Opinion ID: 340081
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Evidence Seized from the Hubbell Street Premises.

Text: 115 A large quantity of narcotics was seized from the house on Hubbell Street on December 15, shortly after the arrests of appellants Jackson, Brown, Blair, and Joseph and Reginald Weaver. Appellants contend that these arrests were purposely delayed until appellants were inside the Hubbell Street house, and that they were used as a pretext for making a search of the premises without a warrant. 116 The arrests were made at approximately 10 p.m. on December 15. According to the testimony at the suppression hearing, about 6 p.m. that evening, government agents who were monitoring the Hubbell Street wiretaps informed Agent Garibotto that several calls suggested that a long awaited shipment of narcotics had arrived. Garibotto testified that he and government attorneys immediately began to prepare affidavits in support of a search warrant for Hubbell Street. Since these calls also indicated to Garibotto that buyers had arranged to come to Hubbell Street, he ordered the agents in the Hubbell Street vicinity to be alerted for the buyers' arrival. At approximately 9:45 Garibotto, who was on the way to the home of a district judge to present the affidavits, was notified of the arrests of Jones, Hurt, and Woods as they left Hubbell Street. He was also told that each of them was found to be in possession of narcotics when arrested. At that time Garibotto ordered the agents on the scene to arrest Jackson and the others found in the Hubbell Street house. At approximately 10 p.m. at the home of the district judge, when he was notified that the arrests had been made, and that suspected narcotics had been found in plain view, he added this information to the affidavit. The district judge issued a search warrant for the house on Hubbell Street, and a full search was made pursuant thereto. A large quantity of narcotics was found and was later introduced into evidence at appellants' trial. 117 Appellants contend that Garibotto purposely ordered the arrests to be made at the Hubbell Street house as a subterfuge to permit a search of the premises without a warrant. Garibotto denied that he delayed the arrests for that reason. Both appellants and the government rely upon Garibotto's statement of his purpose for ordering the arrests at that time. He testified: 118 Well, the circumstances at the Hubbell address mandated that the arrest be made at that time. Our forces were diffused at the time. We knew there were a great number of customers heading to the Hubbell address to purchase heroin and cocaine. We made three arrests, there were three seizures. We knew that our forces were spread around the immediate vicinity. We were just concerned that the evidence that was on hand at Hubbell would be distributed to the streets and would not be seized. 119 The district court upheld the seizure of the challenged evidence on two grounds. First, it held that 120 (d)espite substantial testimony about the arrests themselves at Hubbell, no persuasive facts were presented to support defendants' allegation that Jackson could have been arrested prior to his entering the house on Hubbell. 121 Additionally, the court held that even assuming that the agents had improperly delayed the arrests to gain entry into the house without a warrant, the search that was later conducted pursuant to a warrant was not tainted. The court reasoned that the district judge, who received lengthy affidavits prepared before the arrests (to which only one handwritten paragraph had been added after the arrests), had before her sufficient unchallenged facts to afford probable cause for a search. The improper addition could therefore be ignored. 122 Our court has repeatedly made it clear that: 123 An arrest may not be used as a pretext or subterfuge for making a search of premises without a search warrant where ordinarily one would be required under the Fourth Amendment. If, in fact, the primary purpose of forcibly entering a person's home is to search for evidence with which to convict him of crime, the evidence so obtained is not admissible in court. 124 United States v. Harris, 321 F.2d 739, 741 (6th Cir. 1963), quoted in United States v. Carriger, 541 F.2d 545 (6th Cir. 1976, decided and filed, August 25, 1976) (footnote omitted). As Chief Judge Cecil stated in Harris, 125 The real purpose of the agents must be determined from all of the facts and circumstances surrounding the arrest of the defendant and the search of his apartment. The court is not bound to accept the purpose as stated by the agents as controlling. 126 321 F.2d 741. 127 Appellants argue that probable cause to arrest Jackson, Brown, and Blair existed after the October 22 and November 4 sales to the undercover agent. Moreover, they emphasize that Jackson was under government surveillance before he arrived at Hubbell Street, but he was not arrested until after he was on the premises. They argue that Garibotto's statement quoted above admits that his purpose in ordering the arrests was to permit the warrantless search and seizure of narcotics. 128 Although the district court did not focus on the issue as stated in Harris, its determination that the defendants did not prove that Jackson could have been arrested sooner implies that the government did not make the arrests as a pretext for a warrantless search. The arrests were ordered as soon as the buyers who had called earlier left the premises, were arrested, and were found to be in possession of narcotics. Taken with the reports of the outgoing calls from Hubbell setting up additional sales, this firmly established that the narcotics shipment had arrived and that the occupants of the house were distributing it rapidly. This knowledge afforded probable cause to arrest all the occupants of the house, not just Jackson. Moreover, we think that Garibotto's testimony indicates that there was real concern for preventing the unlawful distribution of a large shipment of narcotics to other purchasers, as well as a desire to effect the arrests while there was sufficient manpower available. The record does not indicate that the government was trying to avoid getting a warrant to search Hubbell Street. In fact, when Garibotto ordered the arrests he was on his way to the home of a district judge with detailed affidavits, and he added only a brief handwritten statement after he learned of the arrests. The district judge actually issued a warrant within minutes of the entry and arrests. No search of the premises was made until the warrant was issued. 129 The facts and circumstances surrounding the arrests thus demonstrate that the government did not manipulate the arrests in order to avoid the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement, and we hold that the evidence seized from Hubbell Street was properly admitted. 130