Court Opinion

ID: 9455094
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:11:08.935583+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:27.375503
License: Public Domain

ALBERT V. BRYAN, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
Although the reliability of the agent’s informant was not previously known to him, the following points supporting his information that the baggage carried contraband were satisfactorily shown to the United States Commissioner before the warrant was issued: the suitcase answering the informant’s description was left for shipment on the very carrier and for the very destination stated by the informant; it contained a reel of film; and the consignor of the suitcase was a convict of trafficking in pornographic reels.
Ordinarily a reel in a suitcase would not be significant, but in the circumstances here it had a telling connotation. The sight of the reel verified the informant’s credibility and left no room for further speculation upon his dependability. The fortifying clues confirmed the earlier tip to the agent, and to ignore them he would be mindless of his obligation. Rather than let them go unnoticed or to seize the reel on his own authority, he dutifully asked for a warrant.
Simply because “Hungry”, the title seen on the reel, was not positively known by the agent to be a pornographic reel when it was seen in the suitcase, the search warrant is invalidated. If *143the agent had that knowledge, he did not need a search warrant. He could rightfully have seized it at once as a fruit of a crime then in progress. In this, the Court is in reality concluding that the agent was not entitled to the warrant because he did not already have the information the search would disclose. Thus, in effect, the majority strikes down the warrant because of the agent’s want of knowledge of the defendant’s guilt.
*1427. That on the basis of the information heretofore set forth, it is believed that the contents of said suitcase constitutes obscene material being shipped interstate by the defendant in violation of section 1462, Title 18 United States Code,
*143For me these considerations destroy the majority’s conclusion. The measure of the right to the warrant is the existence of cause to believe that probably the reel offends the law. Draper v. United States, 358 U.S. 307, 313, 79 S. Ct. 329, 3 L.Ed.2d 327 (1959). Proof of the probability and not of the crime is all that is required.
I think the pre-issuance events corroborated the tip to the agent and thus establish the validity of the warrant. This conclusion meets the criteria outlined in Draper, supra, 358 U.S. at 313, 79 S.Ct. 329 (1959). It does not foul Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969) or Lee Art Theatre, Inc. v. Virginia, 392 U.S. 636, 88 S.Ct. 2103, 20 L.Ed.2d 1313 (1968), as the majority now fears. Notably, in the former the suspected contraband had not been first seen in the premises to be searched, as in our case, but only believed to be there. That was a serious detriment to reasoning from the facts to the determination of probable cause. The infirmity in Art Theatre was the acceptance by the magistrate of what the police officer opined- — conclu-sionary evidence not tainting our case.
To summarize, instantly, a shipment of a pornographic reel was reported to an FBI agent, who verified the time, manner and means of the transportation. Further, a reel was seen in the suspected suitcase, and the owner was known to be a convict of transportation of pornographic reels. It does not tax the concept of probable cause to hold that these facts justified the magistrate in issuing the warrant.
I would sustain the warrant and affirm the conviction.