Guzman v. Estelle

• Decision Date: 03 May 1974
• Docket Number: No. 73-2626.,73-2626.
• Citation: 493 F.2d 532
• Parties: Rudolph G. GUZMAN, #215272, Petitioner-Appellee, v. W. J. ESTELLE, Director, Texas Department of Corrections, Respondent-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

493 F.2d 532 (1974)

Rudolph G. GUZMAN, #215272, Petitioner-Appellee, v. W. J. ESTELLE, Director, Texas Department of Corrections, Respondent-Appellant.

No. 73-2626.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

May 3, 1974.

John L. Hill, Atty. Gen. of Texas, Lonny F. Zwiener, Joe B. Dibrell, Asst. Attys. Gen., Larry F. York, First Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, Tex., for respondent-appellant.

William T. Armstrong, Staff Counsel for Inmates, Texas Dept. of Corrections, Weldon, Tex., Harry H. Walsh, Atty. in Charge, Huntsville, Tex., for petitioner-appellee.

Before BROWN, Chief Judge, and AINSWORTH and MORGAN, Circuit Judges.

AINSWORTH, Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal from the district court's grant of habeas corpus relief. The sole issue raised is whether appellee's Fourth Amendment rights were violated by the admission in evidence at his state court trial of six capsules of heroin found in his possession. We hold that the capsules were properly admitted at the trial; and we reverse.

I.

On February 27, 1969, two members of the Special Services detail¹ of the Austin, Texas, Police Department, Sergeant Hersom and Officer Taylor, obtained a warrant authorizing a search for narcotics of the premises of Jessie Reyna Soliz "and other person or persons unknown to affiants by name, age, or descripton." The warrant, which also called for the arrest of Soliz, was issued upon an affidavit by the officers stating that they had received information from a reliable informant that Soliz was keeping and selling narcotics at his residence; that the informant had, within the prior forty-eight hours, seen Soliz sell narcotics to narcotics users from a fingerstall kept on his person; and that a narcotics rig was kept in the house for addicts who wished to inject the narcotics immediately. The officers further related that their detail had maintained a surveillance of the Soliz residence and that several persons known to be addicts and users of narcotics entered the house, stayed for a few minutes, and then left.

On February 28, 1969, the warrant was executed by three other members of the Special Services detail, Captain Gann, Sergeant Lewallen, and Sergeant Spain. As the officers approached the back door of the Soliz residence, Mrs. Soliz opened the door, whereupon she was advised that the three were police officers. She was further informed that they had a search warrant for the premises, and she was given a copy of the warrant. The officers then entered the house and proceeded through the kitchen and the dining room and into a bedroom, in which they found Rudolph Guzman, appellee, seated on the bed next to a woman.² As the officers entered the bedroom, appellee jumped to his feet. He appeared to be startled and frightened. While appellee was getting to his feet, Captain Gann and Sergeant Lewallen took physical control of him. As Captain Gann held appellee by his left arm, Sergeant Lewallen frisked appellee³ and removed from his right front pocket a fingerstall⁴ in which were six gelatin capsules containing a brownish, powdery substance subsequently determined to be heroin. After a plea of not guilty and a nonjury trial, appellee was convicted of unlawful possession of a narcotic drug, heroin, and was sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment. Over objection of appellee's counsel, the gelatin capsules were admitted at the trial. The conviction was affirmed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and, after the exhaustion of state remedies, federal habeas corpus relief was granted by the district court below.⁵

II.

The Fourth Amendment secures the right to be free from "unreasonable searches and seizures." E. g., Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1879, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1969).⁶ Since the ultimate standard set forth in the amendment is reasonableness, e. g., Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U.S. 433, 439-440, 93 S.Ct. 2523, 2527, 37 L.Ed.2d 706 (1973); United States v. Edwards, ___ U.S. ___, 94 S.Ct. 1234, 39 L.Ed.2d 771 (1974), it is clear that the Amendment does not speak in absolute terms, Terry v. Ohio, supra, 392 U.S. at 9, 88 S.Ct. at 1873; Elkins v. United States, 364 U.S. 206, 222, 80 S.Ct. 1437, 1446, 4 L.Ed.2d 1669 (1960); United States v. Ragsdale, 5 Cir., 1972, 470 F.2d 24, 27; United States v. Lipscomb, 5 Cir., 1970, 435 F. 2d 795, 800, cert. denied, 401 U.S. 980, 91 S.Ct. 1213, 28 L.Ed.2d 331 (1971). The courts have long shown a willingness to examine and balance the two basic values at stake in the area of search and seizure: the practical demands of effective criminal investigation and law enforcement; and the interest of citizens in freedom from rash interferences with their privacy. See, e. g., United States v. United States Dist. Ct., E.D. of Mich., S.D., 407 U.S. 297, 314-315, 92 S.Ct. 2125, 2135, 32 L.Ed.2d 752 (1972); Ker v. California, 374 U.S. 23, 32, 83 S. Ct. 1623, 1629, 10 L.Ed.2d 726 (1963); Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 14-15, 68 S.Ct. 367, 369, 92 L.Ed. 436 (1948); Carlton v. Estelle, 5 Cir., 1973, 480 F.2d 759, cert. denied, 414 U.S. 1043, 94 S.Ct. 546, 38 L.Ed.2d 334 (1973). See generally Note, Warrantless Searches and Seizures of Automobiles, 87 Harv. L.Rev. 835 (1974). Upon consideration of these values in the context of the facts and circumstances of this case, we conclude that the search of the appellee and the seizure of the narcotics did not violate the Fourth Amendment: the search was made with probable cause and the exigencies of the situation required that the search be conducted without a warrant. See, e. g., Warden, Maryland Penitentiary v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294, 87 S.Ct. 1642, 18 L.Ed.2d 782 (1967); Ker v. California, supra, (plurality opinion); McDonald v. United States, 335 U.S. 451, 454-455, 69 S.Ct. 191, 192-193, 93 L.Ed. 153 (1948); Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 15, 68 S.Ct. 367, 369, 92 L.Ed. 436 (1948); Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970); Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971).⁷

III.

The delicate weighing of the interests of privacy and law enforcement which defines the Fourth Amendment is reflected in the first instance in the required proof of the existence of probable cause as a predicate of a valid search or arrest. See, e. g., Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 85 S.Ct. 223, 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964); United States v. Sanchez, 5 Cir., 1969, 412 F.2d 1177, cert. granted in part and judgment vacated, cert. denied in part, 397 U.S. 320, 90 S.Ct. 1130, 25 L.Ed.2d 338 (1970). As defined long ago, probable cause is constituted by "facts and circumstances . . . such as to warrant a man of prudence and caution in believing that the offense has been committed . . . ." Stacey v. Emery, 97 U.S. 642, 645, 24 L.Ed. 1035, 1036 (1878); see Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 162, 45 S.Ct. 280, 288, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925); Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 175, 69 S.Ct. 1302, 1310-1311, 93 L.Ed. 1879 (1949). Probable cause deals in terms of the probabilities associated with the everyday practical and factual considerations of reasonable men. See, e. g., Brinegar v. United States, supra, at 176, 69 S.Ct. at 1311; United States v. Colbert, 5 Cir., 1973, 474 F.2d 174, 178-179 (en banc) (Brown, C. J., concurring). "Requiring more would unduly hamper law enforcement. To allow less would be to leave law-abiding citizens at the mercy of the officers' whim or caprice." Id., 338 U.S. at 176, 69 S.Ct. at 1311.⁸

Determinations of probable cause are best made by viewing the facts of a particular situation as a whole. See, e. g., United States v. Lopez-Ortiz, 5 Cir., 1974, 492 F.2d 109; United States v. Doyle, 5 Cir., 1972, 456 F.2d 1246; Bailey v. United States, 1967, 128 U.S.App.D.C. 354, 389 F.2d 305, 308-309. Each case must be decided on its own facts and circumstances, for no formula exists for calculating probable cause. Go-Bart Importing Co. v. United States, 282 U.S. 344, 357, 51 S.Ct. 153, 158, 75 L.Ed. 374 (1931); see, e. g., United States v. Johnson, 1973, 154 U.S.App.D.C. 393, 475 F.2d 977. Consideration of several factors leads us to conclude that the search of appellee in this case was based on probable cause.⁹

The Austin police were told by a reliable informant that narcotics were being sold to narcotics users by Soliz at his house. Sales were made by Soliz, the informant related, from a fingerstall. Surveillance by the officers who procured the warrant revealed that several persons known to them as narcotics addicts and users proceeded in and out of the house, each one staying for only a few minutes. On this basis, an independent judicial officer determined — and his determination is not here challenged — that there was probable cause to believe that narcotics were kept and sold at the Soliz residence. The warrant also recited that paraphernalia were kept on the Soliz premises for users who wished to inject the narcotics immediately. In addition, Sergeant Hersom, one of the affiants for the search warrant, had received information that appellee was staying at the Soliz residence and was dealing in narcotics. Sergeant Hersom testified, however, that in the course of his surveillance he had not seen appellee at the house.

When the officers executing the warrant entered the bedroom of the Soliz house and found appellee, Captain Gann and Sergeant Lewallen grabbed him as he jumped to his feet. Captain Gann testified at the trial that he had known appellee for several years; that he was aware that appellee had a prior criminal record, though he did not know the nature of the convictions; and that he had information that appellee was a user of narcotics. Appellee's presence at the Soliz residence thus confirmed the warrant's recitation that there were other narcotics users on the premises. Further, it lent credence to Sergeant Hersom's information that appellee was dealing in narcotics at the Soliz residence. See Ker v. California, 374 U.S. 23, 37, 83 S.Ct. 1623, 1631-1632, 10 L. Ed.2d 726 (1963...