Evening star., 1949-09-26
Appea|sCourt
UphoIds Seizure
0fLoot in Home
Action of Police
Without Warrant
Is Held Legal

WHICH pOl4CG SIlIeI an arrested
suspects home and there see the
fruits of a recent crime before
their eyes, seizure of that prop
erty may be made without a
search warrant. the United States
Court of Appeals ruled today.
Judges Wilbur K. Miller and
James M. Proctor took this posi-
ton over the dissent of Chief
Judge Harold M. Stephens of the
appellate court.
The case of a suspects constitu-
tional rights involved a house
breaking charge in which Lorenzo
M. Cradle, 81, colored, was SEN
fenced in June 1948 to a one-to-
three-year term.
Cradle was sentenced, along
with Agnes Biggs, %, colored, who
got probation, for an unusually
bold" and thorough" theft of
furniture and clothing from two
homes occupied at the time by
the Pat j. Fiordelise family.
Employed as Servants.
Mr.. Fiordelise was in the proc
ess of moving from 1859 Hobart
street NV. to 1850 Wyoming ave-
nue. NV. Cradle and the Biggs
woman were employed as his
servants.
During Mr.. and Mrs. Fiordelise's
brief absence from their homes
on the night of February Is, 1e48,
truck backed up to both houses
and carted away about S1,4OO
worth of their personal property.
Cradle and the Biggs woman dis
appeared with the truck and
never reported for work again.
The next that anyone saw of
the stolen property was three
weeks later. At that time, police,
armed with suspicious, but no
search. or arrest warrant, arrested
Cradle outside his mothers home
In the 1900 block of Corcoran
street NV. He admitted he had
some of the stolen property in
side the house and allowed police
to enter.
One detective later testified
that not only was some of the
loot in plain view, but that Cradle
readily produced other property
which he admitted stealing from
the Fiordelise family.
No Search Conducted.
In the appellate courts ajority
opinion Judge Miller held that
police had conducted no search,
which might have necessitated a
search warrant.
Cradle cannot complain that
the seizure was unlawful, since
he admitted that the articles
seized belonged to Fiordelise and
not to him." the court said. Not
ing that at least one stolen article
was "in plain view in Cradles
home" Judge Miller added that
IF it be conceded that TECHNICAL,
a search was made, it was no.
unlawfully done because it was
incident to lawful arrest ="
Judge Stephens, however, coun-
tered that the sequence of events
amounted to a police search, and
that the evidence seized should
have been excluded at the trial.
"It is true that Cradle aided
the officer in assembling the prop
erty," the chief judge wrote, "but
this was under circumstances of
implied coercion. 1t was not a
voluntary submission of the prop
erty to the arresting officer. The
fact that Cradle admitted that
the goods in his mothers apart
ment were stolen is irrelevant to
the question whether the search
and seizure was lawful
Police Criticism Implied.
At two other points in his long
dissent, Juwge Stephens implied
criticism of police methods in
the case.
"In the instant case" he wrote,
mo reason for the absence OF a
search warrant appears except
Inconvenience to the officers and
delay on their part in preparing
the necessary papers for the OBJ
tanning of a warrant and in pre-
senting them to a magistrate"
He further asserted in this con-
nection that the officers were
aware that property had been
stolen, that the probable thieves
were Cradle and Agnes Biggs, and
that the property would probably
be found where they were living"
(at the Corcoran street address,.
"It cannot be said that it was
not reasonably practicable for the
officers to obtain a search war
rant in advance of the search"
Judge SfephenS said