United States v. Vallos

17 F.2d 390, 1926 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1670
CourtDistrict Court, D. Wyoming
DecidedNovember 17, 1926
DocketNo. 2608
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 17 F.2d 390 (United States v. Vallos) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Wyoming primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Vallos, 17 F.2d 390, 1926 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1670 (D. Wyo. 1926).

Opinion

KENNEDY, District Judge.

In the above-entitled cause pending against the defendants, charging a violation of the National Prohibition Act (Comp. St. § 10138% et seq.) in the unlawful possession of intoxicating Equors for beverage purposes, a motion has been interposed on behalf of defendants, praying for the suppression of evidence, for the reason that it was secured and wEl be used against them in violation of their rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. A hearing was had upon the motion, evidence offered in behalf of the defendants and the government in support of their divergent contentions, and the matter of said motion is now before the court for determination.

From the evidence adduced upon the hearing, the foEowing facts are made to appear: In a previous ease against the same defendants an information had been filed charging them with a violation of the National Prohibition Act in the possession of intoxicating liquor, upon which a bench warrant was subsequently issued for the arrest of the defendant Chris VaEos and delivered to the United States marshal for execution. That official, not being acquainted with the defendant, invited one Davis, the deputy prohibition administrator for the district of Wyoming, to go with him for the purpose of identifying the defendant in making the arrest. They accordingly repaired to the residence of the defendants, who are husband and wife, where the marshal approached the front door and rang the bell, whEe Davis went toward tbe rear of tbe bouse for the purpose of intercepting a pos[391]*391sible exit from that point. The front door was shortly opened by a young man who occupied one of the apartments in said house, and, upon inquiry of the marshal as to the presence of the defendant, informed the marshal that he was not there, whereupon the marshal informed the young man that he would like to make an examination to see if the defendant were there, and proceeded to enter the building, being shortly followed by Davis. The marshal repaired to the apartment of the defendant, and made an investigation which did not reveal the presence of the defendant, nor was he arrested at that time or place. Davis also went into the apartment of the defendant, and in the bathroom, wherein was situated a bathtub, observed some object in one end of the bathtub which was covered by a small bath rug which he threw back, thereby revealing some packages done up in burlap. Davis, testifying as a witness for the government, stated that the appearance of the covered object in the bathroom led him to believe that the object concealed might be a man, while other witnesses testified that it would be impossible for a man to have been concealed under a rug in as small a place as was covered by it. Davis also testified that, upon seeing the packages under the rug, he became convinced that they contained liquor, by reason of the fact that he had seen liquor upon other occasions in the exercise of his official duties done up in similar packages. One of the packages was apparently open at the end, although no liquor was observable when the packages were first revealed. He took hold of the top package, and as a result a pint bottle, alleged to contain whisky, dropped out, whereupon he took into his possession and away from the residence of the defendant the several packages found in the bathtub. Upon this alleged unlawful possession of liquor the information in this ease is based. No search warrant for a search of the premises was held, either by the marshal or by Davis, at the time, and Davis upon his sole responsibility took the packages of liquor away from the residence of the defendant. There is some evidence to the effect that, when Davis was purporting to assist the marshal in a search for the defendant, one of the brothers or sisters of the defendant’s wife informed Davis that he could not search the house unless he had a search warrant for the purpose, to which Davis replied that he did not need any, although Davis testified 'that he had no recollection of such conversation having taken place.

The question is whether or not this was a lawful search and seizure which will permit the liquor so apprehended by Davis to be used in evidence against the defendants upon the trial. It is the contention of the government, as the court understands it, that, because Davis was lawfully in the house of the defendant, he had the right to make such a search as would enable him to determine whether or not the defendant was present for the purpose of assisting the marshal in making the arrest, and that, if in that search he discovered liquor, he had the right, and it was his duty, to take possession of it, especially inasmuch as he was an officer engaged in the enforcement of the prohibition law. The defendant contends that Davis exceeded his authority, as by the testimony of the marshal he was taken along and deputized solely for the purpose of making an identification of the defendant, and that he had no right to search the premises; further that, even if he had the right to make a search of the premises for presence of the defendant, he had no right to make an examination of property for the purpose of ascertaining its nature when it became apparent to him that the defendant was not thereby concealed; and particularly counsel for defendant contend that, being without a valid search warrant, no search of a private dwelling for the presence of liquor or for any other purpose than that of ascertaining the presence of the defendant could be lawfully made, and that anything found by such a search could not be used as evidence against the defendant in support of a charge as to its unlawful possession..

It is quite apparent from the testimony that, whether or not it may be found that Davis exceeded his authority in making any search of the premises, he did at least act merely upon his suspicions, gleaned from former experiences as to what certain packages contained, in performing additional acts to confirm those suspicions, after he had convinced himself that the defendant was not there concealed, which acts in the premises were undoubtedly in excess of his authority, either official or delegated.

However, the determination of the point involved in this case need not rest upon so narrow a finding of fact as is here indicated. While this court has already held, in eases involving similar facts, that searches of private dwellings without a search warrant cannot be upheld, yet it has also held that, where an arrest has been made of a defendant charged with crime, his person and his [392]*392property in and about him may be searched. The difficulty in the case at bar, so far as the government’s contention is concerned, is that no arrest of the defendant was made at the time or at the place where the search was conducted, so that the validity of the search in this ease cannot be based upon the arrest of the defendant. The Supreme Court of the United States has quite recently passed upon a case which is at least analogous in its legal aspects to the case at bar. Agnello v. United States, 269 U. S. 20, 46 S. Ct. 4, 70 L. Ed. 145. The facts in that case were that the defendant, along with others, had been arrested for a violation of the Harrison Anti-Narcotic Act (Comp. St. § 6287g et seq.) and various articles were found in the possession of at least some of the defendants who were. together at the time. This arrest was made at a plaee other than the home of the defendant Agnello.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
17 F.2d 390, 1926 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1670, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-vallos-wyd-1926.