Freedman v. United States
| Decision Date | 02 February 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 24458.,24458. |
| Citation | 421 F.2d 1293 |
| Parties | William FREEDMAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America et al., Defendant-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Burton Marks (argued), of Marks, Sherman & London, Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiff-appellant.
Carolyn M. Reynolds (argued), Frederick M. Brosio, Jr., Asst. U. S. Attys., Wm. Matthew Byrne, Jr., U. S. Atty., Los Angeles, Cal., for defendants-appellees.
Before BARNES and HUFSTEDLER, Circuit Judges, and PENCE*, District Judge.
Early in December 1968, the Grand Jury of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California secretly indicted Freedman at the same time it also separately indicted many named and unnamed persons with conspiracy to violate 21 U.S.C. §§ 173, 174. On December 17, 1968, as part of a mass roundup of those indictees, agents of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's office and the United States District Director of Customs, acting under an arrest warrant issued out of the Southern District Court, at about 6:30 A.M., arrested Freedman at his home in Los Angeles. His house was then searched and the arresting officers seized $13,000 in cash along with note papers and books, all belonging to Freedman.
On April 16, 1969, Freedman filed a civil action in the Central District of California against the United States (as well as the Commissioner of Customs, the Sheriff of Los Angeles County, the County of Los Angeles, and the State of California) for the return of the money, note papers and books, under the authority of "Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure."
On April 22, 1969, Freedman also filed in the same district a "Motion to Quash Search Warrant (If Any), To Suppress and Return Items Seized", purportedly under "Rule 41", F.R.Crim.P. This motion was given the same civil number as the prior complaint (Civil No. 69-715-EC). The motion concerned the same $13,000, address books and note papers set forth in that complaint.
Thereafter, on April 30, all defendants filed motions to dismiss all the proceedings under Civil No. 69-715-EC, without prejudice to Freedman's renewing the same in the Southern District.
Freedman's complaint and all motions were briefed by all parties, and without any evidence being adduced — so far as the record discloses — on May 6, 1969, the trial court heard argument, and on May 8, relying on United States v. Lester, 21 F.R.D. 30 (D.C.S.D.N.Y.) 1967 and United States v. Spinar, No. 21114-Misc. (C.D.Cal.1969), in the purported exercise of its discretion, deferred the ruling upon Freedman's motion to the District Court for the Southern District of California, where the indictment against Freedman was then pending. It also ordered the complaint "dismissed without prejudice to plaintiff renewing his motion in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California." This appeal followed.
Presumably, this court has jurisdiction to hear this appeal because Freedman's "c...
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