Murphy v. Cupp

Decision Date06 July 1972
Docket NumberNo. 71-2203.,71-2203.
Citation461 F.2d 1006
PartiesDaniel P. MURPHY, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Hoyt C. CUPP, Respondent-Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Howard R. Lonergan (argued) Portland, Or., for appellant.

John W. Osburn, Sol. Gen. (argued) Jim G. Russell, Asst. Atty. Gen., Lee Johnson, Atty. Gen., Salem, Or., for appellee.

Before JERTBERG, ELY and HUFSTEDLER, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

Murphy is an Oregon state prisoner, convicted of second degree murder. After having exhausted his state remedies, he filed a petition for habeas corpus relief in the District Court, alleging therein that he had been the victim of a search proscribed by the federal constitution. The District Court denied the petition, and this appeal followed.

The victim of the homicide was Murphy's wife, and sometime after her body was discovered, Murphy and his attorney were present in the station of the investigating police officers. The police expressed a desire to take scrapings from Murphy's fingernails. Acting upon the advice of his attorney, made in the presence of the police, Murphy protested, claiming that such a search would be illegal. The police insisted, and Murphy, declining to provoke violence, submitted to the search while, at the same time, expressly reserving his right to continue, in the future, to urge that the search was constitutionally impermissible. Thereafter, in the state court trial that culminated in Murphy's conviction, the prosecution introduced the scrapings into evidence over Murphy's objection.

The appellee has conceded that Murphy was not under arrest at the time the challenged search was made, and our review of the record convinces us that there were no such exigent circumstances existing at the time of the search which would require that it immediately be conducted without the procurement of a warrant, assuming that such probable cause existed as might have justified the issuance of a warrant. See Vale v. Louisiana, 399 U.S. 30, 34-35, 90 S.Ct. 1969, 1971-72, 26 L.Ed.2d 409, 413-14 (1970); Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 770-71, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 1835-36, 16 L.Ed.2d 908, 919-20 (1966). Thus, the search was illegal. See Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 454-55, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 2031-32, 29 L.Ed.2d 564, 575-76 (1971). Cf. Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U.S. 721, 727-28, 89 S.Ct. 1394, 1397-98, 22 L.Ed.2d 676, 681 (1969).

Upon remand, the District Court will hold Murphy's petition in...

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5 cases
  • State v. Florance
    • United States
    • Oregon Supreme Court
    • 17 Octubre 1974
    ...Or.App. 251, 258, 465 P.2d 900, cert. denied, 400 U.S. 944, 91 S.Ct. 246, 27 L.Ed.2d 248 (1970). Habeas corpus granted in Murphy v. Cupp, 461 F.2d 1006 (9th Cir. 1972), rev'd, 412 U.S. 291, 93 S.Ct. 2000, 36 L.Ed.2d 900 (1973), involving the taking of fingernail scrapings. But see State v. ......
  • Cupp v. Murphy 8212 212
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • 29 Mayo 1973
    ...intrusion undertaken to preserve highly evanescent evidence was not violative of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. Pp. 239—296. 9 Cir., 461 F.2d 1006, Thomas H. Denney, Salem, Or., for petitioner. Howard R. Lonergan, Portland, Or., for respondent. Mr. Justice STEWART delivered the opini......
  • United States v. Byran
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Maine
    • 8 Agosto 1986
    ...procurement of a warrant, assuming that such probable cause existed as might have justified the issuance of a warrant. Murphy v. Cupp, 461 F.2d 1006, 1007 (9th Cir.1972), rev'd 412 U.S. 291, 93 S.Ct. 2000, 36 L.Ed.2d 900 (1973). Finding the search lawful under the same principles which perm......
  • State v. John A. Wamsley
    • United States
    • Ohio Court of Appeals
    • 8 Mayo 1989
    ... ... 443, 91 S.Ct. 2022 ... Appellee argues that the instant case falls within the ... exception delineated in Cupp v. Murphy (1973), 412 ... U.S. 291, 93 S.Ct. 2000 ... In ... Cupp, the defendant, Daniel Murphy, voluntarily ... ...
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