United States v. Smith

31 F.R.D. 553, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5963
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedOctober 23, 1962
DocketCrim. No. 324-62
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 31 F.R.D. 553 (United States v. Smith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Smith, 31 F.R.D. 553, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5963 (D.D.C. 1962).

Opinion

YOUNGDAHL, District Judge.

The motions of defendants Bowden and Smith to suppress certain items of evidence upon the ground that those items were illegally obtained by the police came on to be heard by the Court after the jury had been selected and excused pending the outcome of this hearing. The Court heard two days of testimony, and now makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.

I

Both defendants were arrested on Friday, March 9,1962, at 9:45 p. m., suspected of a purse-snatching not connected with the robbery charged against them in [555]*555the present indictment. The reason the two were arrested was that they were in the neighborhood of the purse-snatching ; they roughly fit the general description of the perpetrators of the purse-snatching; and they had not satisfactorily explained to a police officer why they were in the neighborhood. They were brought to police headquarters, Number 13 precinct, for a line-up, but they were not identified by the complainant as having anything to do with the purse-snatching. The 17-year old juvenile, Bowden, was released to his parents at approximately midnight, but Smith, age 20, was kept over night at the jail without any charge having been lodged against him. As of that time, there was no crime of which Smith was even suspected of having committed.

The next morning at 8:45 a. m., Saturday, March 10, Smith was placed in a city-wide line-up at No. 1 precinct. The purpose of this line-up “is to acquaint the detectives working throughout the city with the persons who have been arrested in the city so that they may be identified, perhaps, as connected with some other crime in a precinct other than their own.” (Tr. 137). Officer Preston, of Homicide Squad, viewed that line-up, and learned that Smith had been picked up at a place which he knew to be very close to the place where Miksa Merson had been murdered on the street the week before, on March 3. Officer Preston also noticed that Smith was wearing a jacket that appeared to have blood stains on it. At approximately 9:05 a. m., Officer Preston took Smith to the Homicide Squad office for questioning.

There, Officer Preston questioned Smith about his whereabouts the night before, and also about his whereabouts on March 3, the night of the Merson murder. Smith said that he was sure that on March 3, he had entered a movie theatre at about 7:30 p. m., although he could not remember the name of the theatre, the admission price, or the name of the motion picture he had seen. Officer Preston had not questioned Smith about the specific time of 7:30 p. m., which he knew to have been the time of the Merson murder. The officer asked Smith if Bowden had been with him on March 3. Smith responded that he had not.

At 10:05 a. m., Smith consented to have his finger and palm prints taken. Several days later, these prints were found to correspond to prints on an anonymous letter which had been sent to the police on March 8, containing personal effects of the victim.

At 10:30 a. m., Officer Preston asked Officer Eccles to go to Bowden’s home to find out if Bowden had been with Smith on March 3.

At about 11:20 a. m., Smith said that he would take a lie-detector test. The test began at 11:30 a. m. and lasted until 2:00 p. m. Officer Preston testified that at the close of the test he concluded that Smith was not truthful, and that “he was, in fact, involved in the homicide.” (Tr. 147).

In the meantime, Officer Eccles had gone to the home of Bowden with another officer. Officer Eccles told Bowden’s mother that the police wanted to find out if Bowden was with Smith on March 3, and that he wanted Bowden to come with him to headquarters. Bowden’s mother said that he could go, and she called for him to get out of bed and come downstairs. Officer Eccles told Bowden that he wanted Bowden to come to headquarters “to try and clear Smith.” (Tr. 305). Bowden agreed. Officer Eecles testified that he would not have “arrested” the boy if the boy had refused to come.

About half an hour after Bowden and the officer arrived at headquarters, Officer Eccles noticed that Bowden was wearing a round gold watch with a sweep second hand. Without advising him of his right to remain silent or of his right to have an attorney, Officer Eccles asked Bowden where he had gotten the watch. Bowden said that his mother had given it to [556]*556him. Officer Eccles then went to the outer office, where Bowden’s mother, who had not come to headquarters in the police vehicle, was by now waiting. She told Officer Eccles that she had not given her son a watch. The officer then returned to Bowden, who changed his story and said that he had gotten the watch from another boy on March 3. He said that when he got it, the watch had a stretch-type band on it, but that he had thrown it away and put on a black cloth-type instead. Officer Eccles knew that Merson’s watch had had a stretch-type band. He then told Bowden that he was under arrest for the murder of Miksa Merson on March 3.

When Officer Preston finished giving Smith the lie-detector test, he immediately proceeded to give Bowden the test. Bowden’s mother was not asked to give her consent. Officer Preston described Bowden’s test as “a peak of tension test,” (Tr. 151); it lasted from 2:00 until 6:00 p. m. After Bowden’s test was completed, Bowden finally admitted that he knew about the crime, but asserted that Smith had committed the murder and had told him, Bowden, about it.

A few minutes after 6:00 p. m., Officer Preston brought Smith and Bowden face to face. Smith still denied any participation, and Bowden retracted his statement accusing Smith. Smith was then taken to the cell block. Bowden now finally broke down, admitted his own involvement, and said that he would show the officers the escape route which had been used after the murder.

At 6:45 p. m., Officer Preston and another officer went with Bowden to the area of the crime. Bowden pointed out where the money and watch had been divided, and where some articles belonging to the victim had been discarded. The officers and Bowden returned to headquarters sometime after 7:30 p. m. Sometime during the evening, Bowden was given what apparently was his first food of the day—a sandwich. At headquarters, Bowden signed a written statement that he had taken the wallet from the victim; that Smith had taken the watch; and that Smith had hit the victim twice with a club, causing the death.

Immediately after this statement was signed, an attorney appeared for the first time, at 8:00 or 8:15 p. m. Bowden’s mother had asked the attorney to find out why her son was being held, for which task she paid him $20. The attorney entered the office in which Bowden was being held. Officer Preston heard the attorney tell Bowden “[t]hat if he was involved, that he should tell the truth, and be entirely truthful and clear it up.” (Tr. 221). Officer Preston did not hear the attorney advise Bowden that he had a right to remain silent.

Bowden was then turned over to the juvenile squad, placed in the Receiving Home, and charged with homicide.

Between 6.00 p. m. and midnight of that same Saturday, police officers conferred several times with an Assistant United States Attorney in order to determine whether Smith should be brought before the Commissioner. The Government attorney told the police that there was not yet enough evidence to bring Smith before the Commissioner, and that Smith—who had been in custody for roughly 24 hours already—should be detained for a reasonable length of time for further questioning.

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Bluebook (online)
31 F.R.D. 553, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5963, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-smith-dcd-1962.