Court Opinion

ID: 9642207
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 17:52:09.651893+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:44.433695
License: Public Domain

MANTON, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
Gambino v. United States, 275 U. S. 310, 48 S. Ct. 137, 72 L. Ed. 293, 52 A. L. R. 1381, establishes that a New York state trooper, in whieh state there is no enabling act for the enforcement of the Prohibition Law, may not seareh, without a warrant, an automobile carrying intoxicating liquors while the defendant is occupying it, and thereafter seize the liquors and turn them over to the federal authorities for prosecution under the Prohibition Act (27 USCA), for the reason-that it is necessary to establish probable cause before an arrest, search, and seizure may be made on behalf of the United States. The admission in evidence of the liquors so obtained was there held to be a violation of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. In Carroll v. United States, 267 U. S. 132, 45 S. Ct. 280, 69 L. Ed. 543, 39 A. L. R. 790, the court pointed out the need, for a lawful seizure, of establishing probable cause, and held that section 26 of title 2 of the National Prohibition Act (27 USCA § 40), permitting seizure of the vehicle when officers discovered a person in the act of transporting in violation of the law, does not limit the officer “to what he sees, hears, or smells as the automobile rolls by,” but when he identifies the ear, and has convincing information that he has previously received as to the use being made of it, he may use such information *803as establishing the probable cause. It was a federal officer who made the seizure. In the case at bar there was no previous knowledge shown upon which to predicate probable cause. The reason given for stopping the car was said to be a possible violation of the State Motor Vehicle Law (Laws 1904, e. 538), in that lamps were not lighted as required by that act., But, when the ear was stopped, no arrest was made, either for violation of the Motor Vehicle Law or the possession of a blanket which formerly belonged to state troopers. No accusation of crime was made as to either, but at once the state troopers made search of the automobile and seized the liquor. This amounted to an unlawful seizure within the Gambino Case. See, also, Agnello v. United States, 269 U. S. 20, 46 S. Ct. 4, 70 L. Ed. 145, 51 A. L. R. 409; Amos v. United States, 255 U. S. 313, 41 S. Ct. 266, 65 L. Ed. 654; United States v. Allen (D. C.) 16 F.(2d) 320; Emite v. United States (C. C. A.) 15 F.(2d) 623; Brown v. United States (C. C. A.) 4 F.(2d) 246; Snyder v. United States (C. C. A.) 285 F. 1. The only arrest made was for violation of the Prohibition Law, and the seizure of the liquor was not an incident of an arrest on a charge of violating the state law.
I dissent.