Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/338/160/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 01:20:34+00:00

Document:
1. The facts taking place before petitioner made the incriminating statements were sufficient to show probable cause for the search, and the evidence seized was admissible against petitioner at the trial. Carroll v. United States, 267 U. S. 132, followed. Pp. 338 U. S. 165-171.
2. The officer's knowledge that petitioner was engaging in illicit liquor-running was not based wholly or largely on surmise or hearsay; the facts derived from his personal observation were sufficient in themselves, without the hearsay concerning general reputation, to sustain his conclusion concerning the illegal character of petitioner's operations. P. 338 U. S. 172.
3. It was not improper to admit as evidence on the issue of probable cause the fact that the officer had arrested the petitioner several months before for illegal transportation of liquor, although the identical evidence was properly excluded at the trial on the issue of guilt. Pp. 338 U. S. 172-174.
4. Probable cause exists where the facts and circumstances within the officers' knowledge, and of which they have reasonably trustworthy information, are sufficient in themselves to warrant a belief by a man of reasonable caution that a crime is being committed. Pp. 338 U. S. 175-176.
Petitioner was convicted in the federal district court for a violation of the Liquor Enforcement Act. The Court of Appeals affirmed. 165 F.2d 512. This Court granted certiorari. 333 U.S. 841. Affirmed, p. 338 U. S. 178.
part on the use in evidence against him of liquor seized from his automobile in the course of the alleged unlawful importation.
Prior to the trial, Brinegar moved to suppress this evidence as having been secured through an unlawful search and seizure. [Footnote 2] The motion was denied, as was a renewal of the objection at the trial.
Brinegar was the driver of the passing car. Both agents later testified that the car, but not especially its rear end, appeared to be "heavily loaded," and "weighted with something." Brinegar increased his speed as he passed the officers. They gave chase. After pursuing him for about a mile at top speed, they gained on him as his car skidded on a curve, sounded their siren, overtook him, and crowded his car to the side of the road by pulling across in front of it. The highway was one leading from Joplin, Missouri, toward Vinita, Oklahoma, Brinegar's home.
"the mere fact that the agents knew that this defendant was engaged in hauling whiskey, even coupled with the statement that the car appeared to be weighted, would not be probable cause for the search of this car."
Therefore, he thought, there was no probable cause when the agents began the chase. He held, however, that the voluntary admission made by petitioner after his car had been stopped constituted probable cause for a search, regardless of the legality of the arrest and detention, and that, therefore, the evidence was admissible. At the trial, as has been said, the court overruled petitioner's renewal of the objection.
The Carroll decision held that, under the Fourth Amendment, a valid search of a vehicle moving on a public highway may be had without a warrant, but only if probable cause for the search exists. [Footnote 4] The Court then went on to rule that the facts presented amounted to probable cause for the search of the automobile there involved. 267 U. S. 267 U.S. 132, 267 U. S. 160.
apartment and its license number. Presumably because the official capacity of the proposed purchaser was suspected by the defendants, the liquor was never delivered.
This Court ruled that the information held by the agents, together with the judicially noticed fact that Detroit was "one of the most active centers for introducing illegally into this country spirituous liquors for distribution into the interior" (267 U.S. at 267 U. S. 160), constituted probable cause for the search.
of spirituous liquors for distribution into the interior, while, in this case, the facts that Joplin, Missouri, was a ready source of supply for liquor and Oklahoma a place of likely illegal market were known to the agent Malsed from his personal observation and experience, as well as from facts of common knowledge.
Detroit and Grand Rapids by the known operators in liquor was for the purpose of carrying on their unlawful traffic.
larger quantities than would be normal for personal consumption, into a car or a truck in Joplin on other occasions during the six months prior to the search. He saw the car Brinegar was using in this case in use by him at least once in Joplin within that period, and followed it. And, several months prior to the search, he had arrested Brinegar for unlawful transportation of liquor, and this arrest had resulted in an indictment which was pending at the time of this trial. Moreover Malsed instantly recognized Brinegar's Ford coupe and Brinegar as the driver when he passed the parked police car. And, at that time, Brinegar was moving in a direction from Joplin toward Vinita, only a short distance inside Oklahoma from the state line.
is present in this case and is fully substantiated by the proof. Accordingly, the Carroll decision must be taken to control this situation, unless it is now to be overruled.
"that the facts within the knowledge of the investigators and of which they had reasonable trustworthy information prior to the time the incriminating statements were made by Brinegar were not sufficient to lead a reasonably discreet and prudent man to believe that intoxicating liquor was being transported in the coupe, and did not constitute probable cause for a search."
165 F.2d at 514. If, as we think, the Carroll case is indistinguishable from this one on the material facts, and that decision is to continue in force, it necessarily follows that the quoted "finding" or "conclusion" was erroneous. [Footnote 10] In the absence of any significant difference in the facts, it cannot be that the Fourth Amendment's incidence turns on whether different trial judges draw general conclusions that the facts are sufficient or insufficient to constitute probable cause.
It remains to consider one further asserted difference between this case and the Carroll case, having to do with the admissibility or inadmissibility at the trial of the evidence on which the agents acted in making the search, particularly the evidence concerning their knowledge that the defendants were engaging in illicit liquor running.
But a further distinction based upon inadmissibility of the evidence is asserted. It is said that while, in Carroll, the defendants' offer to sell liquor to the agents was admissible and was admitted at the trial, here, the evidence that Malsed had arrested Brinegar for illegal transportation of liquor several months before the search, though admitted on the hearing on the motion to suppress, was excluded at the trial. Cf. Michelson v. United States, 335 U. S. 469. The inference seems to be that the evidence concerning the prior arrest should not have been received at the hearing on the motion. In any event, the conclusion is drawn that the factors relating to inadmissibility of the evidence here, for purposes of proving guilt at the trial, deprive the evidence as a whole of sufficiency to show probable cause for the search, and therefore distinguish this case from the Carroll case.
the difference between what is required to prove guilt in a criminal case and what is required to show probable cause for arrest or search. It approaches requiring (if it does not, in practical effect, require) proof sufficient to establish guilt in order to substantiate the existence of probable cause. There is a large difference between the two things to be proved, as well as between the tribunals which determine them, and therefore a like difference in the quanta and modes of proof required to establish them.
by investigation and search in those movements. In such a case, the citizen who has given no good cause for believing he is engaged in that sort of activity is entitled to proceed on his way without interference. [Footnote 16] But one who recently and repeatedly has given substantial ground for believing that he is engaging in the forbidden transportation in the area of his usual operations has no such immunity, if the officer who intercepts him in that region knows that fact at the time he makes the interception and the circumstances under which it is made are not such as to indicate the suspect is going about legitimate affairs.
should now be overridden. Nor, as we have said, can we find in the present facts any substantial basis for distinguishing this case from the Carroll case.
"Whoever shall import, bring, or transport any intoxicating liquor into any State in which all sales (except for scientific, sacramental, medicinal, or mechanical purposes) of intoxicating liquor containing more than 4 percentum of alcohol by volume are prohibited, otherwise than in the course of continuous interstate transportation through such State, or attempt so to do, or assist in so doing, shall: (1) If such liquor is not accompanied by such permit or permits, license or licenses therefor as are now or hereafter required by the laws of such State; or (2) if all importation, bringing, or transportation of intoxicating liquor into such State is prohibited by the laws thereof; be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both."
"The Fourth Amendment does not denounce all searches or seizures, but only such as are unreasonable. . . . On reason and authority the true rule is that, if the search and seizure without a warrant are made upon probable cause, that is, upon a belief, reasonably arising out of circumstances known to the seizing officer, that an automobile or other vehicle contains that which by law is subject to seizure and destruction, the search and seizure are valid."
Carroll v. United States, 267 U. S. 132, 267 U. S. 147, 267 U. S. 149.
The Government also stresses the fact, not present in the Carroll case, of flight by Brinegar after he realized he was being pursued. We find it is unnecessary to take account of this factor in deciding this case. As to the factor of flight, see Husty v. United States, 282 U. S. 694, 282 U. S. 700 701; Talley v. United States, 159 F.2d 703; United States v. Heitner, 149 F.2d 105, 107; Jones v. United States, 131 F.2d 539, 541; Levine v. United States, 138 F.2d 627, 629.
It was unlawful to import into Oklahoma, without a permit, any intoxicating liquor, as defined by the laws of that state, containing more than four percent of alcohol by volume. See note 1 supra. Manufacture, sale, furnishing or transportation of intoxicating liquor was forbidden in Oklahoma. 37 Okla.Stat. § 1 (1941).
"partly because there is no opponent to invoke them, partly because the judge's determination is usually discretionary, partly because it is seldom final, but mainly because the system of Evidence rules was devised for the special control of trials by jury."
"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. . . .)"
The Wagner case relies solely upon Giles, the other ease cited in Grau, and holds a warrant bad which issued on the basis of "hearsay and conclusions." The Grau dictum occasionally has been applied or stated as dictum by the courts of appeals and district courts: Simmons v. United States, 18 F.2d 85, 88; Worthington v. United States, 166 F.2d 557, 564-565; see also Reeve v. Howe, 33 F.Supp. 619, 622; United States v. Novero, 58 F.Supp. 275, 279. Cf. Davis v. United States, 35 F.2d 957. See Note, 46 Harv.L.Rev. 1307, 1310-1311, for a criticism of the Grau dictum. And see note 15 infra and text.
"It may be added that the term 'probable cause,' according to its usual acceptation, means less than evidence which would justify condemnation, and, in all cases of seizure, has a fixed and well known meaning. It imports a seizure made under circumstances which warrant suspicion."
7 Cranch 339, 11 U. S. 348.
To the same effect are: Husty v. United States, 282 U. S. 694, 282 U. S. 700-701; Dumbra v. United States, 268 U. S. 435, 268 U. S. 441; Steele v. United States No. 1, 267 U. S. 498, 267 U. S. 504-505; Stacey v. Emery, 97 U. S. 642, 97 U. S. 645.
P. 267 U. S. 161. Ascription of the statement to Locke v. United States, 7 Cranch 339, appears to be an error in citation.
See the discussion of exceptions in the Carroll opinion, 267 U. S. 132, 267 U. S. 149 ff.
"It would be intolerable and unreasonable if a prohibition agent were authorized to stop every automobile on the chance of finding liquor, and thus subject all persons lawfully using the highways to the inconvenience and indignity of such a search. Travelers may be so stopped in crossing an international boundary because of national self-protection reasonably requiring one entering the country to identify himself as entitled to come in, and his belongings as effects which may be lawfully brought in. But those lawfully within the country, entitled to use the public highways, have a right to free passage without interruption or search unless there is known to a competent official authorized to search, probable cause for believing that their vehicles are carrying contraband or illegal merchandise."
Carroll v. United States, 267 U. S. 132, 267 U. S. 153-154.
I join in the opinion of the Court that there was probable cause for the search within the standards established in Carroll v. United States, 267 U. S. 132.
agents, but those events imposed upon the government agents a positive duty to investigate further, in some such manner as they adopted. It is only by alertness to proper occasions for prompt inquiries and investigations that effective prevention of crime and enforcement of law is possible. Government agents are commissioned to represent the interests of the public in the enforcement of the law, and this requires affirmative action not only when there is reasonable ground for an arrest or probable cause for a search, but when there is reasonable ground for an investigation. This is increasingly true when the facts point directly to a crime in the course of commission in the presence of the agent. Prompt investigation may then not only discover, but, what is still more important, may interrupt, the crime and prevent some or all of its damaging consequences.
prevention and crime detection, as well as the duty of arresting offenders caught in the commission of a crime or later identified as having committed a crime. The performance of the first duties are as important as the performance of the last. In this case, the performance of the first halted the commission of the crime and also resulted in the arrest of the offender.
When this Court recently has promulgated a philosophy that some rights derived from the Constitution are entitled to "a preferred position," Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U. S. 105, 319 U. S. 115, dissent at p. 1 319 U. S. 66; Saia v. New York, 334 U. S. 558, 334 U. S. 562, I have not agreed. We cannot give some constitutional rights a preferred position without relegating others to a deferred position; we can establish no firsts without thereby establishing seconds. Indications are not wanting that Fourth Amendment freedoms are tacitly marked as secondary rights, to be relegated to a deferred position.
deteriorates and dignity and self-reliance disappear where homes, persons and possessions are subject at any hour to unheralded search and seizure by the police.
Courts can protect the innocent against such invasions only indirectly and through the medium of excluding evidence obtained against those who frequently are guilty. Federal courts have used this method of enforcement of the Amendment, in spite of its unfortunate consequences on law enforcement, although many state courts do not. This inconsistency does not disturb me, for local excesses or invasions of liberty are more amenable to political correction, the Amendment was directed only against the new and centralized government, and any really dangerous threat to the general liberties of the people can come only from this source. We must therefore look upon the exclusion of evidence in federal prosecutions, if obtained in violation of the Amendment, as a means of extending protection against the central government's agencies. So a search against Brinegar's car must be regarded as a search of the car of Everyman.
With this prologue, I come to the case of Brinegar. His automobile was one of his "effects," and hence within the express protection of the Fourth Amendment. Undoubtedly the automobile presents peculiar problems for enforcement agencies, is frequently a facility for the perpetration of crime, and an aid in the escape of criminals.
But if we are to make judicial exceptions to the Fourth Amendment for these reasons, it seems to me they should depend somewhat upon the gravity of the offense. If we assume, for example, that a child is kidnaped and the officers throw a roadblock about the neighborhood and search every outgoing car, it would be a drastic and undiscriminating use of the search. The officers might be unable to show probable cause for searching any particular car. However, I should candidly strive hard to sustain such an action, executed fairly and in good faith, because it might be reasonable to subject travelers to that indignity if it was the only way to save a threatened life and detect a vicious crime. But I should not strain to sustain such a roadblock and universal search to salvage a few bottles of bourbon and catch a bootlegger.
The Court sustains this search as an application of Carroll v. United States, 267 U. S. 132. I dissent because I regard it as an extension of the Carroll case, which already has been too much taken by enforcement officers as blanket authority to stop and search cars on suspicion. I shall confine this opinion to showing the several ways in which this decision seems to expand the already expansive right to stop and search automobiles.
stop every automobile on the chance of finding liquor, and thus subject all persons lawfully using the highways to the inconvenience and indignity of such a search. Travelers may be so stopped in crossing an international boundary because of national self-protection reasonably requiring one entering the country to identify himself as entitled to come in, and his belongings as effects which may be lawfully brought in. But those lawfully within the country, entitled to use the public highways, have a right to free passage without interruption or search unless there is known to a competent official authorized to search, probable cause for believing that their vehicles are carrying contraband or illegal merchandise."
267 U. S. 267 U.S. 132 at 267 U. S. 153.
"The partners in the original combination to sell liquor in Grand Rapids were together in the same automobile they had been in the night when they tried to furnish the whiskey to the officers which was thus identified as part of the firm equipment. They were coming from the direction of the great source of supply for their stock to Grand Rapids, where they plied their trade. That the officers, when they saw the defendants, believed that they were carrying liquor we can have no doubt, and we think it is equally clear that they had reasonable cause for thinking so."
267 U.S. at 267 U. S. 160.
it with the personal negotiations which proved that Carroll was one. The officers' testimony of reputation would not be admissible in a trial of defendant unless he was unwise enough to open the subject himself by offering character testimony. See Greer v. United States, 245 U. S. 559, 245 U. S. 560.
initial steps in arrest, search and seizure or they were committing a completely lawless and unjustifiable act. That they intended to set out on a search is unquestioned, and there seems no reason to doubt that, in their own minds, they thought there was cause and right to search. They have done exactly what they would have done, and done rightfully, if they had been executing a warrant. At all events, whatever it may have lacked technically of arrest, search and seizure, it was a form of coercion and duress under color of official authority -- and a very formidable type of duress at that.
I do not, of course, contend that officials may never stop a car on the highway without the halting's being considered an arrest or a search. Regulations of traffic, identifications where proper, traffic census, quarantine regulations, and many other causes give occasion to stop cars in circumstances which do not imply arrest or charge of crime. And to trail or pursue a suspected car to its destination, to observe it and keep it under surveillance, is not, in itself, an arrest nor a search. But when a car is forced off the road, summoned to stop by a siren, and brought to a halt under such circumstances as are here disclosed, we think the officers are then in the position of one who has entered a home: the search, at its commencement, must be valid, and cannot be saved by what it turns up. Johnson v. United States, 333 U. S. 10; McDonald v. United States, 335 U. S. 451, and see Nueslein v. District of Columbia, 73 App.D.C. 85, 115 F.2d 690.
"The intent of Congress to make a distinction between the necessity for a search warrant in the searching of private dwellings and in that of automobiles and other road vehicles is [sic] the enforcement of the Prohibition Act is thus clearly established by the legislative history of the Stanley Amendment. Is such a distinction consistent with the Fourth Amendment? . . ."

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