U.S. v. Garcia

• Decision Date: 31 August 1979
• Docket Number: No. 78-1671,78-1671
• Citation: 605 F.2d 349
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Brunilda GARCIA, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 349

605 F.2d 349

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Brunilda GARCIA, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 78-1671.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued Nov. 27, 1978.

Decided Aug. 31, 1979.

Carol A. Brook, Federal Defender Program, Chicago, Ill., for defendant-appellant.

Thomas P. Sullivan, U. S. Atty., Ann C. Williams, Asst. U. S. Atty., Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff-appellee.

Before SWYGERT, SPRECHER and BAUER, Circuit Judges.

BAUER, Circuit Judge.

Defendant-appellant Brunilda Garcia appeals from the order of the district court denying her motion to suppress certain evidence seized incident to her arrest, and from the judgment entered upon her subsequent conviction for possessing, with intent to distribute, a controlled substance in violation of the federal narcotics laws. The solitary issue on appeal is whether the warrantless search conducted incident to her arrest unconstitutionally infringed the rights guaranteed to the defendant by the Fourth Amendment. We are unpersuaded by the arguments advanced in support of this contention, and hold that a warrantless search of the contents of hand-carried luggage, seized incident to and inspected contemporaneous with a lawful custodial arrest does not constitute an impermissible invasion of privacy in contravention of the Fourth Amendment. Accordingly, we regard the search challenged here to be reasonable within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, and therefore affirm the judgment appealed from for the reasons set forth below.

I

On September 28, 1977, a federal grand jury returned a one count indictment against defendants Brunilda Garcia and Saul Valentin, charging each of them with the possession and intent to distribute 2,405 grams of heroin, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841(a)(1).

Prior to trial, Garcia moved to suppress the heroin on the grounds that it had been seized during an unlawful, warrantless search of the contents of her luggage. Following a plenary hearing, the district court denied the motion to suppress, and the defendant's subsequent motion to reconsider was also denied. On April 11, 1978, at the conclusion of a bench trial, the court found Garcia guilty as charged in the indictment. ¹ On May 16, 1978, the court sentenced Garcia to the custody of the Attorney General for two years, to be followed by a three year term of mandatory special parole. The court also denied defendant's motion for a new trial. Garcia then appealed to this court, contending that the district court erred in denying her motion to suppress.

The facts adduced at the suppression hearing, assessed in the light most favorable to the Government, ² showed that on June 28, 1977, Task Force Agent James Foster, a Chicago Police Officer assigned to the Drug Enforcement Administration in Chicago, received a telephone call from an informant, who requested a meeting concerning narcotics transactions. The informant had been associated with the Chicago Police Department since 1972 or 1973, and had previously provided reliable information on at least six occasions which led to arrests.

Later that morning, Agent Foster, accompanied by Chicago Task Force Agent Nyman, met with the informant, who apprised them that a couple residing in Chicago were traveling on a weekly basis to Los Angeles and returning to Chicago with four to six kilos of heroin in their possession. The informant identified the two individuals to the agents as a woman named Bruna and a man named Saul Balentin or Valentin. Agent Foster knew of Saul Valentin through the Narcotics Section of the Chicago Police Department because of Valentin's prior arrest for a narcotics violation. The informant also provided the agents with a description and the residence address of the couple. An investigation conducted that afternoon confirmed that defendant Garcia resided at the address provided by the informant.

Early that evening, Agents Foster and Nyman again met with the informant, who identified Valentin from a Chicago Police Department photograph as the man he had earlier described and had seen at the Chicago address. The informer also stated that Brunilda Garcia could be the woman he knew only as Bruna. Furthermore, the informant indicated that Bruna and Valentin always traveled to Los Angeles from O'Hare International Airport via American Airlines and returned to Chicago within a few days. The informant also stated his belief that Bruna and Valentin were in Los Angeles and were possibly en route to Chicago on an American Airlines flight arriving at O'Hare Airport.

On June 29, 1977, Agent Foster received information from the O'Hare Airport Police authorities that a Mr. and Mrs. S. Valentin had purchased two round-trip airline tickets to Los Angeles on June 29, with an open return date, and had already departed from O'Hare Airport for Los Angeles on American Airlines Flight 115.

Two days later, on July 1, 1977, Agent Foster was informed by the O'Hare Police Detail that a Mr. and Mrs. S. Valentin had executed the return tickets on American Airlines Flight 184, scheduled to arrive that afternoon at 3:40 p.m. in Chicago. The assigned arrival gate was then placed under surveillance, and the agents observed the passengers from American Airlines Flight 184 deplane from the aircraft exit door. As the suspected couple disembarked, Agent Foster identified Garcia and Valentin as the individuals matching the descriptions given by the informant, and further confirmed the identity of Valentin from the Chicago Police Department photograph.

The suspects were followed through the concourse to the baggage area on the lower level, where Valentin was seen handing Garcia small pieces of multi-colored paper which appeared to be baggage claim tickets. After pointing Garcia in the direction of the baggage retrieval area, Valentin exited the terminal building where he was detained by several agents. Upon questioning by the agents, Valentin claimed he had just arrived at O'Hare in a taxi cab to meet a friend. Valentin was then arrested and placed in a police vehicle parked outside the airport entrance.

The fact of the arrest was conveyed to the agents maintaining surveillance on Garcia at the baggage claim area inside the airport terminal. Garcia then picked up two suitcases, one in each hand, and proceeded to exit the terminal through the automatic glass doors. Agent Foster, who was positioned in front of the glass doors outside the terminal, observed Garcia approach him, carrying one plaid suitcase and one brown vinyl suitcase, as well as her coat and a shoulder bag. The defendant was accompanied by a group of people including three other agents. As she stepped through the doorway, Agent Foster approached her, displayed his police identification, and requested her to stop in order to ask her some questions. Garcia immediately dropped both suitcases and became hysterical, exclaiming "I knew I shouldn't have done this," and proceeded to urinate on her clothing.

Agent Foster placed Garcia under arrest, and escorted her out of the flow of pedestrian traffic to a location four feet from the doorway. The agent then removed the leather jacket the defendant had draped over her shoulder bag and wrapped the jacket around the defendant in an apron-like fashion to conceal her soiled clothing. The defendant was not handcuffed or otherwise restrained during this time. Agent Nyman seized the two closed suitcases from the spot where the defendant had dropped them, and brought them to within one foot of her new position. Agent Foster opened the suitcases, which were zippered shut but not secured by a lock, and proceeded to search their contents. One of the suitcases contained nine plastic bags filled with a brown powdery substance which a field test determined to be heroin. The agents testified that the time period between the moment the defendant was approached, placed under arrest, and her luggage seized and searched, did not exceed fifteen seconds.

On appeal, the defendant contends that the warrantless search of the contents of her luggage violated her rights secured by the Fourth Amendment, and that the district court accordingly erred in denying her motion to suppress the heroin seized as a result of that search. We disagree. Nor do we agree with defendant's contention that the result obtained in United States v. Chadwick, 433 U.S. 1, 97 S.Ct. 2476, 53 L.Ed.2d 538 (1977), or its underlying rationale, is dispositive of this appeal.

II

It is fundamental that the Fourth Amendment secures to individuals a comprehensive right of privacy against unwarranted invasions by the state. Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 80 S.Ct. 725, 4 L.Ed.2d 697 (1960). But not every intrusion is protected by constitutional proscriptions; the penumbra of the Fourth Amendment extends only to such searches and seizures as are unreasonable. Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925). Thus, the prevailing rule that warrantless searches and seizures are Per se unreasonable is subject to a few, well-delineated exceptions, cognitive of the balance which must be struck between the competing interests of the individual's right of privacy and the societal objective of effective criminal justice administration. See, e. g., Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 357, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967).

Accordingly, it is well-settled that a warrantless search conducted incident to a lawful arrest is a traditional exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 224, 94 S.Ct. 467, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973). Such searches have been held to be reasonable within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment when effected for the purpose of disarming the arrestee or to preserve evidence probative of criminal conduct. For example, it has been held that a warrantless search may be undertaken pursuant to a valid arrest if it is substantially contemporaneous with the...