United States v. Nobriga

19 F.2d 92, 1927 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1120
CourtDistrict Court, D. Rhode Island
DecidedApril 2, 1927
DocketNo. 2989
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 19 F.2d 92 (United States v. Nobriga) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Nobriga, 19 F.2d 92, 1927 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1120 (D.R.I. 1927).

Opinion

MORRIS, District Judge.

On March 11, 1927, the federal grand jury returned an indictment against Nobriga and Vieara, in six counts, for violation of the internal revenue law.

The first count charged the defendants with failure to register a still set up in violation of R. S. § 3258 (Comp. St. § 5994).

The second count charged the defendants with carrying on the business of a distillery without giving bond as required by R. S. § 3281 (Comp. St. § 6021).

The third count charged the defendants with working in a distillery, upon which no sign bearing the words “Registered Distillery” was placed, in violation of R. S. § 3279 (Comp. St. § 6019).

The fourth count charged the defendants with carrying on the business of distillers with attempt to defraud the United States, in violation of R. S. § 3297 (Comp. St. § 6066).

The fifth count charged the defendants with a violation of section 701 of title 7 of the Revenue Act of 1926 (44 Stat. 95), in that they were carrying on the business of distillers without paying the special tax provided therein.

The sixth count charged the defendants with distilling from mash, in violation of R.. 5. § 3282 (Comp. St. § 6022).

The defendants were set for trial, but, before the jury was impaneled, defendants’ counsel made a motion to quash the search warrant and to suppress all evidence obtained thereunder, upon the ground that the search warrant had been improvidently issued upon an insufficient affidavit.

Defendants’ motions were overruled and the trial proceeded, the court reserving the privilege of stating more fully the reasons for denying the motions in a rescript to be filed at some later date.

The jury returned a verdict of guilty against Nobriga upon counts 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6, and against Vieara on count 3.

Exceptions were seasonably taken to all evidence offered by the government, which had been obtained by the search and seimre.

The search warrant was issued December 20, 1926, by a United States commissioner, upon the affidavit of James J. Walsh, a federal prohibition agent.

. The affidavit is as follows:

“I, James J. Walsh, federal prohibition agent, and the above-named complainant, on oath depose and say that on the 18th day of December, 1926, I made a personal visit to the cellar of tenement house, painted dark color and having number 1255 on upper part of porch, porch being on southerly end of house on Broad street, Central Falls, Rhode Island, mentioned in the foregoing application for search warrant, when I saw a still in operation and smelled odor of fermenting mash.”

The search warrant authorized a search in the daytime of premises described as follows:

“Cellar of tenement house, painted dark color and having number 1255 on upper part of porch, porch being on southerly end of house on Broad street, in the city of Central Falls, in the state of Rhode Island.”

The application and search warrant allege a violation of the National Prohibition Act (Comp. St. § 1013814 et seq.). It was served by a federal prohibition agent, who [93]*93made return that on the 21st day of December, 1926, he searched the premises described and found and seized the following:

“2 50-gal. stills complete.

“2 6-burner gas stoves.

“2 10-gal. boilers. .

“1 funnel.

“6 100-lb. bags com sugar.

“1 hydrometer.

“4 5-gal. cans full of moonshine.

“1 5-gal. can about one-third full of moonshine.”

The evidence disclosed that the agents, in making the search, entered the cellar or basement from the outside, without going through any part of the building used for living quarters; that they found two 50-gallon stills in operation, with the two defendants in charge of them; that the cellar contained no articles of household use, such as are ordinarily kept in a family cellar; that the cellar was wet and filthy, and permeated with the odors of fermenting mash. There was no cellar floor, and the bottom was very muddy, and boards were laid down to walk upon.

The only entry of any portion of the building occupied as living quarters was when one of the agents 'asked Nobriga for a bottle in which to take a sample of the drippings from the coil of one of the stills. The agent accompanied Nobriga upstairs to his tenement to get a bottle. No search was made of any part of the building, except the cellar. No evidence was introduced by the defendants to rebut the evidence adduced on hehalf of the government.

A popular impression appears to exist that, so long as a dwelling house is not used as a place for the sale of intoxicants, section 25, tit. 2, of the National Prohibition Act (Comp. St. § 10138%m) provides absolute immunity from a search and seizure. Acting upon this popular belief, members of the bootleg fraternity are taking advantage of section 25 to convert rooms in their homes into distilleries. It is claimed that, so long as their finished product is transported to and sold from some outside place, no search warrant can be legally issued to interrupt their business, and, perchance their criminality is discovered and their business is interrupted by federal officials acting under the authority of a search warrant, then a cry goes up that their constitutional rights under the provisions of the Fourth Amend- ■ ment of the federal Constitution have been violated, and under the Fifth Amendment all evidence so illegally obtained must be suppressed.

Such is the defense, and the only defense, in the ease at bar.

The Constitution furnishes security against an unreasonable search, whether it be of one’s “castle,” his bam, or his automobile.

There has been no suggestion that section 25 of the National Prohibition Act was inserted therein because the Fourth Amendment had been found inadequate for the protection of the home. Section 25 should be read in connection with section 33, tit. 2 (Comp. St. § 10138%t), and I believe was inserted with special reference to the latter section, which provides that:

“It shall not be unlawful to possess liquors in one’s private dwelling while the same is occupied and used by him as his dwelling only and such liquor need not be reported, provided such liquors are for use only for the personal consumption of the owner thereof and his family residing in such dwelling and of his bona fide guests when entertained by him therein; and the burden of proof shall be upon the possessor in any action concerning the same to prove that such liquor was lawfully acquired, possessed, and used.”

Nothing in the language of section 33 can be construed to countenance the manufacture of liquor in one’s home,, certainly not in commercial quantities, as it would not then be legally acquired or used.

Section 25 is a limitation upon the Espionage Act (40 Stat. 217), and I believe is applicable solely to offenses under the National Prohibition Act. The language used coupling search warrants for private dwellings with the unlawful sale of intoxicating liquor indicates that such was the trae intent of the act.

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Taylor v. United States
55 F.2d 58 (Fourth Circuit, 1932)
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
19 F.2d 92, 1927 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-nobriga-rid-1927.