Opinion ID: 290186
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Admission of evidence obtained by the search conducted incident to appellant's arrest.

Text: 9 Schartner contends first that the warrant authorizing his arrest was legally deficient as not being supported by a sufficient affidavit of probable cause as required by the Fourth Amendment, and that therefore the admission of evidence obtained by a search conducted incident to his arrest was prejudicial error. 1 We cannot agree. An affidavit or a complaint may be validly based on hearsay information. See United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 85 S.Ct. 741, 13 L.Ed.2d 684 (1965). The warrant was issued on a complaint executed by Whomsley, the special agent of the FBI who, with the aid of the Philadelphia police, carried on the Philadelphia investigation of the bank robbery. The complaint was as follows: 'And the complainant states that this complaint is based on positive identification by the Manager of the aforeaid bank, Mr. Stephen Rosinski, and the Head Teller, Mrs. Rose Harvey, that defendant demanded money of them with a hand weapon, whereupon both witnesses were forced to turn over to the defendant $84,550 of money which was rightfully in the care, custody and control of the aforesaid bank.' 10 Specifically, Schartner argues that the complaint failed to particularize sufficiently the basis for the warrant and because of this the United States Commissioner could not make an independent determination of the existence or not of probable cause. If Schartner's arrest was illegal because of a defective warrant it would follow that the fruits of the search incident to his arrest were inadmissible. See Giordenello v. United States, 357 U.S. 480, 483, 78 S.Ct. 1245, 2 L.Ed.2d 1503 (1958). The Government does not challenge the basic proposition that the Fourth Amendment requires that a warrant be supported by information enabling the issuing officer to exercise independent judgment on the issue of probable cause. Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14, 68 S.Ct. 367, 92 L.Ed. 436 (1948). We point out that Whomsley's complaint did in fact allow the Commissioner to discharge the constitutional function of an independent determination of probable cause. A complaint based on hearsay must meet two tests; first, the source of the hearsay declarants' accusation must be revealed, and second, the hearsay declarants must be presumptively reliable and generally worthy of belief. See Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969) and Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964). The hearsay complaint in the instant case meets both of these tests. Accordingly we hold that the arrest warrant was valid. 11 Schartner also contends that the admission of the evidence seized in the cabin was beyond the permissible scope of a search incident to arrest. As we have said, Schartner was arrested in a cabin of the Lake Texoma Lodge in Oklahoma. The Lodge consists of a main hotel-like building surrounded by numerous cabins. One agent testified that Schartner's arrest and the search of his cabin together consumed about fifteen minutes. Another agent testified that the search alone took approximately twenty-six minutes. The cabin consisted of one room, twenty-five by thirty feet, and a bathroom. Various items, some of which were introduced in evidence, were seized from a 'table in the kitchen alcove', from 'the dining room table', from an 'open front closet', from a blue suitcase located in the closet and from a brown leather bag, the location of which in the cabin does not appear from the record. There is evidence that the search extended into closed areas. As to the search of the brown leather bag and seizure of its contents, one of the arresting agents stated: 'When we found the bag we asked Mr. Schartner if he would please give us the keys to this bag so we could open it. He refused to give us the keys. We informed him we would have to open the bag and he refused to tell us where the keys were so we opened it.' The arresting agents also broke open the blue suitcase found in the closet. 12 Schartner contends that upon these facts the Supreme Court's decision in Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969), announcing a new and more restrictive rule as to the constitutional limits of a warrantless search incident to arrest, requires the suppression of this evidence and that it was error to admit the seized items at trial. Prior to Chimel it was the law that officers effecting an arrest could conduct a warrantless search extending not only to the person of the one arrested but also to the premises in his 'possession' or under his 'control' at the time of the arrest. 2 Chimel overruled United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 70 S.Ct. 430, 94 L.Ed. 653 (1950) and elucidated a new concept of 'immediate control' much narrower than that which had existed previously. For example, Mr. Justice Stewart in Chimel, contrasting the previous rulings, stated: 'There is no comparable justification, however, for routinely searching rooms other than that in which an arrest occurs-- or, for that matter, for searching through all the desk drawers or other closed or concealed areas in that room itself.' 395 U.S. 763, 89 S.Ct. 2040. 13 While the search at Schartner's cabin might have rendered the evidence seized therein inadmissible under Chimel, we conclude that Chimel does not apply in cases where the evidence complained of was gained from a search prior to the date of the decision in Chimel. 3 We conclude that Chimel is not to be applied retroactively. We agree with the reasoning of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in United States v. Bennett,415 F.2d 1113 (1969) and we think it is unnecessary for us to elaborate here on the sustaining theory so well articulated by Circuit Judge Friendly. Cf. Desist v. United States, 394 U.S. 244, 89 S.Ct. 1030, 22 L.Ed.2d 248 (1969). Other strong courts have made similar rulings as to the retroactivity of the Chimel doctrine. See Scott v. State, 7 Md.App. 505, 256 A.2d 384 (Md.Ct.Spec.App.1969). We conclude therefore that the evidence seized in the cabin and from Schartner's immediate possession was admissible. 14 The FBI agents obtained a warrant for the search of Schartner's automobile but Schartner contends that because the search of the cabin was illegal, which, in his view, led to the search of the automobile, the search of the automobile was illegal. Since we have found the search, of the cabin to have been a legal search, it follows that the search of the automobile was permissible and the evidence obtained therein admissible. There is no sound ground for attacking the search warrant. 15 II. Trial court's permitting the Government to reopen its case after the close of all evidence and arguments to the jury to allow proof of an essential element of the crime charged. 16 Schartner contends next that the trial court erred in refusing appellant's motion for a judgment of acquittal at the close of all evidence. After the denial of this motion and after completion of arguments to the jury, counsel for the Government declared his desire to confirm that there had been a stipulation that the bank robbed was federally insured, federal insurance being an essential element of the crime charged. The record indicates that the trial Judge at this point was also under the impression that this fact had been stipulated previously. After defense counsel denied the existence of such a stipulation, the trial Judge granted the motion of the United States to reopen its case to supply proof of this missing element of the offense. Thereafter defense counsel finally agreed to stipulate that the bank was federally insured. 4 We have stated in the past in similar circumstances: 'It is unnecessary for us to consider the academic question whether at the time, the government originally rested its case the defendants' motion for directed verdicts should have been granted.' United States v. Maggio, 126 F.2d 155, 158 (3 Cir. 1942). Schartner was no more prejudiced by the establishment of federal insurance at this particular point in the trial rather than if this operative fact had been stipulated earlier. Accordingly, we find no abuse of discretion in the trial Judge's denying appellant's motion for a judgment of acquittal and allowing the Government to reopen its case for this limited purpose. See United States v. Webb, 398 F.2d 553, 558 (4 Cir. 1968); Morgan v. United States, 380 F.2d 686, 703 (9 Cir. 1967); Lucas v. United States, 343 F.2d 1, 2-3 (8 Cir. 1965). Cf. Maggio, supra, and Massey v. United States, 358 F.2d 782, 786 (10 Cir. 1966). 17