Opinion ID: 451968
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of Appellant Lackey's Scales

Text: 25 The district court denied the motion of appellant Lackey to suppress a set of scales that had been taken from his apartment during a police search. Lackey argues that this denial was reversible error. On November 2, 1982, several police officers, led by detective Locke, came to Lackey's apartment to serve a warrant for his arrest. They were let in by Harold Scroggins, who was at that time living in the apartment with Lackey and who then informed them that Lackey was not there. Soon after his entry into the apartment, detective Locke saw the scales on a table in the kitchen area near the entry to the apartment. In learning that Lackey was not home, the detective sought and received Scroggins' consent to search the apartment. The men went first to Scroggins' bedroom, where they found some firearms. Scroggins stated that they belonged to Lackey, who had authority over the house and placed his belongings in whatever room he chose. Locke then concluded that Scroggins did not have authority to give his consent to a search of the house, so the officers left. They obtained a warrant and returned to the house, at which time they took the scales from the table in the kitchen. 26 Both the magistrate and the district court held that the seizure was appropriate under the plain view doctrine. This doctrine permits the seizure of objects which fall within the plain view of an officer who has a right to be in the position to have that view. United States v. Jonas, 639 F.2d 200, 203 (5th Cir.1981); United States v. Bolts, 558 F.2d 316 (5th Cir.), cert. denied sub nom Hicks v. United States, 434 U.S. 930, 98 S.Ct. 417, 54 L.Ed.2d 290 (1977); Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971). The application of this doctrine to the instant case is appropriate, as detective Locke had a right to be in the apartment to serve Lackey's arrest warrant, and the scales were readily visible from the entry where he stood. It also appears that, notwithstanding detective Locke's reservations, Harold Scroggins had authority to consent to the search. The Supreme Court held in United States v. Matlock, 415 U.S. 164, 171 n. 7, 94 S.Ct. 988, 993 n. 7, 39 L.Ed.2d 242 (1974), that common authority [to consent to a search] rests ... on mutual use of the property by persons generally having joint access or control for most purposes, so that it is reasonable to recognize that any of the co-inhabitants has the right to permit the inspection in his own right and that the others have assumed the risk that one of their number might permit the common area to be searched. The rule has been broadly applied in this Circuit. See United States v. Woods, 560 F.2d 660, 666 (5th Cir.1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 906, 98 S.Ct. 1452, 55 L.Ed.2d 497 (1978) (co-habitant who was not known to be co-owner of house had authority to consent to search). Scroggins' statement that Lackey could use the space in his apartment any way he pleased without consulting Scroggins may appear to distinguish the instant case. But the context of the statement suggests that it was intended to establish Scroggins' innocence in connection with the firearms that had been discovered in his bedroom, and should not be understood as an explanation of his authority over the apartment. 27 The fact that the officers did not seize the scales at the time they initially entered, and were obliged to enter a second time, does not alter the validity of the seizure. The officers entered the second time on the basis of a warrant. While the government suggested at the suppression hearing that the warrant may have been invalid, detective Locke indicated that he believed in its validity at the time of the search, and appellant does not dispute this belief. Where government agents have a good-faith belief in the validity of a warrant at the time that it is used, the seizure of evidence pursuant to that warrant is not improper, though the warrant is later found to be invalid. United States v. Leon, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984). More importantly, the police still had a warrant for the arrest of Lackey, on the basis of which they could have entered his apartment a second time. As the second entry was not unauthorized, and the object seized had been spotted in plain view, its seizure did not violate Lackey's Fourth Amendment rights. 10