Court Opinion

ID: 9462595
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:44:53.61556+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:40.069734
License: Public Domain

THOMSEN, Senior District Judge
(concurring and dissenting):
I agree that there was no sufficient justification to arrest Chadwick or Ms. Leary, that the statements Chadwick made after his arrest were properly suppressed, and that there was no justification for opening Ms. Leary’s suitcase or Machado’s suitcase as and when they were opened; but I respectfully dissent from that portion of the opinion which holds that opening the footlocker in the JFK building violated Macha-do’s Fourth Amendment rights.
The information which the agents had received before the train arrived in South Station justified their suspicion that the footlocker contained contraband (a large quantity of marijuana). After Duke, the detector dog, trained to sniff out controlled substances, gave an “alert response”, the agents had probable cause to believe that the footlocker contained contraband; they also had probable cause to believe that Ma-chado, who had traveled on the same train with the footlocker and had claimed it when it was unloaded from the train and was then sitting on it, was committing a felony in their presence. They might have arrest*786ed Machado then, United States v. Watson, - U.S. -, 96 S.Ct. 820, 46 L.Ed.2d 598, 44 L.W. 4112 (1976), and did not lose that right by waiting until Machado caused the footlocker to be placed in the trunk of the automobile. I believe that the agents could also have seized and searched the footlocker in the station, after the dog gave the affirmative signal, on the ground that there was probable cause to believe that it contained contraband and was being used in committing the offense. This conclusion is supported by United States v. Buckhanon, 505 F.2d 1079 (8 Cir. 1974); United States v. Johnson, 467 F.2d 630 (2 Cir. 1972), cert. denied, 410 U.S. 932, 93 S.Ct. 1382, 35 L.Ed.2d 595, 413 U.S. 920, 93 S.Ct. 3069, 37 L.Ed.2d 1042 (1973); United States v. Mehciz, 437 F.2d 145 (9 Cir.), cert. denied, 402 U.S. 974, 91 S.Ct. 1633, 29 L.Ed.2d 139 (1971).
A railroad station, after the arrival of a train, is not a good place to conduct such an arrest and search, especially when the agents did not know whether one or more men might respond to the telephone call Machado had made. Nor is a street outside the station a good place to open a footlocker containing marijuana. The agents acted wisely in arresting Machado at the car, and in postponing until they arrived at JFK opening the footlocker, to confirm the fact that it contained contraband. If it had proved not to contain contraband, the agents should and presumably would have released Machado immediately. He was not hurt by the delay in opening the footlocker.
The thorough review of Fourth Amendment cases in the majority opinion herein illustrates the thicket through which state and federal judges, as well as state and federal law enforcement officers, must struggle in cases such as this. I believe that the cases cited above justify the conclusion that the principles which control the right of an officer to arrest without a warrant a person who is committing a felony in his presence in a public place should also permit the officer to open a suitcase, a footlocker or other container which he has probable cause to believe is being used to commit the offense in his presence and to seize the contraband therein.1

. No invasion of a house or other real property was involved in this case.