Opinion ID: 1296992
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Seizure and Admission of Mere Evidence.

Text: The defendant contends that the seizure and admission into evidence of telephone bills and other documents connecting him with 1660 North Arlington Place were improper because they were not described in the warrant and only evidentiary in value. Since use in state trial of unconstitutionally-seized evidence violates the due process  of law (fourteenth amendment of the United States Constitution) and vitiates a conviction in such trial, it is necessary to determine whether this evidence was legally seized. Mapp v. Ohio (1961), 367 U. S. 643, 81 Sup. Ct. 1684, 6 L. Ed. 2d 1081. In Gouled v. United States (1921), 255 U. S. 298, 41 Sup. Ct. 261, 65 L. Ed. 647, the United States Supreme Court invalidated the seizure of items having purely evidentiary value. Only items constituting fruits, instrumentalities, weapons of escape or contraband could be validly seized. Later, however, in Warden v. Hayden (1967), 387 U. S. 294, 300, 301, 87 Sup. Ct. 1642, 18 L. Ed. 2d 782, the court rejected the mere evidence rule and stated: . . . The distinction made by some of our cases between seizure of items of evidential value only and seizure of instrumentalities, fruits, or contraband has been criticized by courts and commentators. The Court of Appeals, however, felt `obligated to adhere to it.' 363 F. 2d, at 655. We today reject the distinction as based on premises no longer accepted as rules governing the application of the Fourth Amendment. The rule in Gouled, supra, was thus rejected as being wholly irrational. Unlike the situation existing in Warden where the search was incident to arrest, the instant case involves a search pursuant to a warrant. The state contends that in light of Warden the mere evidence rule should be discarded no matter how such evidence was discovered and seized. This court is thus urged to disregard Marron v. United States (1927), 275 U. S. 192, 48 Sup. Ct. 74, 72 L. Ed. 231, as has been done by many other state and federal courts. Marron held the seizure of books and records (mere evidence) not described in the warrant was not justified. It stated: The requirement that warrants shall particularly describe the things to be seized makes general searches  under them impossible and prevents the seizure of one thing under a warrant describing another. As to what is to be taken, nothing is left to the discretion of the officer executing the warrant. Marron v. United States, supra, at page 196. We think Marron is impliedly overruled by Warden. We see no logical basis for a distinction between seizure of items not named in the warrant, but discovered in the course of the search, and items which are seized in a search incident to an arrest. Warden specifically rejects the distinction in a search incident to arrest.