DocketNumber: 136
Judges: Whittaker, Douglas, Frankfurter
Filed Date: 1/26/1959
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 10/19/2024
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Petitioner was convicted of knowingly concealing and transporting narcotic drugs in Denver, Colorado, in violation of 35 Stat. 614, as amended, 21 U. S. C. § 174. His conviction was based in part on the use in evidence against him of two “envelopes containing [865 grains of] heroin” and a hypodermic syringe that had been taken from his person, following his arrest, by the arresting officer. Before the trial, he moved to suppress that evidence as having been secured through an unlawful search and seizure. After hearing, the District Court found that the arresting officer had probable cause to arrest petitioner without a warrant and that the subsequent search and seizure were therefore incident to a lawful arrest, and overruled the motion to suppress. 146 F. Supp. 689. At the subsequent trial, that evidence was offered and, over petitioner’s renewed objection, was received in evidence, and the trial resulted, as we have said, in petitioner’s conviction. The Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction, 248 F. 2d 295, and certiorari was sought on the sole ground that the search and seizure violated the Fourth Amendment
On the morning of September 8, Marsh and a Denver police officer went to the Denver Union Station and kept watch over all incoming trains from Chicago, but they did not see anyone fitting the description that Hereford had given. Repeating the process on the morning of September 9, they saw a person, having the exact physical attributes and wearing the precise clothing described by Hereford, alight from an incoming Chicago train and
26 U. S. C. (Supp. V) § 7607, added by § 104 (a) of the Narcotic Control Act of 1956, 70 Stat. 570, provides, in pertinent part:
“The Commissioner . . . and agents, of the Bureau of Narcotics . . . may—
“(2) make arrests without warrant for violations of any law of the United States relating to narcotic drugs . . . where the violation is committed in the presence of the person making the arrest or where such person has reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such violation.”
The crucial question for us then is whether knowledge of the related facts and circumstances gave Marsh “probable cause” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, and “reasonable grounds” within the meaning of § 104 (a), supra,
Petitioner does not dispute this analysis of the question for decision. Rather, he contends (1) that the information given by Hereford to Marsh was “hearsay” and, because hearsay is not legally competent evidence in a criminal trial, could not legally have been considered, but should have been put out of mind, by Marsh in assessing whether he had “probable cause” and “reasonable grounds” to arrest petitioner without a warrant, and (2) that, even if hearsay could lawfully have been considered, Marsh’s information should be held insufficient to show “probable cause” and “reasonable grounds” to believe that petitioner had violated or was violating the narcotic laws and to justify his arrest without a warrant.
Considering the first contention, we find petitioner entirely in error. Brinegar v. United States, 338 U. S. 160, 172-173, has settled the question the other way. There, in a similar situation, the convict contended “that the factors relating to inadmissibility of the evidence [for] purposes of proving guilt at the trial, deprive[d] the evidence as a whole of sufficiency to show probable cause for the search . . . .” Id., at 172. (Emphasis added.) But this Court, rejecting that contention, said: “[T]he so-called distinction places a wholly unwarranted emphasis upon the criterion of admissibility in evidence, to prove the accused’s guilt, of the facts relied upon to show probable cause. That emphasis, we think, goes much too far in confusing and disregarding the difference between what is required to prove guilt in a criminal case and what is
Nor can we agree with petitioner’s second contention that Marsh’s information was insufficient to show probable cause and reasonable grounds to believe that petitioner had violated or was violating the narcotic laws and to justify his arrest without a warrant. The information given to narcotic agent Marsh by “special em
“In dealing with probable cause, ... as the very name implies, we deal with probabilities. These are not technical; they are the factual and practical considerations of everyday life on which reasonable and prudent men, not legal technicians, act.” Brinegar v. United States, supra, at 175. Probable cause exists where “the facts and circumstances within [the arresting officers’] knowledge and of which they had reasonably trustworthy information [are] sufficient in themselves to warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that” an offense has been or is being committed. Carroll v. United States, 267 U. S. 132, 162.
Affirmed.
The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States provides: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
Hereford told Marsh that Draper was a Negro of light brown complexion, 27 years of age, 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighed about 160 pounds, and that he was wearing a light colored raincoat, brown slacks and black shoes.
The terms “probable cause” as used in the Fourth Amendment and “reasonable grounds” as used in § 104 (a) of the Narcotic Control Act, 70 Stat. 570, are substantial equivalents of the same meaning. United States v. Walker, 246 F. 2d 519, 526 (C. A. 7th Cir.); cf. United States v. Bianco, 189 F. 2d 716, 720 (C. A. 3d Cir.).
In United States v. Heitner, 149 F. 2d 105, 106 (C. A. 2d Cir.), Judge Learned Hand said “It is well settled that an arrest may be made upon hearsay evidence; and indeed, the ‘reasonable cause’ necessary to support an arrest cannot demand the same strictness of proof as the accused’s guilt upon a trial, unless the powers of peace officers are to be so cut down that they cannot possibly perform their duties.”
Grau v. United States, 287 U. S. 124, 128, contains a dictum that “A search warrant may issue only upon evidence which would be competent in the trial of the offense before a jury (Giles v. United States, 284 Fed. 208; Wagner v. United States, 8 F. (2d) 581) . . . .” But the principles underlying that proposition were thoroughly discredited and rejected in Brinegar v. United States, supra, 338 U. S., at 172-174, and notes 12 and 13. There are several cases in the federal courts that followed the now discredited dictum in the Grau case, Simmons v. United States, 18 F. 2d 85, 88; Worthington v. United States, 166 F. 2d 557, 564-565; cf. Reeve v. Howe, 33 F. Supp. 619, 622; United States v. Novero, 58 F. Supp. 275, 279, but the great weight of authority is the other way. See, e. g., Wrightson v. United States, 236 F. 2d 672 (C. A. D. C. Cir.); United States v. Heitner, supra (C. A. 2d Cir.); United States v. Bianco, 189 F. 2d 716 (C. A. 3d Cir.); Wisniewski v. United States, 47 F. 2d 825 (C. A. 6th Cir.); United States v. Walker, 246 F. 2d 519 (C. A. 7th Cir.); Mueller v. Powell, 203 F. 2d 797 (C. A. 8th Cir.). And see Note, 46 Harv. L. Rev. 1307, 1310-1311, criticizing the Grau dictum.
To the same effect are: Husty v. United States, 282 U. S. 694, 700-701; Dumbra v. United States, 268 U. S. 435, 441; Steele v. United States No. 1, 267 U. S. 498, 504-505; Stacey v. Emery, 97 U. S. 642, 645; Brinegar v. United States, supra, at 175, 176.
Weeks v. United. States, 232 U. S. 383, 392; Carroll v. United States, 267 U. S. 132, 158; Agnello v. United States, 269 U. S. 20, 30; Giordenello v. United States, 357 U. S. 480, 483.