Court Opinion

ID: 9458729
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:00:22.92662+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:52.688611
License: Public Domain

TIMBERS, Circuit Judge
(concurring) :
I agree with the judgment of the Court affirming the convictions of all appellants on all counts, and I concur in all respects in the able majority opinion of Judge Moore.
Since Judge Smith’s dissent is addressed only to the conviction of White on the ground that the contents of the suitcase should have been suppressed as to White as the product of an illegal search, I wish to add the following brief observation on that issue, in addition to my complete concurrence in the majority opinion’s treatment of that issue.
Assuming arguendo that the contents of the suitcase were improperly admitted as against White, I am convinced that the admission of such evidence was harmless in view of the other substantial evidence implicating White. For example, there was the testimony of Jacqueline and Alethea Higley as to pre-robbery meetings; the testimony of Bordeaux that he saw White and Johnson together at Higley’s apartment immediately after the robbery; the “bait money” found on Johnson; the weapons in Higley’s apartment; and, of critical importance, the inculpatory statements of White himself. Such independent evidence of White’s guilt, in my opinion, demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that the admission of the contents of the suitcase against White, if error at all, was harmless.