Opinion ID: 442874
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Firearms Conviction under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 922(h)

Text: 32 Silva's arrest was accomplished in dramatic fashion. After bursting into his motel room armed with shotguns, FBI agents handcuffed both Silva and Lewis behind their backs. As they sat on the motel room beds, Agent Calhoon picked up a locked zippered bag, which, due to its weight, he concluded might have weapons in it. He asked Defendant if he had a key to the bag. Defendant indicated the key was in his pocket, whereupon the agent removed the key, opened the bag, and found two pistols and materials for creating a disguise which were introduced into evidence at trial as part of the prosecution's case. Silva made a motion to suppress the evidence at trial, which was denied. Silva charges that this denial was error. 33 We are of the opinion that any objections Silva may have to the validity of this search and seizure are disposed of by this court's recent en banc opinions in United States v. Litman, 739 F.2d 137 (4th Cir.1984), and United States v. Porter, 738 F.2d 622 (4th Cir.1984). There, relying on the United States Supreme Court's decision in New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981), we held that a lawful custodial arrest justifies a contemporaneous search without a warrant of the person arrested and the immediately surrounding area. Porter, supra, at 627. 6 There can be no dispute that the zippered bag was in the immediately surrounding area and that it was searched contemporaneously with the arrest. It was not error for the trial court to deny the motion to suppress its contents. 34 Appellant also challenges the firearms conviction by contending that the government did not adequately prove his prior conviction, since the prison record on which it relied was in the name of Daniel Melson Silva rather than Daniel Nelson Silva. The custodian of the criminal records of Duvall County, Florida, produced and identified at trial a document indicating that a Daniel M elson Silva was convicted of breaking and entering with the intent to commit a felony and sentenced to ten years in prison. He further identified the Defendant as being Mr. Silva and remembered him as having been in the Florida prison system. 35 We have little doubt that Daniel Melson Silva and Daniel Nelson Silva are one and the same person, and that the discrepancy in the middle name was created by the slip of a typist's finger. 7 The trial court properly rejected Appellant's motion to exclude the prison record on the ground that it was not the record of Daniel Nelson Silva. 36