United States v. Robinson

287 F. Supp. 245, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9483
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedJuly 10, 1968
DocketCrim. 3919
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 287 F. Supp. 245 (United States v. Robinson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Robinson, 287 F. Supp. 245, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9483 (N.D. Ind. 1968).

Opinion

*248 OPINION

BEAMER, District Judge.

The defendant B. Ellis Robinson is charged jointly with J. L. Hull with murdering a Federal Narcotics agent. Robinson filed a motion to suppress and return certain items seized in a search of his residence pursuant to a search warrant, and subsequent to his arrest in the residence on an arrest warrant. A hearing was had and based upon the evidence at the hearing the motion was granted. The basis of the ruling was that the search warrant, standing alone, did not meet either Federal or Indiana requirements.

After the Court announced its decision, the Government asked time to file additional authorities in support of its position. Later, pursuant to additional time granted by the Court, the Government filed a motion to reconsider the previous decision and offered to produce additional evidence bearing upon the search and search warrant in question. The Court has heard this evidence.

The defendant Robinson claims that the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure provide no means of reopening a decision on any question of fact or law and that the Court’s previous decision must stand. While it is true that there is no provision in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure equivalent to Rule 60 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, an examination of the authorities indicates that the Court does have power to reopen such a question. See, 6 Or-field, Criminal Procedure under the Federal Rules, § 47.10 at pp. 319, 320 (1967). While no case cited dealt with motions to suppress, eases pertaining to other motions indicate that the Court might reconsider where its original decision was a surprise to one of the parties. In United States v. Hoornbeek, 164 F. Supp. 657 (S.D.N.Y.1954) the Court reconsidered and reaffirmed its previous decision on a motion for a bill of particulars where it felt that its original decision might have taken a form unexpected by the parties. United States v. Froehlich, 166 F.2d 84 (2d Cir.1948) indicates that the Court may, in its discretion, reconsider its original denial of a motion for new trial. The Supreme Court, however, has held that a trial court might not grant a new trial on its own motion after the Court of Appeals has affirmed its original denial of the motion. United States v. Smith, 331 U. S. 469, 67 S.Ct. 1330, 91 L.Ed. 1610 (1947). If the Court has power to reconsider any decision prior to the final judgment in the case, it should have power to reconsider the granting of a motion to suppress. Aside from narcotic eases, (see 18 U.S.C. § 1404) there is no right to appeal from an order granting or denying a motion to suppress evidence in a pending criminal case. See 5 Orfield, op cit., § 41.59. If the motion is denied and the defendant is convicted, he may appeal from the final decision. If the motion is granted, however, and the defendant is acquitted, the Government cannot appeal. 1 Thus, the granting of a motion to suppress is hardly ever subject to appellate review. In a case such as this, where the evidence suppressed might be critical, a ruling on the motion to suppress may amount to a final decision in the case. Unless the trial court has the inherent power to review such a decision, there would be great inequity in the criminal process, and the rights of the public would be greatly impaired. Therefore, it is held that the trial court does have inherent power to reconsider a motion to suppress under appropriate circumstances.

This case presents such circumstances. Throughout the argument on this motion, there was a great deal of confusion about which affidavit was used and what the Court and counsel meant by the insufficiency of the affidavit and the warrant. At the first evidentiary hearing, Agent Bottorff testi *249 fied that he believed the affidavit and warrant were left together on the place searched, but he was not sure whether they were attached. Evidence on this point was not even presented by the Government, but was elicited by the Court. Not until the Court expressed its reasons for granting the motion to suppress did the Government counsel appear to understand the importance of this point — the incorporation of the affidavit into the warrant to satisfy federal and/or state requirements — rather they appeared to have assumed it throughout. They asked for additional time to file authorities, and then asked to present additional evidence. They stated, and subsequently proved, that the warrant and affidavit were at all pertinent times, attached. The original warrant and affidavit had been clipped together, and the copies had been either clipped or stapled. Under the circumstances, this is an appropriate occasion for exercising the Court’s discretionary power to reconsider its ruling on the motion to reconsider.

THE SUFFICIENCY OF THE WARRANT

The Court originally suppressed all evidence seized under the warrant because the warrant failed to meet applicable requirements of federal or state law. Particularly important, in fact the only fatal defect, was the failure of the warrant to contain a statement of the probable cause for its issuance as required by Rule 41(c) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, or a copy of the affidavit, as required by the state statutes, Burns’ Indiana Statutes Annotated § 9-603. Both of these requirements would be met by the physical incorporation or attachment of the affidavit to the warrant. The purpose of both the federal and state requirements is that the person whose premises are searched may be informed of the probable cause of the issuance of the warrant. (See Bedenarzik v. State, 204 Ind. 517, 185 N.E. 114 (1933), Rohlfing v. State, 227 Ind. 619, 88 N.E.2d 148 (1949).) This Court has always held that the physical attachment of the affidavit to the warrant would satisfy the federal requirements and the Indiana Supreme Court indicates that it satisfies the state requirements. Meno v. State, 197 Ind. 16, 25-26, 164 N.E. 93, 96 (1925). Therefore, if the affidavit were appended to the warrant, the warrant would have met both the state and federal requirements.

At the rehearing, the Government presented testimony that the affidavit was attached to the warrant. Judge Kaplan of the Gary City Court, who issued the warrant, testified by affidavit that he knew of the requirements that the warrant include a copy of the affidavit or that it be attached to the warrant and therefore attached the original copies of the warrant and affidavit. Richard James, the U. S. Attorney who aided in the preparation of the affidavit and warrant, testified that the remaining copies of the warrant and affidavit were attached by stapling or paper clips.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
287 F. Supp. 245, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9483, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-robinson-innd-1968.