Woffenden v. Zahradnick

444 F. Supp. 64, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12618
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Virginia
DecidedDecember 2, 1977
DocketNo. 77-0124(R)
StatusPublished

This text of 444 F. Supp. 64 (Woffenden v. Zahradnick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Woffenden v. Zahradnick, 444 F. Supp. 64, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12618 (W.D. Va. 1977).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

TURK, Chief Judge.

Petitioner, Clifford James Woofenden, was convicted on May 20,1976, by a jury, in the Circuit Court of Roanoke County, of possession of hashish and possession of lysergic acid diethylamide and sentenced on each charge to six months in jail and a $500.00 fine. Petitioner maintains that the evidence adduced against him at trial was the fruit of an unlawful search and seizure in contravention of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and sought to have it suppressed at a pretrial suppression hearing. The trial court overruled his motion, and, upon being convicted, the petitioner sought a writ of error from the Virginia Supreme Court alleging, in part, that evidence introduced against him was derived from an unlawful search. His petition for writ of error was denied, and he filed, pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C. § 2254, this petition for writ of habeas corpus in the District Court for the Western District of Virginia asserting his Fourth Amendment claims.

The illegal drugs were discovered when officers, who were operating on the basis of a radio dispatch describing the petitioner as being a suspect in a robbery, stopped petitioner’s vehicle and searched for weapons and other evidence of the robbery. While searching the vehicle for weapons, the drugs were found wrapped in tinfoil over a sun visor in the vehicle and were not identifiable as contraband without being unwrapped. The description of petitioner, which formed the basis of the radio dispatch upon which the arresting officers stopped petitioner’s vehicle, was relayed by a service station attendant in Montgomery County who had waited on the petitioner and had observed suspicious conduct.

In overruling petitioner’s motion to suppress, the Circuit Court found that the Roanoke County officers had received a communication in the due course of business from Montgomery County officers, which established reasonable cause to stop the vehicle in question. (Tr. 61). Petitioner as[66]*66serts that the gravamen of his claim relates not to whether or not the officers had reasonable cause to stop his vehicle but whether or not they had reasonable cause to conduct the ensuing search which led to the seizure of the contraband drugs. Consequently, he contends that he failed to receive a full and fair hearing as to “. the real issues in the case.” Upon a review of the record, this Court has concluded that the petitioner did receive a full and fair hearing on his Fourth Amendment claims.

The only question presented when a state prisoner seeks habeas corpus relief on the ground that evidence obtained in an unconstitutional search and seizure is introduced at his trial is whether “the state has provided an opportunity for full and fair litigation” of the Fourth Amendment claim. Stone v. Powell, 428 U.S. 465, 494, 96 S.Ct. 3037, 3052, 49 L.Ed.2d 1067 (1976). In Stone v. Powell and Wolfe v. Rice, 428 U.S. 465, 96 S.Ct. 3037, 49 L.Ed.2d 1067 (1976), petitioners were convicted in different states on unrelated murder charges. During their respective trials each sought unsuccessfully to suppress certain evidence which was seized pursuant to an allegedly unconstitutional search. Upon being convicted, petitioners appealed their convictions through.' their respective state appellate courts asserting their Fourth Amendment claims/ Relief was denied in each instance and'each filed a petition in Federal Court for writ of habeas corpus asserting his Fourth Amendment claims. Both were ultimately granted relief by the respective Courts of Appeals and the Supreme Court granted certiorari and reversed.

The opinion of the Court reviewed the expansion of the writ of habeas corpus concluding that “[djuring the period in which the scope of the writ was expanded . .” it failed to consider whether “exceptions to full review might exist with respect to particular categories of constitutional claims.” Stone v. Powell, supra, at 478-479, 96 S.Ct. at 3044. Upon an examination of the rationale of the exclusionary rule, which the Court characterized as “the deterrence of police conduct that violates Fourth Amendment rights,” the Court noted that the rule was “not a personal constitutional right” but instead “. . .a judicially created remedy . . . .” Id. at 486, 96 S.Ct. at 3048. The Court then examined related Fourth Amendment problems which it had previously resolved through the balancing of interests and concluded that “by weighing the utility of the exclusionary rule against the cost of extending it to collateral review of Fourth Amendment claims,” the answer would be found. Id. at 489, 96 S.Ct. at 3049. In terms of cost, the Court found that “Application of the rule deflects the truth-finding process and often frees the guilty,” may have the effect “of generating disrespect for the law and the administration of justice,” promotes the ineffective utilization of limited judicial resources, is contrary to the necessity of finality in criminal trials, creates friction between our federal and state systems of justice, and interferes with the balance upon which the doctrine of federalism is founded. Id. at 490-492, 96 S.Ct. at 3050. On the other hand, the Court found that the incremental deterrent effect of a rule which provides for collateral review of such claims would be minimal. The Court then found the balancing test to preponderate in favor of limiting habeas corpus review of state prisoners’ Fourth Amendment claims:

Even if one rationally could assume that some additional incremental deterrent effect would be present in isolated cases, the resulting advance of the legitimate goal of furthering Fourth Amendment rights would be outweighed by the acknowledged cost to other values vital to a rational system of criminal justice.

Stone v. Powell, supra, at 493-494, 96 S.Ct. at 3051. In conclusion the Court summarized its holding:

. where the state has provided an opportunity for full and fair litigation of a Fourth Amendment claim, a state prisoner may not be granted Federal habeas corpus relief on the ground that evidence obtained in an unconstitutional search and seizure was introduced at his trial.

Stone v. Powell supra, at 494, 96 S.Ct. at 3052.

[67]*67The Court’s opinion is not a restriction on the exclusionary rule pronounced in Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961), and by the Court’s own language its opinion is not a limitation of federal court jurisdiction.1 Stone v. Powell, supra, 428 U.S. at 495, n. 37, 96 S.Ct. 3037. Nevertheless, on collateral review the only question presented when a state prisoner seeks relief on the grounds that evidence obtained in an unconstitutional search and seizure was introduced at his trial is whether “the state has provided an opportunity for full and fair litigation” of the Fourth Amendment claim. Stone v. Powell, supra, at 494, 96 S.Ct. at 3052. However, difficulty arises in the Court’s failure to define the opportunity for fair and full litigation. Relative to full and fair litigation, the Court merely cited Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293

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Related

Mapp v. Ohio
367 U.S. 643 (Supreme Court, 1961)
Townsend v. Sain
372 U.S. 293 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Stone v. Powell
428 U.S. 465 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Wainwright v. Sykes
433 U.S. 72 (Supreme Court, 1977)
Saunders v. Reynolds
204 S.E.2d 421 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
444 F. Supp. 64, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12618, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woffenden-v-zahradnick-vawd-1977.