Court Opinion

ID: 9466016
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:03:05.453965+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:29.914584
License: Public Domain

AINSWORTH, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I dissent from the majority opinion which reverses the conviction of defendant. I would affirm the District Judge (Owen D. Cox) who tried the case without a jury, heard and saw the witnesses, and in a written memorandum and order denied defendant’s motion to suppress and found the defendant guilty.
The majority relies in part on selected excerpts from the arresting officers’ testimony. However, the totality of the circumstances must be considered and when carefully examined disclose that there was reasonable suspicion and probable cause to stop the defendant and to frisk him for the weapon which was found on his person. The memorandum opinion of Judge Cox fully considers the issues, the testimony, and the circumstances which warranted defendant’s arrest. The opinion is herewith reproduced.1
This case charging the Defendant with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon was tried before the Court on April 21, 1978. A motion to suppress that had been previously filed was carried along with the trial.
*442The Court finds that on October 24, 1977, Officer Andrew Schultz of the Corpus Christi Police Department was approached by a confidential informant, who told him that a person by the name of Dennis Ham-mack was promoting prostitution and also that he was a convicted felon who sometimes carried a firearm. The informant also stated that when Dennis Hammack had the gun he would not tuck in his shirttails so he could keep the gun under his shirt, tucked into his front pant’s waistband.
Schultz had not previously received any information from the confidential informant. However, he verified the fact of Dennis Hammack’s previous conviction from court records. Schultz relayed this information to Officer Dignacio Hernandez on October 24, 1977, at 9:45 p. m., and told him to be alert for his safety if he had occasion to encounter Dennis Hammack. Officer Hernandez and his partner started on patrol at 10:00 o’clock p. m. on said date.
At that time, neither officer was sure of the identity of Dennis Hammack. However, Hernandez did know Pearl Murphy, who was a constant companion of a man named “Dennis.” At approximately 2:00 a. m. on October 25, 1977, Hernandez saw Pearl Murphy sitting alone in her parked car. About one hour later, the officers saw her stop her car on Leopard Street in Corpus Christi, Texas, near Defendant (whom the officers knew only as Dennis). Pearl Murphy and Dennis became involved in an argument with each other. The argument went on for a few minutes and then Murphy drove off hurriedly.
The officers then stopped the man known as Dennis to inquire about the altercation they had witnessed between him and Pearl Murphy. Hernandez noticed that Dennis’ shirttails were out, and, being interested in identifying Dennis Hammack, made inquiry and learned the individual known as “Dennis” was in fact Dennis Hammack. Hernandez then patted Hammack around the waistband and felt a revolver, that is, a firearm, which was determined to be a Smith & Wesson, 38 caliber pistol. He then arrested Hammack on the instant charge.
It was stipulated between the government and the Defendant on trial that he had previously been convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for at least one year. It was also stipulated that the gun had traveled from Springfield, Massachusetts, to Corpus Christi, Texas.
The Court concludes that the rights of this Defendant were not violated by the actions of Officer Hernandez in the pat down that resulted in discovery of the firearm. The information given by the confidential informant justified the actions of Officer Hernandez in his attempt to ascertain the identity of “Dennis” and then, after identifying him as Dennis Hammack, he had probable cause to search his person, at such early morning hour, to ascertain if Dennis Hammack was carrying a firearm.
The Court recognizes that, if the confidential informant’s warning is to be relied upon, the two-pronged test of Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964), must be considered. This test requires the Court to examine both the credibility of the informant and the circumstances underlying the informant’s belief. However, we point out that the test does not necessarily require that Officer Schultz had previously received information from said informant. The prior verification of innocent details of an untested informant’s tip can support a finding of reliability. U. S. v. Prueitt, 540 F.2d 995, 1005 (9th Cir. 1976); U. S. v. Edmond, 548 F.2d 1256, 1258-59 (6th Cir. 1977).
But, even if the informant’s tip might not meet the Aguilar, supra, test and thus was insufficiently corroborated, the police officers were entitled to use it in combination with other available factors to establish probable cause. The case of United States v. McDaniel, 550 F.2d 214, 217 (5th Cir. 1977), permits one officer’s reasonable suspicion to support another officer’s stop. Additionally, United States v. Prince, 548 F.2d 164, 165-66 (6th Cir. 1977), supports the use of information received from an informant with all other factors in establishing probable cause.
*443The Court concludes that, considering all the circumstances known by the officers at the time of the arrest of this Defendant Dennis Hammack, probable cause existed. This was the case immediately before verifying Defendant’s last name as Hammack. To repeat briefly, it was an early morning hour when the officers saw Pearl Murphy in an automobile, apparently having an argument with a man who was known to the officers as “Dennis.” Even though the officers did not know the last name of “Dennis” who accompanied Pearl, they did know his shirttail was out. When we measure the facts above discussed against the requirements of the law, we find that the officers were entitled to consider the situation a potentially dangerous one, and thus they were justified in making an investigatory stop of the Defendant and to inquire as to his name. Then, upon learning his full name was Dennis Hammack, and being aware that his shirttail was out, the officers, for their own protection, could pat down the Defendant. The initial information was then verified when the revolver was found on this Defendant.
The exigencies of the situation created an exception to the warrant requirement. The officers had the right to briefly inspect the Defendant and his surroundings for their own safety, especially when they suspected he had a gun. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 22-23, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), permits a brief detention by an officer who has a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. Police may follow a Terry stop with a limited frisk for weapons if the officers have a reasonable belief that the suspect may be armed and dangerous. Terry, supra, at 30, 88 S.Ct. 1868. Also, see Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 145-146, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 32 L.Ed.2d 612.
The Court concludes that because no Fourth Amendment violations occurred herein, the motion to suppress the firearm must be, and is hereby, denied. This being the case, all the evidence before the Court, including the testimony of the officers, the firearm, and the stipulation, establishes for this Court, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Dennis Hammack is guilty of being a convicted felon and possessing a firearm that has traveled in interstate commerce.

. The recent Supreme Court case of Brown v. Texas,—U.S.—, 99 S.Ct. 2637, 61 L.Ed.2d 357 (1979) bears slight resemblance to the facts of this case. The totality of circumstances in Brown shows a complete absence of articulable facts upon which to justify the stop and subsequent arrest of defendant for failure to identify himself in accordance with requirements of a Texas statute.