Lee v. United States
| Citation | 242 A.2d 212 |
| Decision Date | 29 May 1968 |
| Docket Number | No. 4602.,4602. |
| Parties | Larry G. LEE, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee. |
| Court | D.C. Court of Appeals |
Joseph Paull, Washington, appointed by this court, for appellant.
William G. Reynolds, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., with whom David G. Bress, U. S Atty., Frank Q. Nebeker and Daniel J. Givelber, Asst. U. S. Attys., were on the brief, for appellee.
Before HOOD, Chief Judge, and MYERS and KELLY, Associate Judges.
This appeal is from a conviction by the court of carrying a pistol without a license. D.C.Code 1967, § 22-3204. The principal claim of error is the denial of appellant's several motions to suppress made both prior to trial and at trial.
The arresting officer testified that on July 30, 1967, about 1:25 a. m., while on patrol near the Downtown Motel, 1345 Fourth Street, N. E., he observed appellant and another man having a conversation through a glass door with the manager of the motel, whom he knew. The officer pulled his scout car into the driveway of the motel and as he did so appellant, who was carrying a paper bag in his hand, hurriedly turned from the motel door, approached the scout car and asked where he could get some cigarettes. The officer, in turn, asked appellant if he was staying at the motel. When appellant said that he was not because the manager would not let them in, the officer asked him how was he traveling. Appellant answered that he was hitchhiking, but his companion said that they had a car around the corner. In the course of some further conversation as to why appellant had not purchased cigarettes at a store which he passed on the way to the motel the officer observed that the paper bag in appellant's hand contained an object that was very large for such a small bag. His testimony was: When he was later asked to explain how he knew the bag contained a gun, the officer said that "The weight was too heavy for the bag."
We think it immaterial whether or not the trial court made its own independent determination on the motion to suppress or, as is alleged, merely adhered to the ruling on the motion made prior to trial. In either case the ruling was correct.
An arrest without a warrant for carrying a dangerous or deadly weapon may be made on probable cause. D.C.Code 1967, § 23-306. Furthermore, a police officer is not privileged to ignore facts which would give him reasonable cause to believe that a person is carrying such a weapon. Emburgh v. United States, D.C.Mun. App., 164 A.2d 342 (1960); Dickerson...
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