United States v. Stafford

303 F. Supp. 785, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10351
CourtDistrict Court, D. Delaware
DecidedSeptember 12, 1969
DocketCrim. A. No. 1963
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 303 F. Supp. 785 (United States v. Stafford) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Stafford, 303 F. Supp. 785, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10351 (D. Del. 1969).

Opinion

OPINION

LATCHUM, District Judge.

The defendant is charged in an information with the illegal possession of a sawed-off shotgun which had been made in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5821, which had been transferred in violation of 26 U.S.C. §§ 5811 and 5812, and which had not been registered pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 5841, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861. Defendant has moved to suppress as evidence the sawed-off shotgun seized from him by Wilmington police officers on the ground that it is the fruit of a search incident to an unlawful arrest. The essential facts relevant to this motion may be summarized as follows:

On the evening of March 14, 1969, Sergeant John Barry and Patrolman George Johnson of the Wilmington Police Department were on patrol together. Sergeant Barry received a call by police radio instructing him to contact Lt. Thomas Lingle at Headquarters. Sergeant Barry proceeded to a police call box at 10th and Van Burén Streets in Wilmington and spoke with Lt. Lingle, who told him that an informant, known [787]*787by Sergeant Barry to have been reliable in the past, had just reported that a 1959 Chevrolet, parked directly behind a Thunderbird in the 600 block of North Van Burén Street, contained a sawed-off shotgun.

The informant had indicated that the automobile was to be moved in approximately ten minutes. Sergeant Barry and Patrolman Johnson went immediately to the 600 block of North Van Burén Street and observed a 1959 Chevrolet parked directly behind a Thunderbird as reported. The officers then took up a position in the 500 block of North Van Burén Street where they could observe the vehicle as well as any activity in the immediate area.

Sergeant Renai, a plainclothes detective of the Wilmington police force, also had received a call from Lt. Lingle or Lt. Steffens that an automobile containing a sawed-off shotgun would be moved in approximately 10 minutes from the 600 block of North Van Burén Street. Sergeant Renai then took up a position in the vicinity of the 600 block of North Van Burén Street near 7th Street and informed Barry and Johnson that he was in the area to assist in their surveillance.

Shortly before 9:14 p. m., the defendant emerged from a dwelling in the 600 block of North Van Burén Street with a jacket over his arm. He got into the 1959 Chevrolet and proceeded north on Van Burén Street. Sergeant Barry immediately contacted Renai by radio, and Barry and Johnson then followed the Chevrolet on Van Burén Street. Defendant’s Chevrolet passed Renai at 7th and Van Burén; Renai pulled out behind defendant’s car, blew his horn, and signal-led the defendant to stop. The defendant’s car was stopped at or near the intersection of 8th and Van Burén Streets. Renai got out of his car and went over to the driver’s side of the defendant’s vehicle. Renai identified himself, showed his badge to the defendant, and asked him to get out of his car and show Renai some identification. Complying with this command defendant got out of his car and stood at the door on the driver’s side. Sergeant Renai was approximately two feet away from the defendant who stood facing the Sergeant. Almost as soon as Sergeant Renai got the defendant out of his vehicle and asked for identification, Sergeant Barry went to the passenger side of the defendant’s automobile to see if there was any possible weapon that could be used against them. Barry opened the door and observed that a brown coat was spread out in the middle of the front seat. Barry picked up the coat and underneath it found the sawed-off shotgun in question. Patrolman Johnson was not with Sergeant Barry when Barry searched for and seized the gun. By the time Johnson got out of the police car and reached the defendant’s vehicle, Barry already had removed the shotgun from the front seat. Johnson then walked over to the driver’s side where Renai and Stafford were standing. The police had no search warrant, and the defendant did not consent to the search of his automobile. Further, the government does not contend that any action or comment of the defendant at the time his car was stopped and searched in any way contributed to the facts offered to support a finding of probable cause for the arrest and search in this case.

Determination of the validity of the search in this case involves two basic questions. First, whether the police action in stopping the defendant’s car and forcing him to get out and stand beside it was the kind of interference with personal liberty which requires probable cause to sustain its Constitutional validity under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. Second, if there was this kind of interference, whether there was probable cause to justify the action of the police.

As to the first question, this Court concludes that an arrest took place when the police stopped the defendant and required him to stand by his car; because an arrest occurred at this time, probable cause was necessary to justify this restraint on the defendant’s liberty. In Henry v. United States, 361 U.S. [788]*78898, 80 S.Ct. 168, 4 L.Ed.2d 134 (1959), agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation had placed the petitioner under surveillance because of his suspected involvement in the theft of liquor from an interstate shipment. The agents had observed the petitioner and another man loading cartons into a car on several occasions during the same day. After the petitioner drove away from the place where the cartons had been loaded, the FBI agents followed the car, “and finally, when they met it, waved it to a stop.” 361 U.S. 98, 99, 80 S.Ct. 168, 169, 4 L.Ed.2d 134. In Henry, the Supreme Court concluded that this stopping of the car amounted to an arrest: “When the officers interrupted the two men and restricted their liberty of movement, the arrest, for purposes of this case, was complete.” 361 U.S. 98, 103, 80 S.Ct. 168, 171, 4 L.Ed.2d 134. The restriction on the liberty of the defendant here was more substantial than the restriction which was found to constitute an arrest in Henry. Not only was the defendant's car stopped, but he also was required to get out of his car and stand beside it. At this point, Sergeant Renai confronted the defendant with his badge in one hand and with his other hand on his gun, which was unholstered and in his front pants pocket. Two other officers almost immediately joined Sergeant Renai at the scene and surrounded the defendant and his vehicle. Under these circumstances, this significant interference with the defendant’s free movement requires the traditional justification of probable cause. United States v. Hostetter, 295 F.Supp. 1312 (D.Del., 1969). That the police did not intend to formally arrest Stafford, or did not believe that their actions constituted an arrest is not relevant to compliance with the standards of the Fourth Amendment.

Determination of the second question — whether there was probable cause to justify the arrest and incidental search — rests finally on the proper application of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Spinelli v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
303 F. Supp. 785, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10351, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-stafford-ded-1969.