Court Opinion

ID: 9641632
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 17:36:46.607062+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:38.873227
License: Public Domain

SWAN, Circuit Judge (dissenting).
It is settled law that an officer making a lawful arrest may lawfully search property and premises within the'prisoner’s immediate control, as well as the prisoner’s person, in order to find and seize the things used to carry on the criminal enterprise. Agnello v. United States, 269 U. S. 20, 30, 46 S. Ct. 4, 70 L. Ed. 145, 51 A. L. R. 409; Carroll v. United States, 267 U. S. 132, 158, 45 S. Ct. 280, 69 L. Ed. 543, 39 A. L. R. 790; Marsh v. United States, 29 F.(2d) 172 (C. C. A. 2); Appell v. United States, 29 F.(2d) 279 (C. C. A. 5); United States v. Kirschenblatt, 16 F.(2d) 202, 203, 51 A. L. R. 416 (C. C. A. 2). The ease of Marron v. United States, 275 U. S. 192, 48 S. Ct. 74, 72 L. Ed. 231, applied the principle to include documents and papers used in connection with the crime of maintaining a nuisance in violation of the Prohibition Act (27 USCA). See, also, United States v. Poller, 43 F.(2d) 911 (C. C. A. 2); Sayers v. United States, 2 F.(2d) 146 (C. C. A. 9); Browne v. United States, 290 F. 870 (C. C. A. 6); United States v. Durkin, 41 F.(2d) 851 (D. C. M. D. Pa.); United States v. Wilson, 163 F. 338 (C. C. S. D. N. Y). The papers seized are listed in the record, and items 2, 3, 4, and 10 do not appear to have any relation to the crime with which Lefkowitz was charged. The other items, however, business cards, notebooks, lists of names, etc., apparently used in connection with the illegal conspiracy, were, 1 believe, validly seized.
The eases above cited would seem to justify the search and seizure made by the officers within the small rooms occupied by the prisoner when arrested in the case at bar. -Nor do I read the opinion of the Supreme Court in the recent Go-Bart Case, 282 U. S. 344, 51 S. Ct. 153, 75 L. Ed. 374, as laying down a contrary rule. There the search was deemed unreasonable because of fraud and threats of force by means of which the officers gained access to the locked desks and safe. Here there was nothing of that sort. The eases involving searches of premises incidental to an arrest contain no intimation that the seáreh inay not be a thorough one for things concealed. But even if some of the papers were obtained by an unreasonably extensive and exploratory search for documents not open and visible, I think the court would be required to differentiate between the papers thus obtained and those which were within the principle of a reasonable search incidental to a lawful arrest. Because some papers were illegally seized, it does not follow that those lawfully taken must also be returned. In my opinion the order should be affirmed except as to the four items above mentioned as unrelated to the crime.