Case Name: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jeffrey Leonard HOLMES et al., Defendants-Appellees
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1976-08-20
Citations: 537 F.2d 227
Docket Number: No. 74-2419
Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jeffrey Leonard HOLMES et al., Defendants-Appellees.
Judges: Before BROWN, Chief Judge, TUTTLE, GEWIN, THORNBERRY, COLEMAN, GOLDBERG, AINSWORTH, GODBOLD, DYER, SIMPSON, MORGAN, CLARK, RONEY, GEE, TJOFLAT and HILL, Circuit Judges.
Reporter: Federal Reporter 2d Series
Volume: 537
Pages: 227–237

Head Matter:
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jeffrey Leonard HOLMES et al., Defendants-Appellees.
No. 74-2419.
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.
Aug. 20, 1976.
William Stafford, U. S. Atty., Stewart J. Carrouth, Asst. U. S. Atty., Tallahassee, Fla., Mervyn Hamburg, Appellate Sec., Crim. Div., U. S. Dept, of Justice, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff-appellant.
Joseph S. Oteri, Martin G. Weinberg, Boston, Mass., for Ashley, Willy and Green.
Selig I. Goldin, Gainesville, Fla., for Holmes, Okus, Moody, Moody, DeWitt & Williams.
Before BROWN, Chief Judge, TUTTLE, GEWIN, THORNBERRY, COLEMAN, GOLDBERG, AINSWORTH, GODBOLD, DYER, SIMPSON, MORGAN, CLARK, RONEY, GEE, TJOFLAT and HILL, Circuit Judges.
Judge Wisdom did not participate in this decision because of illness.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM:
I.
The holdings of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida in United States of America, Plaintiff, v. Jeffrey Leonard Holmes, et al., Defendants, Gainesville Criminal No. 73-27, contained in its Order of April 25, 1974, regarding the installation of the battery-operated beacon or "beeper" in the early evening of August 3, 1973, under the right rear wheel of the appellee Jeffrey Holmes' van, while it was parked on a lot outside a lounge in Gainesville, Florida, to-wit: (1) that the use of the beacon to monitor the movements of the van was a search subject to the Fourth Amendment, (2) that such search was illegal because of the failure to obtain a warrant for its installation, (3) that an application for a warrant would have been rejected because no probable cause existed to justify its installation, (4) that no evidence at the Moody property would have been discovered, nor would the van with its contraband have been intercepted without the aid of the beacon, and (5) the suppression of evidence as the "fruit" of the initial search, as to such issues are each affirmed by an equally divided court. See, e. g., School Board of City of Richmond v. State Board of Education, 1973, 412 U.S. 92, 93 S.Ct. 1952, 36 L.Ed.2d 771; Rice v. Sioux City Cemetery, 1954, 348 U.S. 880, 75 S.Ct. 122, 99 L.Ed. 693, on rehearing, 1955, 349 U.S. 70, 73, 75 S.Ct. 614, 99 L.Ed. 897; Carter v. United States, 5 Cir., 1963, 325 F.2d 697, cert. denied 1964, 377 U.S. 946, 84 S.Ct. 1353, 12 L.Ed.2d 308; 5 Am.Jur.2d, Appeal and Error, § 902, pp. 338, 339.
II.
As to each of the remaining issues involved in said appeal the court en banc adopts the panel opinion.
AFFIRMED in Part; REVERSED in Part.
. Discussed in the panel opinion, United States v. Holmes, 5 Cir. 1975, 521 F.2d 859, 864-867, under the caption "Installation and Use of the Electronic Beacon",
. Dealt with by the panel opinion, 521 F.2d 859, 867-872, under the respective headings of "The Issue of Standing", "The Search of the Shed", "Standing of Ashley, Willy and Green", and "Validity of the Search Warrant".