Court Opinion

ID: 9466903
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:32:05.641136+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:02.142675
License: Public Domain

ADAMS, Circuit Judge,
concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part.
Inasmuch as I do not believe that the prosecution proved the existence of each element of 18 U.S.C. § 751(a) (Supp. II 1978), I respectfully dissent from the portion of the opinion of the Court affirming Etienne George’s conviction.
Section 751(a) punishes one who escapes or attempts to escape from the lawful custody of various federal institutions or officials.1 George was convicted of escaping *1090from the custody, obtained pursuant to an lawful arrest, of an officer of the United States. Thus, to establish a violation of § 751(a), the prosecution must prove that (1) the defendant was in custody; (2) custody was held by an officer of the United States; (3) custody was obtained pursuant to a lawful arrest; and (4) the defendant escaped. In my view, the prosecution has not proved the existence of the third element of § 751(a) — that custody was obtained pursuant to a lawful arrest.
At the time George committed the acts giving rise to the conviction at issue here, he was free on bail pending trial on felony charges brought by the Government of the Virgin Islands.2 At the October 29, 1978 arraignment, George was instructed that, as a condition of his release, he must report each week to the United States Marshal.3 On March 8, 1979, a deputy marshal approached George while he was walking down the street and arrested him for failing to report to the Marshal’s Office for two consecutive weeks. The arrest was made without a warrant, and there is no contention that George was engaged in unlawful activity at the time of the arrest or was seeking to flee from the jurisdiction. Shortly after George was taken into custody, he temporarily escaped.
The release on bail of persons accused of noncapital crimes is governed by 18 U.S.C. § 3146 (1976).4 Subsection (c) of that statute describes the information that must be brought to the attention of the accused at the time he is released. It provides:
A judicial officer authorizing the release of a person under this section shall issue an appropriate order containing a statement of the conditions imposed, if any, shall inform such person of the penalties applicable to violations of the conditions of his release and shall advise him that a warrant for his arrest will be issued immediately upon any such violation.
18 U.S.C. § 3146(c) (1976) (emphasis added). Although the Fourth Amendment itself may not require that, in the absence of exigent circumstances, arrests be made only pursuant to a warrant,5 § 3146(c) mandates that the arrest of a person suspected of *1091violating the conditions of his bail be made under the authority of a valid arrest warrant.
The majority dismisses this interpretation of § 3146(c) because, in its view, the statute makes only an “oblique reference to a warrant.” In light of the clear statutory language requiring that a person released on bail be informed that “a warrant for his arrest will be issued immediately upon any such violation,” 18 U.S.C. § 3146(c) (1976), I cannot agree that this is either an “oblique reference” or that “its thrust is [merely] to inform the person that violations of the conditions of his release will subject him to arrest.”6
Nor can I agree with the majority’s apparent suggestion that insistence on compliance with the statutory directive is a mere technicality. There are substantial practical reasons to support the conclusion that Congress intended that, absent exigent circumstances, the arrest of persons free on bail be made only pursuant to a warrant. The statutory requirement serves not only to inform the accused that he is suspected of violating a condition of his release, but also to prevent such confrontations from becoming socially disruptive. Thus, if the accused questions whether the alleged bail violation in fact had occurred, he might well choose to resist the officer’s assertion of authority, and the attempt to arrest him could readily result in a public fracas. This would seem to be particularly true where, as here, the accused had been previously advised by the court that, if he should violate a condition of his bail, a warrant would issue for his arrest. An attempt to arrest the accused without a warrant might reasonably appear to him to be an unauthorized and an unlawful intrusion on his liberty which would justify resistance. The risk of disobedience is exacerbated further where, as in the present situation, the arresting officer is not in uniform and does not offer to show a badge or other identification before attempting to make the arrest. It does not comport with the concept of an orderly society for law enforcement officers, especially in plain clothes, to arrest citizens on the streets, at least in the absence of imminent or occurrent criminal activity or an attempt to flee.
There is no evidence that the Deputy United States Marshal who arrested George did so under the authority of a warrant. Nor does the prosecution claim that there were present at the time of the arrest exigent circumstances that would have prevented the Marshal from obtaining a warrant. There is no suggestion, for example, that George was in the process of committing a crime or was attempting to flee from the jurisdiction. Indeed, because George had failed twice in two weeks to report to the Marshal, it would appear that the Marshal had ample time in which to secure a warrant for his arrest. The prosecution offers no explanation or justification for the absence of an arrest warrant.7 Under these circumstances, it seems clear that the arrest was not in conformity with the statute. And, because a lawful arrest is an element of § 751, I would reverse George’s conviction for that offense.

. Section 751(a) provides in full:
Whoever escapes or attempts to escape from custody of the Attorney General or his authorized representative, or from any institution or facility in which he is confined by direction of the Attorney General, or from any custody under or by virtue of any process issued under the laws of the United States by any court, judge, or commissioner, or from the custody of an officer or employee of the United States pursuant to lawful arrest, shall, if the custody or confinement is by virtue of an arrest on a charge of felony, or conviction of any offense, be fined not more *1090than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both; or if the custody of confinement is for extradition or by virtue of an arrest or charge of or for a misdemeanor, and prior to conviction, be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

. Specifically, the information charged George with third degree burglary, grand larceny, and possession of stolen property in violation of V. I. Code Ann. tit. XIV, §§ 444(1), 1083(1) & 2101 (1964 & Supp.1978).

. Authority for this requirement was provided by a general order by Chief Judge Christian of the District Court of the Virgin Islands, dated November 20, 1978, which provides in pertinent part: “[A]1I persons accused of criminal offenses in the District Court of the Virgin Islands shall report to the Office of the United States Marshal at 8:30 a. m. on Wednesday of each week, if any such defendant is not in custody . . .

. In Government of Virgin Islands v. Ortiz, 427 F.2d 1043 (3d Cir. 1970), we determined that “the Bail Reform Act does not by its own terms apply to cases where the offense charged is a violation of the Virgin Islands Code.” Id. at 1047. Under our supervisory powers, though, we held that the standards and procedures set forth in the Act will “be adopted and followed in the consideration and disposition of bail applications in the District Court of the Virgin Islands.” Id. at 1048.
In Virgin Islands cases involving an alleged violation of the United States Code, however, the Bail Reform Act applies by its own force. The prosecution argued in Ortiz that, in reenacting 48 U.S.C. § 1571 in 1968, Pub.L. 89-548, § 1, 80 Stat. 371, Congress intended to repeal the applicability of the Bail Reform Act to cases in the District Court of the Virgin Islands. See 427 F.2d at 1045^7. We rejected this argument and held that § 1571 did not alter the preexisting applicability of the Bail Reform Act to cases tried in the courts of the Virgin Islands. Id. at 1046.

. See United States v. Watson, 423 U.S. 411, 96 S.Ct. 820, 46 L.Ed.2d 598 (1976) (upholding the statutory and regulatory authority of postal employees to “make arrests without warrant for felonies cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such a felony”); cf: Payton v. New York, - U.S. -, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980) (absent exigent circumstances, police may not constitutionally enter a private dwelling to make a warrantless arrest).

. The remainder of the majority’s discussion of the arrest warrant issue appears not to challenge the interpretation I have given § 3146(c). Rather, the Court proceeds to establish that there is no constitutional requirement that arrests be made pursuant to a warrant — a proposition with which I do not disagree. See note 5 and accompanying text supra.

. In fairness to the prosecution, the lack of an arrest warrant is not one of the grounds raised by George in support of his contention that his arrest was unlawful. Inasmuch as the lawfulness of the arrest is an element of § 751, however, we must consider the validity of the arrest even if it was not challenged at trial or raised on appeal. Screws v. United States, 325 U.S. 91, 107, 65 S.Ct. 1031, 1038, 89 L.Ed. 1495 (1945) (plurality opinion); United States v. Rod-rigues, 491 F.2d 663, 666-67 (3d Cir. 1974) (Adams, J., concurring).