.S.C.A. § 5861(d) (Supp.1976). He contends the warrantless seizure of the weapon violated his Fourth Amendment rights and the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress.

Shortly before his arrest, the defendant was lying on a motel room bed with the shotgun by his side. Local police officers approached the room to investigate a report of the use of a stolen credit card. The district court’s factual findings are not clearly erroneous. The court decided that the officers first saw the gun either when they looked through the motel room window or when a friend of the defendant opened the door in response to their knock, enabling them to see the gun from the threshold. In either case, the subsequent arrest and seizure of the shotgun was lawful. Once they saw the gun lying by his side, they had probable cause to arrest him for illegal possession. Even forcible entry would have been allowed. United States v. Hofman, 488 F.2d 287, 289 (5th Cir. 1974). Seizure of the gun was doubly justified because the weapon was an instrumentality of crime in plain view, United States v. Sherriff, 546 F.2d 604, 606-607 (5th Cir. 1977), which threatened danger to the arresting officers, United States v. Wysocki, 457 F.2d 1155, 1158-1161 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 859, 93 S.Ct. 145, 34 L.Ed.2d 105 (1972).

AFFIRMED.

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PER CURIAM:

Defendant Puckett appeals his conviction for possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun, 26 U.S.C.A. § 5861(d) (Supp.1976). He contends the warrantless seizure of the weapon violated his Fourth Amendment rights and the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress.

Shortly before his arrest, the defendant was lying on a motel room bed with the shotgun by his side. Local police officers approached the room to investigate a report of the use of a stolen credit card. The district court’s factual findings are not clearly erroneous. The court decided that the officers first saw the gun either when they looked through the motel room window or when a friend of the defendant opened the door in response to their knock, enabling them to see the gun from the threshold. In either case, the subsequent arrest and seizure of the shotgun was lawful. Once they saw the gun lying by his side, they had probable cause to arrest him for illegal possession. Even forcible entry would have been allowed. United States v. Hofman, 488 F.2d 287, 289 (5th Cir. 1974). Seizure of the gun was doubly justified because the weapon was an instrumentality of crime in plain view, United States v. Sherriff, 546 F.2d 604, 606-607 (5th Cir. 1977), which threatened danger to the arresting officers, United States v. Wysocki, 457 F.2d 1155, 1158-1161 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 859, 93 S.Ct. 145, 34 L.Ed.2d 105 (1972).

AFFIRMED.

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551 F.2d 59, 1977 U.S. App. LEXIS 13746, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-john-darwin-puckett-ca5-1977.

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