McGeehan v. Wainwright
Decision Date | 26 January 1976 |
Docket Number | No. 74-4179.,74-4179. |
Citation | 526 F.2d 397 |
Parties | Thomas McGEEHAN, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Louie L. WAINWRIGHT, Director, Division of Corrections, etc., Respondent-Appellee. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
James A. Gardner, Public Defender, 12th Judicial Circuit, Ellen Condon, Asst. Public Defender, Tampa, Fla., for petitioner-appellant.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., Miami, Fla., William I. Munsey, Jr., Charles Corces, Jr., Asst. Attys. Gen., Tampa, Fla., for respondent-appellee.
Before GEWIN, BELL and SIMPSON, Circuit Judges.
Thomas McGeehan, a prisoner in state custody, appeals from an order denying his petition for habeas corpus. The sole issue presented in his petition and on this appeal concerns the admissibility of certain evidence seized in a warrantless search and subsequently introduced at his trial for robbery. Based on the record of the state court's hearing on McGeehan's motion to suppress, the court below denied the petition without conducting an evidentiary hearing. We affirm.
At approximately one o'clock in the morning on February 6, 1973, a robbery occurred at the Palm Lounge in Tampa, Florida. The perpetrators, who had been drinking in the bar prior to commission of the crime, employed what appeared from the descriptions of witnesses to be a sawed-off shotgun, partially concealed beneath a trench coat. Witness testified that a female companion of the two men who actually held up the bar had gone outside for a few moments shortly before the crime occurred; had returned with what appeared to be an object concealed beneath a trench coat; and had then left the bar again. No one actually saw the woman hand the coat and concealed object to the men. The robbery victim testified, however, that McGeehan placed the object (concealed by the same coat that she had seen the companion bring in) over the edge of the bar, told her that it was a gun, and demanded the money in the cash register. The victim stated that she could see two barrels protruding from beneath the coat.
Investigating officers obtained a description of the individuals involved in the robbery, and of a car, observed earlier in the parking lot, in which they were believed to have fled. Acting on the suspicion of one of the officers, the police proceeded to a nearby trailer park, where they found parked by one of the trailers a car matching the witnesses' description. Five officers surrounded the trailer. As they approached, the inside lights were turned off and "shuffling" noises could be heard. The officers identified themselves and called upon the occupants to come out. One of the officers described at trial the events that followed:
Three more people, two men and a woman, emerged from the trailer. All four of the individuals were immediately placed under arrest; three of them fit the descriptions of the robbers.
The door of the darkened trailer was standing ajar; two of the officers, with weapons drawn, approached and entered. One officer described what they observed:
The gun, coat, and cap were admitted into evidence at...
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