Court Opinion

ID: 9653439
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 17:46:39.962869+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:59.203894
License: Public Domain

AUGUSTUS N. HAND, Circuit Judge
(dissenting in part).
 All members of the court agree as to the validity of the searches and seizures. I dissent from the holding of the *466majority that the confession, if invalidly obtained, should be suppressed in advance of trial. Any injustice the petitioners would suffer in case an invalid confession should be used as a basis for an indictment is no greater than they might have to suffer from the consideration by the grand jury of other incompetent evidence. Such danger of injustice is, in my opinion, outweighed by the objection to imposing upon district attorneys the burden of opposing motions to suppress confessions in advance of trial. Such motions have, I think, never been granted in advance of trial where the objection has been made, that they were premature. If we grant this motion, similar applications are quite certain to be made in case of nearly every confession. They will be made before judges who do not have the trial- record before them and often before judges other than those who will preside at the trial, and who will not be able to deal as wisely with the question of admitting or excluding a confession as would the trial judge. See United States v. Lydecker, D.C.W.D.N.Y., 275 F. 976, 978.
. Moreover, the suppression in advance of indictment or trial of evidence derived from an unlawful search was a departure from the English practice adopted, as I believe, because of particular danger to the peace of the community and the security of individuals involved in ransacking dwelling houses and other buildings without probable cause. It was a sanction thought appropriate to prevent such invasions. Motions to suppress in advance of trial were not only allowed but, under the doctrine of Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383, 34 S.Ct. 341, 58 L.Ed. 652, L.R.A.1915B, 834, Ann.Cas. 1915C, 1177, were required in order to aid the prosecuting officer by giving him a timely warning of a defendant’s position rather than to protect the latter. This requirement was mitigated in Gouled v. United States, 255 U.S. 298, 41 S.Ct. 261, 65 L.Ed. 647.
In the absence of a statutory requirement I think it unwise to extend such a remedy to the suppression of confessions in advance of -trial. I am confident that it will multiply dilatory motions and impede prosecuting officers without, except in rare instances, affording defendants any relief not available a-t the trial. 1° would not extend the remedy allowed in case of unlawful searches to confessions for the sake of consistency because the practical objections outweigh the advantages of a certain logical consistency, and also because the immediate return, upon petition, of papers seized on an unlawful search is only the substitution of a summary remedy for the slow action at law of replevin. An ancillary motion before trial to suppress their use as evidence would -seem to be a natural concomitant and, like replevin, has been limited to tangible objects. Indeed, Rule 41 (e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, conforming to prior federal practice, allows motions to be made in advance of trials for the return of books, papers and other tangible objects unlawfully seized and for the suppression of their use as evidence, but makes no provision for the suppression of confessions before trial. It seems reasonable to suppose that they were left to be dealt with only by the tribunal before which they were sought to be introduced. So far as I can discover, applications to suppress confessions when made before trial have been denied. People v. Reed, 333 Ill. 397, 164 N.E. 847; Kokenes v. State, 213 Ind. 476, 13 N.E.2d 524; United States v. Lydecker, D.C.W.D.N.Y., 275 F. 976; People v. Nentarz, 142 Misc. 477, 254 N.Y.S. 574. See also Eastus v. Bradshaw, 5 Cir., 94 F.2d 788, certiorari denied 304 U.S. 576, 58 S.Ct. 1045, 82 L.Ed. 1539. In the single case of United States v. Pollack, D.C.D. N.J. 64 F.Supp. 554, suppression was granted, but the obj ection was not made that the application was premature.
In my opinion the order of Judge Rifkind should be affirmed not only as to the searches and seizures but in all respects.