Opinion ID: 326811
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Wenzler's Contentions Concerning Suppression and Entrapment.

Text: 21 Wenzler argues that the 285 tablets of purple haze LSD, the basis for his conviction on Count Nine, which were seized in his apartment on February 12, 1974, during a search conducted by agents who sought to arrest him for the drug sale of January 15 (Count Five), should have been suppressed. He argues that, while the agents may have had probable cause to arrest him outside his apartment, their entry into his apartment and search of it without a search warrant violated his rights since the search was not incident to the arrest. He continues that, even assuming he had invited the agents into his apartment, that invitation was for the very limited purpose of helping him avoid embarrassment and did not constitute permission for an incidental search. Moreover, he says, any consent to search was not voluntarily given but was rather the result of psychological coercion. 22 These arguments were fully aired at a suppression hearing conducted by Judge Pollack on April 10 and 11, 1974, before the first trial. In an affidavit among his moving papers, Wenzler described the events of February 12 in considerably different terms than those given in the testimony of Agents Nieves and Kobell. He claimed that four individuals in street clothes, all displaying weapons, confronted him in front of his apartment door, leading him to believe that he was being held up. The four individuals did not identify themselves for a time and forced him to give them his keys. Forcibly restraining Wenzler, they entered and ransacked his apartment, threatening him with bodily harm in an effort to obtain from him the location of any drugs in the premises. After obtaining the 285 tablets containing LSD, the four individuals informed Wenzler for the first time that he was under arrest. 23 In testimony at the suppression hearing, however, Wenzler told a different version of this event. He said that the four individuals first placed him under arrest and then took his keys. When other persons seemed to be descending the stairs, he asked the agents to hide the incident, presumably by surrounding him, but they instead opened his door and shoved him inside, where they verbally harassed him and ransacked his apartment. They did not inform him of his rights and he did not consent to any search. Under cross-examination and questioning by the court, however, Wenzler acknowledged that he was a college graduate and was aware of his Miranda rights as a matter of general knowledge, that he really did not see any guns, that he had not read very closely the lurid affidavit he had signed, that after his arraignment he had failed to tell the Assistant United States Attorney who had interviewed him that he had been assaulted and his apartment ransacked, and that he knew that the tablets removed from his nightstand contained LSD. 24 Noting the discrepancies between Wenzler's testimony and the statements in his affidavit in support of his suppression motion, Judge Pollack found Wenzler's version of the events of that day not worthy of belief. He found, after due deliberation and based upon the evidence, including the demeanor evidence, that Wenzler was arrested on probable cause, that he invited the agents to enter his apartment, and that he consented to the search. 6 25 We find no merit in Wenzler's argument on this point. It is clear that a warrantless search is constitutionally permissible if there is consent, Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 358 & n. 22, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967); Vale v. Louisiana, 399 U.S. 30, 35, 90 S.Ct. 1969, 26 L.Ed.2d 409 (1970), though the Government must sustain its burden of proving that the consent was obtained freely and voluntarily. Bumper v. North Carolina, 391 U.S. 543, 548, 88 S.Ct. 1788, 20 L.Ed.2d 797 (1968). The Government need only satisfy the district judge by a preponderance of evidence that the defendant freely and voluntarily gave his consent to the search, see Lego v. Twomey, 404 U.S. 477, 92 S.Ct. 619, 30 L.Ed.2d 618 (1972), and the credibility of the witnesses is a question for the judge who heard them. United States v. Fernandez, 456 F.2d 638, 640 (2 Cir. 1972); United States v. Faruolo, 506 F.2d 490, 493 (2 Cir. 1974). Judge Pollack clearly (c)onsider(ed) the totality of the circumstances in determining that consent was voluntary and knowing, United States v. Mapp, 476 F.2d 67, 78 (2 Cir. 1972); see Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 248-49, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973); United States v. Faruolo, supra, 506 F.2d at 493, and we are unwilling to overturn his ruling, which is on a question of fact to be determined from all the circumstances. Schneckloth v. Bustamonte,supra, 412 U.S. at 248-49, 93 S.Ct. at 2059. And we reject Wenzler's seeming assertion that the mere fact of arrest precludes a finding of the voluntariness of consent to search. See United States v. Candella, 469 F.2d 173, 175 (2 Cir. 1972); United States ex rel. Lundergan v. McMann, 417 F.2d 519, 521 (2 Cir. 1969). Indeed, this seems to be a typical case of a knowledgeable suspect extending consent to officers under circumstances where they could readily have obtained a search warrant and then attempting to have the evidence suppressed on the ground that the consent was not voluntary. See People v. Michael, 45 Cal.2d 751, 754, 290 P.2d 852, 854 (1955) (Traynor, J.), quoted with approval in Schneckloth v. Bustamonte,supra, 412 U.S. at 230-31, 93 S.Ct. 2041. 26 Wenzler's second major contention is that his conviction on Count Five in the first trial must be reversed because Judge Pollack refused to give the jury a charge on entrapment. Counsel had sought to take the two factual questions of inducement and predisposition, which comprise the test for the entrapment defense in this circuit, see United States v. Sherman, 200 F.2d 880, 882 (2 Cir. 1952) (L. Hand, J.), before the jury. Judge Pollack denied this application and all other attempts to inject this question into the trial because: 27 (o)n the issue of entrapment, the evidence of propensity is uncontradicted, and there is nothing in the record . . . which would authorize the submission of any such suggestion to the jury. . . . (E)ntrapment is not a matter of evidence in this record but in the semantic contentions of counsel . . .. 28 We agree that the evidence of predisposition was uncontradicted. Wenzler was clearly ready and willing without persuasion and was . . . awaiting any propitious opportunity to commit the offence. United States v. Sherman, supra, 200 F.2d at 882. 7 The only caution exhibited by Wenzler was in avoiding the chance that the agents might try to take his LSD without paying for it. He was, however, fully prepared to complete the transaction on the very first occasion he met Nieves and Palombo. The short answer to Wenzler's contention is that even if we should assume there was sufficient evidence of inducement, but see United States v. Berry, 362 F.2d 756, 758 (2 Cir. 1966), when, as here, the evidence of propensity was uncontradicted, it was not error to refuse to put the entrapment defense to the jury. United States v. McMillan, 368 F.2d 810, 812 (2 Cir. 1966), cert. denied, 386 U.S. 909, 87 S.Ct. 856, 17 L.Ed.2d 783 (1967), and cases there cited; United States v. Greenberg, 444 F.2d 369, 371-72 (2 Cir.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 853, 92 S.Ct. 93, 30 L.Ed.2d 93 (1971); United States v. Nieves, 451 F.2d 836, 838 (2 Cir. 1971). 8 III. Goldstein's Suppression and Other Arguments. 29 Goldstein mounts a number of attacks upon the validity of the admission of the 4000 units of LSD seized during his arrest on February 12, 1974, and the evidence of the discovery of the $660 in identified bills which had been paid to Bachia. He argues on appeal that the agents burst into his apartment, scuffled with and handcuffed him, and searched the apartment without any warrant; that the consent form he signed was obtained involuntarily because of the overwhelming display of guns and application of physical compulsion and because of the impression given him by the agents that their obtaining a warrant for a search was a mere formality; and that the LSD was therefore illegally seized. He also argues that, even if the consent was voluntary, the search was nevertheless illegal because it was made in connection with an arrest for which there was no probable cause and because there was in any event no probable cause to believe that LSD would be found in the premises. Finally, he says that, even if there was probable cause to make the arrest, the arrest was completed at the door in a vestibule created by the erection of a partition, measuring three feet by five feet, which concealed the rest of the apartment from plain view. Taking Goldstein into the rest of the apartment thus amounted to entering another room for purposes of a search incident to an arrest. 30 Goldstein's arguments were also aired at a suppression hearing, held the morning before the first trial commenced. Goldstein did not testify at the hearing, but in his moving papers he said that he had been pushed into his apartment by a number of men with firearms who did not produce a warrant upon request and who began immediately searching the premises, discovering a quantity of LSD some half hour later. At some point long after they commenced their search Goldstein was given a consent form, which he signed involuntarily in anxiety and fright, especially upon seeing the weapons. 31 The only two witnesses testifying at the suppression hearing, Agents Nieves and Sheehan, who had participated in the arrest, recounted versions at substantial variance with that given by Goldstein in his papers. Nieves testified that Bachia, upon being arrested after selling Palombo and Nieves 10,000 units of LSD, agreed to cooperate in the agents' efforts to arrest his supplier, whom he described, whose address he gave, and to whose apartment he took the agents. When an individual fitting the description Bachia gave opened the door of the apartment, Nieves identified himself, announced that the occupant was under arrest, and, with the assistance of other agents who had joined him, gained entry and subdued Goldstein, who resisted them. While Nieves and Sheehan had noticed a packet wrapped in aluminum foil (seemingly identical to the packet just given to Nieves by Bachia) on a shelf soon after entering the apartment, no effort was made to seize it or conduct a search until Goldstein had been read his rights and had executed a consent to search form. Nieves denied ever drawing his weapon and said that Goldstein's main objection to any search of the apartment was that he would not be present. Nieves assured him that he could be present. In describing the small apartment under cross-examination, Nieves declined to accede to the suggestion that the partition by the door had the effect of creating another small room in what was in any event a small store front converted into an apartment. He acknowledged that a cursory search had been made of the apartment before the consent form was signed, but said this was made for the purpose of determining whether any other persons were within the premises. Sheehan corroborated Nieves' testimony in important respects. He had been conducting surveillance on February 12 and had observed Bachia depart from the apartment where Goldstein was later arrested. He said that he saw neither Nieves nor Palombo, who were the first to approach the door of the apartment, draw their weapons. The only time he drew his weapon was when he searched a curtained area at the rear of the apartment. He also characterized the apartment as consisting of a single room. The Government acknowledged that the testimony of a third witness would reveal that he had drawn his weapon but only while he was entering the apartment. 32 Judge Pollack denied the motion to suppress in all respects, finding: 33 It has been clearly and convincingly shown that there was ample probable cause for an arrest, and the consent to search given by the defendant Goldstein was, in fact, voluntarily given, and the search was reasonably conducted within permissible areas and was not the result of duress or coercion, express or implied, or beyond the reasonable limits of a proper search. 34 The combination of Bachia's possession of the 10,000 units of LSD in the vicinity of Goldstein's apartment; his statement that his supplier, whom he knew as Mel, lived at 56 East 4th Street, from which address Bachia had just been seen leaving; the accuracy of his description of Goldstein; and Goldstein's act in slamming the door on Nieves' arm, see 18 U.S.C. § 111, clearly provided probable cause for arrest. Goldstein's contrary suggestion that on the basis of his reports Bachia was not demonstrated to have been a reliable informant is wholly unpersuasive. Apart from the fact that Bachia's statements were amply corroborated, see United States v. Manning, 448 F.2d 992, 997-1000 (2 Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 995, 92 S.Ct. 541, 30 L.Ed.2d 548 (1971), he was no informant in the usual sense but was a confessed participant in the very crime for which Goldstein was arrested. To require a showing of previous reliability by such a person would, as in the case of a victim or a witness, see Wisconsin v. Paszek, 50 Wis.2d 619, 184 N.W.2d 836 (1971), make his information totally unavailable, despite the peculiar likelihood of its accuracy. Such information is toto coelo removed from a meager report that could easily have been obtained from an offhand remark heard at a neighborhood bar, as to which prior history of providing accurate information is required, Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 417, 89 S.Ct. 584, 589, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969). 35 This might make it unnecessary to go further if the agents had seized only the package wrapped in aluminum foil, despite the uncertainties concerning the plain view doctrine engendered by Coolidge v. New Hampshire,403 U.S. 443, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971). However, under Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969), the existence of probable cause for arrest would not justify the search of the mattress which resulted in discovery of the bills paid to Bachia. On this the Government's case must rest upon the court's finding of consent. Here again we should not lightly overturn Judge Pollack's finding that Goldstein's written consent, executed after he was orally advised of his rights and on a form which specifically apprised him that he did not have to consent to the search, was voluntary. While Goldstein suggested that a show of force played an important part in inducing him to sign the consent form, Judge Pollack chose to believe the live testimony of the agents at the suppression hearing that weapons were drawn by a few agents only as a precaution during entry of the apartment, and it was his function to weigh credibility. United States v. Fernandez, supra, 456 F.2d at 640. Goldstein's contention that he signed the consent form only after the agents led him to believe that obtaining a search warrant was a mere formality, even if true, would not advance his cause, since any such suggestion in this case would have been wholly accurate; there was clearly sufficient evidence here to justify issuance of a warrant and for that matter to predict its issuance with confidence, see United States ex rel. Gockley v. Myers, 378 F.2d 398 (3 Cir. 1967) (Hastie, J.); Hamilton v. North Carolina, 260 F.Supp. 632 (E.D.N.C.1966); but see United States v. Boukater, 409 F.2d 537, 538 (5 Cir. 1969) (dictum). Moreover, we can find nothing in the testimony at the suppression hearing or during trial to suggest that any of the agents did tell Goldstein that he might as well sign the consent form since obtaining a search warrant was a mere formality. To be sure, Palombo testified that, when Goldstein asked him if he had a search warrant, he replied that he did not but that he intended to obtain one. 9 Clearly this is not the coercive type of statement which may vitiate the validity of consent. See United States v. Bracer, 342 F.2d 522, 524-25 (2 Cir.) cert. denied, 382 U.S. 954, 86 S.Ct. 427, 15 L.Ed.2d 359 (1965); United States v. Faruolo, supra, 506 F.2d at 493-95 and cases cited in n. 6; United States v. Kohn, 365 F.Supp. 1031, 1034 (E.D.N.Y.1973), aff'd on the opinion below, 495 F.2d 763 (2 Cir. 1974). We therefore agree that Goldstein's consent was voluntary and that the evidence obtained during the search was admissible. 36 Goldstein also contends that he was denied a fair trial because the district judge took on the role of the prosecutor and, in two crucial instances, elicited and highlighted the most arguably damaging evidence against Goldstein. The claim takes on an aura of unreality when it is realized that the two isolated incidents took up less than two pages in a transcript of more than 750. In these two instances, the district judge elicited answers from Nieves about certain features of Goldstein's apartment and from Palombo about the 1800-unit LSD transaction which occurred on February 12 and the amount and location of the $660 in serialized currency found in Goldstein's apartment. Goldstein suggests that the former line of questioning sought to fix in the jury's mind that the apartment in which Goldstein was arrested was in fact his and his alone; our reading of the passage leads us to believe that it was equivocal on this point. With respect to the latter line of questioning, Goldstein suggests that the district judge's explanation of it clarifying certain details was surprising since these details had been brought out on a number of previous occasions. Rejecting out of hand any suggestion that Judge Pollack's explanation was disingenuous, we find his questioning to have been an unexceptionable effort to clarify testimony and assist the jury in understanding the evidence, United States v. Tyminski,418 F.2d 1060, 1062 (2 Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 1075, 90 S.Ct. 1523, 25 L.Ed.2d 810 (1970). 37