Manuel v. United States

• Decision Date: 31 January 1966
• Docket Number: No. 22290.,22290.
• Citation: 355 F.2d 344
• Parties: Charles Frank MANUEL, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

355 F.2d 344 (1966)

Charles Frank MANUEL, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 22290.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

January 31, 1966.

Kirby G. Bailey, Atlanta, Ga., for appellant.

Thomas K. McWhorter, Asst. U. S. Atty., Atlanta, Ga., Charles L. Goodson, U. S. Atty., for appellee.

Before BROWN, WISDOM and THORNBERRY, Circuit Judges.

THORNBERRY, Circuit Judge:

This is a forma pauperis appeal from the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, where appellant was found guilty by a jury on all counts of a three-count indictment charging the offenses of (a) possessing stolen mail matter, (b) uttering and publishing a Treasury check with a forged signature thereon, and (c) forging the name of the true payee on the Treasury check, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1708 and 18 U.S.C. § 495. Appellant received a total sentence of five years to serve.

The subject matter of this appeal is the denial by the trial court of appellant's motion to suppress evidence. After a hearing, the trial court overruled this motion on the grounds that "the officer had probable cause for the arrest, and that any search that may have occurred subsequent to that time and incident to the arrest would not be an illegal search." Also, at the conclusion of the Government's case during the trial, appellant orally moved to suppress all evidence offered by the United States, and this motion was likewise denied.

We hold that these rulings by the trial court were proper, and we therefore affirm the judgment of conviction.

At the hearing prior to trial on appellant's motion to suppress, the testimony produced the following facts: On Sunday, April 5, 1964, between 7:30 and 8:00 P.M., appellant drove up to a service station in Atlanta, went inside, and according to the station attendant, W. H. Cochran, asked to cash a U. S. Treasury check payable to Julia H. Smith. Cochran told him he would have to wait until the station manager returned. Appellant then started to leave the station.

Present inside the station during this time were the attendant's wife and a plain-clothes Atlanta policeman, Detective Hull. Hull's partner, Detective Brown, was outside the station in a car. (Apparently, the presence of police was pure coincidence.)

When appellant started to leave the station, Detective Hull asked to see the check. Hull testified his suspicions were aroused when he noticed that the check was payable to a female and that a male was attempting to cash it. Also, Hull testified that he thought it unusual for a government check to be cashed on the fifth day of the month, since he knew such checks were received on the first through the third of the month. He also thought it unusual to cash a government check on a Sunday.

At this point there is some conflict in the testimony of the various witnesses. The attendant's wife testified that Hull questioned appellant about having a check at that time of the month and that appellant said he had been out on the road. She stated that Hull asked appellant for the check and then both Hull and appellant moved outside the station, out of hearing. She further stated, "After they got the check they started to search him."

Cochran, the attendant, testified that when appellant started to leave the officers asked him for the check and "then they started to scuffling."

Detective Brown testified that he saw from the car a conversation between appellant and Hull. He said he got out of the car when he saw appellant hand Hull a check. Brown also testified that appellant then voluntarily offered up documents of identification which were obviously altered. These documents consisted of a Social Security card and a Georgia vehicle tag registration, both in the name of Julia Smith, and with "female" inserted in the proper blank on the tag registration. There appeared to have been some erasing done in both cards before the name Julia Smith had been written on them. Brown stated that appellant then tried to escape, but Brown and Hull subdued him and took him to the Atlanta Police Station where he was booked for "suspicion — bad checks."

Detective Hull testified that when he asked appellant for the check, appellant complied voluntarily and then stated that he was in fact Julia Smith. Hull said that he then asked appellant for further identification. Although Hull's testimony on direct examination was unclear as to whether appellant gave him the altered identification before or after he was subdued, on cross-examination Hull testified that appellant did not break and run until after Hull had looked at the identification papers that appellant presented to him in the name of Julia Smith. Hull stated that Brown did not get out of the car until appellant tried to escape, while Brown testified that he was present before appellant broke and ran.

Appellant's version of his arrest was that the arresting officers had framed him by planting the check in the glove compartment of his car. Appellant testified that he knew beforehand that Hull and Brown were Atlanta policemen. Hull said he identified himself as a detective before appellant gave him the check.

On the morning of April 6, 1964, appellant was turned over to R. C. Quinn, of the U. S. Secret Service. Agent Quinn first spoke with appellant at the Atlanta Police Department and testified that he told appellant he was soon going to appear before the U. S. Commissioner, where he would be charged with forging a Government check. Quinn also stated that he advised appellant of his right to remain silent. He asked appellant to give him handwriting specimens and told him he did not have to give him the specimens. Appellant then submitted a limited amount of handwriting.

Agent Quinn then took appellant to his own office in the police building, where he made arrangements to bring him before a U. S. Commissioner later that morning. Before taking appellant before the Commissioner, Quinn talked further with appellant and obtained more handwriting from him after advising him that he did not have to furnish any handwriting. Appellant then was taken before the Commissioner, at about 11:30 A.M. on April 6, 1964.

During the trial of the case, the "Julia Smith" signatures which appeared on the back of the check and on the Georgia vehicle registration card and social security card were identified as the handwriting of appellant.

Appellant's initial contention is that the contradictions in the testimony of the Government witnesses "are of themselves enough to raise a reasonable doubt as to the legality of his arrest, a reasonable doubt that compels a finding that his arrest was illegal."

This contention is without merit. It is true that the burden of persuasion is on the prosecution to establish probable cause for an arrest, once it has been established, as in the instant case, that the arrest was made without a warrant. Rogers v. United States, 5th Cir. 1964, 330 F.2d 535. However, with regard to appellant's contention that the Government must establish probable cause beyond a reasonable doubt, the Supreme Court has recognized that such a requirement would create too heavy a burden on law enforcement officers. Brinegar v. United States, 1949, 338 U.S. 160, 174, 69 S.Ct. 1302, 93 L.Ed. 1879.

While there were conflicts in the testimony, they could be resolved, especially when we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the Government as we are required to do. See United States v. Zimmerman, 7th Cir. 1963, 326 F.2d 1, 3.

Appellant next contends that, when Detective Hull identified himself as a policeman and asked for the check, the arrest of appellant was completed and, therefore, was invalid since at that point in time Hull had no grounds to arrest appellant.

Since the arrest in this case was made by state officers, it is incumbent upon this Court to look to the law of Georgia to determine the validity of the arrest. Collins v. United States, 5th Cir. 1961, 289 F.2d 129; Hart v. United States, 5th Cir. 1963, 316 F.2d 916. The Hart case, which also involved a construction of Georgia law, is quite similar to the instant case. In Hart, the defendant was stopped by a Georgia deputy sheriff while walking along a street. Defendant was "asked" to come to the Sheriff's office. The reason given at the hearing was that the defendant was approaching a car which was the same model and color as a stolen car for which the deputy had been notified to be on the lookout. The defendant accompanied the deputy to the Sheriff's office without objection. After questioning by...