United States ex rel. Beal v. Skaff
Decision Date | 26 November 1969 |
Docket Number | No. 17748.,17748. |
Citation | 418 F.2d 430 |
Parties | UNITED STATES ex rel. Harley J. BEAL, Relator-Appellant, v. Michael SKAFF, Warden, Wisconsin State Reformatory, Respondent-Appellee. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
E. J. Morse, Jr., R. R. Roggensack, Lancaster, Wis., Morse, Morse & Roggensack, Lancaster, Wis., for relator-appellant.
Robert W. Warren, Atty. Gen., of Wisconsin, Sverre O. Tinglum, Madison, Wis., William A. Platz, Asst. Atty. Gen., Madison, Wis., for respondent-appellee.
Before CASTLE, Chief Judge, MAJOR, Senior Circuit Judge, and HASTINGS, Senior Circuit Judge.
Petitioner, who is presently incarcerated in the Wisconsin State Reformatory, appeals from the denial by the district court of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. On March 21, 1968, petitioner was convicted in the Grant County, Wisconsin, Circuit Court of illegal possession of marijuana in violation of Section 161.275(1), Wisconsin Statutes. The marijuana was seized in petitioner's home during a search conducted pursuant to a search warrant issued by a magistrate. The issue presented to the district court and on appeal concerns the validity of that warrant.
On October 23, 1967, a federal law enforcement officer informed the Grant County district attorney that a parcel, bearing the postmark of Lexington, Kentucky, having no return address, and addressed to petitioner at his residence in Platteville, Wisconsin, had been observed in the United States mail at Milwaukee, and that the contents, which were believed to be marijuana, were leaking out. The package, which had been sent by first class mail, was subsequently intercepted by local law enforcement officers in Platteville. The chief of police was permitted to examine and "dope" the outside of the parcel with a fluorescent chemical, but was not permitted to take any of the contents which had come out of the package.
Upon concluding his examination, the police chief informed the district attorney that he believed the parcel contained marijuana. The district attorney then swore to a complaint to permit a search of petitioner's residence for the parcel. The complaint is a printed form with certain portions to be completed by the affiant. As a part of the printed form there appear the words, "in and upon certain premises * * * there are now located and concealed certain things, to wit:".
The magistrate issued the warrant at 12:15 p. m. that same day in Lancaster, Wisconsin, which is approximately 16 miles from Platteville. The search commenced at 12:45 p. m., during which the marijuana was retrieved from a toilet bowl in petitioner's home. The parcel had actually been delivered to petitioner's residence at 11:59 a. m., but this fact was not known at the time by the complainant or the magistrate. Before the police executed the warrant, they consulted with an officer who had been stationed outside petitioner's home for several hours, and had been informed by that officer that the parcel had been delivered.
"It is elementary that in passing on the validity of a warrant, the reviewing court may consider only information brought to the magistrate's attention." Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 109, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 1511, 12 L.Ed.2d 723, n. 1 (1964) (emphasis in original); Giordenello v. United States, 357 U.S. 480, 486, 78 S.Ct. 1245, 2 L.Ed.2d 1503 (1958). Thus, in...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
State v. Wright
...4 have been upheld in many jurisdictions. See, e.g., United States v. Outland, 476 F.2d 581 (6th Cir.1973); United States ex rel. Beal v. Skaff, 418 F.2d 430 (7th Cir.1969); United States v. Feldman, 366 F.Supp. 356 (D.Hawaii 1973); Johnson v. State, 617 P.2d 1117 (Alaska 1983); Mehrens v. ......
-
Kostelec v. State
...United States v. Lowe, 575 F.2d 1193 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 869, 99 S.Ct. 198, 58 L.Ed.2d 180 (1978); U.S. ex rel. Beal v. Skaff, 418 F.2d 430 (7th Cir.1969); United States v. McGriff, 678 F.Supp. 1010 (E.D.N.Y.1988); State v. Stott, 243 Neb. 967, 503 N.W.2d 822 (1993); State v.......
-
State v. Womack
...v. Becerra, 97 F.3d 669, 670 (2d Cir.1996); United States v. Outland, 476 F.2d 581, 582 n. 1 (6th Cir.1973); United States ex rel. Beal v. Skaff, 418 F.2d 430, 432 (7th Cir.1969), these police practices are not necessary to show probable cause. 4 We agree. For example, without discussing th......
-
State v. Sachs
...not to be executed until delivery had been accomplished. United States v. Odland, 502 F.2d 148 (7th Cir. 1974); United States ex rel. Beal v. Skaff, 418 F.2d 430 (7th Cir. 1969); People v. Glen, 30 N.Y.2d 252, 331 N.Y.S.2d 656, 282 N.E.2d 614 (1972); United States v. Feldman, 366 F.Supp. 35......