Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-10-18
Police Act Held
Valid Despite
Lack Of Warrant
BY HOWARD L. DUTKIN

U. S. Court of Appeals.
The court split to / on the
validity of the arrests and the
subsequent search which re.
suited in seizure of 500 in
marked money.
Judges John A. Danal1er and
Wilbur K, Miller were the ma
jority. Chief Judge Henry w,
Edgerton dissented.
Under the law, arrests without
a warrant may be made when the
officer has probable cause to be-
lieve a crime has been COM
mitted and that the arrested per-
son is the culprit.
If the arrest is legitimate.
searches incidental to the ar
rest also are legal.
In addition, it has been held
that before doors may be broken,
there must be necessity for so
doing. Notice of the authority
and purpose of the arrest must
be given and demand and refusal
OF admission must be made, un-
less this is already understood
Three Suspects Involved
The case decided today in
VOWED the 1855 arrest of three
narcotics suspects, Arthur r.
Shepherd. William tBluel Miller
and Bessie Byrd. all colored.
Miller is known to have a record
OF previous dope offenses.
The chain of circumstances
began with the arrest of a drug
addict. Under questioning. he
told officers he bought dope from
shepherd. He added that Shep.
herd picked up the heroin
from Miller at 1887 Columbia
road NV.
The addict agreed to make q
buy and was given 500 in
marked money. Accompanied
by an agent, he went to a house
and contacted Shepherd.
Shortly afterWard, Shepherd
was seen to take cab to the
Columbia road address. He en-
tered and then reappeared
shortly afterward, when he got
unto the waiting cab.
The taxi was stopped by
Federal agent Ivan Wurms.
I AS Wurms opened the cab
door, Shepherd damned a pack.
age under the front seat. The
package was found to contain
100 dope capsules. Shepherd
was searched but the 500 given
him by the addict was missing
Shepherd said he had picked I'm
the narcotics from a cache at
the Columbia road address.
PrOvocatiOn Seen
These facts, the majority
opinion held, gave the agents
probable cause TO arrest Shep.
herd
Shortly after that arrest this
ofhcers went to Miller's apart.
ment on Columbia road and
knocked on his door. Miller
asked; Who's there?" Wurms
replied; Blue. police"
1t was testified that Miller
partly opened the door. which
was held by chain, and rec
.ognized the officers. He was
quoted as asking what they were
doing there. Then he tried to
close the door and in an ensu-
ing tug of war. the chain was
broken.
Miller and Mrs. Byrd were ar
rested. A search turned UP the
500 in marked money.
The majority opinion de-
clared:
Against the background OF
the facts we find the officers at
Miller's door knowing that a
felony had been committed and
having probable cause to believe
IT was continuing. The statute
spelled out their clear duty to
arrest"
The court declared: THAT he
already fully understood who
the officers were and that they
sought TO arrest him cannot be
doubted. Certainly the exact
course to be taken by the officers
in a split second Of resistance
was not the subject of a blue.
print.
Immediate Decision Needed
The officers we're not con-
fronted with a decision as 10
getting a warrant next day TO
arrest Miller and Mrs. Byrd.
The arrest Of Shepherd by it.
sell would have put such hard
.ened narcotics trafiickers on
notice to destroy whatever evil
dence there was Of their COM
pllcity in the enterprise The
Officers were confronted BY the
need for a decision arising from
the necessitous circumstances OF
the situation"
In his dissent, Judge Edgerton
wrote;
g. The officers had no war
rant OF any sort. In my opinion
they had no sufficient reason -
suppose the evidence, which YES
money, would be DESTROYED IL
they waited till morning and rot
a warrant"
The Judge held that the break
ing INTO the apartment was If.
LEGAL because. he said Il find 10
evidence. and the court cites NO
evidence that supports an infer
ence that Miller even recognized
the officers az the narcotics
squad The iurist declared that
Shepherds conviction should
also BE- reversed on the grounds
that admission Of the Illegally
seized evidences" vas pEeJudicial
IN him