Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/350/214/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 06:03:33+00:00

Document:
On the basis of evidence seized under an invalid federal search warrant, petitioner was indicted in a federal court for unlawful acquisition of marihuana. On his motion under Rule 41(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, this evidence was suppressed. Thereafter, he was charged in a state court with possession of marihuana in violation of state law. Alleging that the evidence suppressed in the federal court was the basis of the state charge, petitioner moved in a federal court for an order enjoining the federal agent who had seized the evidence from transferring it to state authorities or testifying with respect thereto in the state courts.
Held: the motion should have been granted. Pp. 350 U. S. 214-218.
And see 26 U.S.C. § 2598.
After the District Court suppressed the evidence, a federal narcotics agent swore to a complaint before a New Mexico judge and caused a warrant for petitioner's arrest to issue. Petitioner has now been charged with being in possession of marihuana in violation of New Mexico law, and awaits trial in the state court. The case against petitioner in the state court will be made by testimony of the federal agent based on the illegal search and on the evidence seized under the illegal federal warrant.
That, at least, is the basis of the motion in the District Court to enjoin the federal narcotics agent from testifying in the state case with respect to the narcotics obtained in the illegal search and, if the evidence seized is out of the custody of the United States, to direct the agent to reacquire the evidence and destroy it or transfer it to other agents. The District Court denied the motion and the Court of Appeals affirmed. 218 F.2d 237. The case is here on a petition for certiorari which we granted because of the importance in federal law enforcement of the question presented. 348 U.S. 958.
The briefs and oral argument have been largely devoted to constitutional questions. It is said, for example, that, while the Fourth Amendment, as judicially construed, would bar the use of this evidence in a federal prosecution, Weeks v. United States, 232 U. S. 383, our decision in Wolf v. Colorado, 338 U. S. 25, would permit New Mexico to use the evidence in its prosecution of petitioner. Moreover, it is said that to suppress the use of the evidence in the state criminal proceedings would run counter to our decision in Stefanelli v. Minard, 342 U. S. 117.
case that raises not a constitutional question, but one concerning our supervisory powers over federal law enforcement agencies. Cf. McNabb v. United States, 318 U. S. 332.
". . . it was within the power of the court to take jurisdiction of the subject of the return, and pass upon it, as the result of its inherent authority to consider and decide questions arising before it concerning an alleged unreasonable exertion of authority in connection with the execution of the process of the court."
No injunction is sought against a state official. The only remedy asked is against a federal agent who, we are told, plans to use his illegal search and seizure as the the basis of testimony in the state court. To enjoin the federal agent from testifying is merely to enforce the federal Rules against those owing obedience to them.
The command of the federal Rules is in no way affected by anything that happens in a state court. They are designed as standards for federal agents. The fact that their violation may be condoned by state practice has no relevancy to our problem. Federal courts sit to enforce federal law; and federal law extends to the process issuing from those courts. The obligation of the federal agent is to obey the Rules. They are drawn for innocent and guilty alike. They prescribe standards for law enforcement.
They are designed to protect the privacy of the citizen, unless the strict standards set for searches and seizures are satisfied. That policy is defeated if the federal agent can flout them and use the fruits of his unlawful act either in federal or state proceedings.
318 U.S. at 318 U. S. 347. I do not think that this case can be brought within McNabb simply because the enjoined evidence was seized under an invalid court process. Would the Court's decision have been different had there been no search warrant at all? Moreover, the Court has heretofore refused to extend the McNabb rule to state criminal trials. Stein v. New York, 346 U. S. 156, 346 U. S. 186-188; Gallegos v. Nebraska, 342 U. S. 55, 342 U. S. 63-64.
"the federal courts should refuse to intervene in State criminal proceedings to suppress the use of evidence even when claimed to have been secured by unlawful search and seizure."
far advanced as was the state prosecution in Stefanelli. If New Mexico should now seek to subpoena the federal agent, would the Court permit him to honor the State's process? And, if not, how could that properly be said not to impinge directly upon the New Mexico prosecution? Today's decision represents a reversal of the sound policy followed in Stefanelli; I can find no justification for it. It was not an abuse of discretion to withhold the relief here.
federal interference is nevertheless justified at this point in the proceedings whenever the State has not yet obtained the evidence seems to me to make the matter simply a race between a state prosecution and a federal injunction proceeding. I do not believe that a rule dependent on the fortuitous circumstance of winning that race is a sound one in this important field of federal-state relations. If, on the other hand, the Court is now saying that it is the difference between the Fourth Amendment and the Fourteenth which requires this result -- a conclusion disclaimed by the majority -- then I would still regard the injunction as improvidently issued, since New Mexico should be given the first opportunity to suppress the evidence with this Court sitting in review if the State improperly refuses to do so. Cf. Douglas v. Jeannette, 319 U. S. 157.
In accommodating state and federal interests in criminal law enforcement, this Court has hitherto taken the view that the States should be left free to follow or not the federal exclusionary rule set forth in Weeks v. United States, supra. The present decision seems to me to be a step in the opposite and wrong direction. I think the judgment below should be affirmed.

References: § 2598
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