U.S. v. Garrett
| Decision Date | 15 August 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 79-5062,79-5062 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ronald Carl GARRETT, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
David E. Melcher, Cynthiana, Ky., (Court-Appointed), for defendant-appellant.
Patrick H. Molloy, U. S. Atty., C. Cleveland Gambill, James E. Arehart, Asst. U. S. Attys., Lexington, Ky., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before CELEBREEZE, BROWN and KENNEDY, Circuit Judges.
Defendant-appellant Garrett was indicted for possession of heroin with intent to distribute, 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), in the Eastern District of Kentucky. Prior to his bench trial, Garrett moved to suppress certain evidence seized after his arrest at the Greater Cincinnati Airport, alleging that his arrest was not based upon probable cause. The district court denied the motion. Garrett was subsequently convicted as charged. Holding that no probable cause existed for Garrett's arrest and that therefore the search and seizure were unlawful, we reverse.
At approximately 8:00 A.M. on December 2, 1976, narcotics agent Laurence Handorf of the Cincinnati Police Department Narcotics Unit received a telephone call from a person identifying himself as Ralph Morgan, a security guard at the Los Angeles International Airport. Morgan informed Handorf that a light-complected male Negro, approximately 5' 6 -5' 8 tall, wearing a black suit and black hat, was enroute on American Airlines from Los Angeles to Cincinnati, via Dallas, and that he would arrive about 9:00 A.M. carrying a large quantity of heroin. Morgan stated that his information was from a "very good informant" who had observed the man in possession of the heroin. Although Morgan did not know the man's true name or the name under which he was flying, he did know that it was an alias. Morgan told Handorf that he had tried unsuccessfully to have the man apprehended in Dallas. Handorf noted that Morgan used "airport terminology" in conveying the information.
Officer Handorf requested a call-back number for verification purposes. Although Morgan gave a number without hesitation, Handorf was unable to reach him when he attempted to verify the call. Handorf then called the Los Angeles Airport Security Personnel Office, which also did not answer. He realized, however, that it would be very difficult to reach anyone at the office at that hour of the morning on the West Coast. With less than an hour before the arrival of the flight, Handorf left Cincinnati for the Greater Cincinnati Airport, located across the Ohio River in Boone County, Kentucky.
At the airport, Handorf learned that American Airlines did indeed have a flight from Los Angeles, via Dallas, arriving at 9:01 A.M. (Flight 540) and that only one person on that flight had originally boarded in Los Angeles, a cash-paying passenger named D. Stone. Handorf was joined at the airport by Colonel Yaden of the Erlanger, Kentucky Police Department, who was then informed of all the facts known to Handorf. 1
Handorf and Yaden observed the passengers of Flight 540 as they deplaned. Two Negro males were on the flight. The first did not match the description, because he was substantially taller than 5' 8 . The second man did physically fit the description, and he wore a black suit, black overcoat and black hat. The man walked into the lobby area to a telephone booth. Handorf and Yaden approached the man at the booth and immediately placed him under arrest.
After the arrest, the man identified himself as Ronald Garrett, and when asked why he was flying under the name of D. Stone, he stated, "Well you know how it is." Garrett was then taken to an American Airlines V.I.P. room where he was searched. The search disclosed seven glassine bags of brown heroin that had been sewn into the lining of his hat, and an aluminum foil packet of heroin in his wallet.
Prior to trial, Garrett moved to suppress the heroin that was seized at the airport. A hearing was held on the motion at which the motion was denied, the district judge stating the reasons from the bench. A bench trial was then held, and Garrett was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, followed by a special 3 year parole term.
Garrett's primary argument on appeal is that the district court erred by denying his motion to suppress the seized heroin. He contends that the officers, Handorf and Yaden, lacked probable cause to arrest him and that therefore the subsequent search of his person incident to arrest was unlawful.
The district court, in overruling the motion to suppress, did not, in support of the validity of the arrest, rely on the proposition that Garrett met the "drug courier profile." 2 Rather, the district court found that the information received over the telephone by Agent Handorf from "Ralph Morgan," plus the fact that Garrett fitted the physical description and wore clothes as was related to Handorf and apparently came from Los Angeles, gave Handorf probable cause to believe that Garrett was carrying heroin and therefore probable cause for the arrest and search.
The standard for determining probable cause was clearly stated by the Supreme Court in Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 91, 85 S.Ct. 223, 225, 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964):
Whether (an) arrest (is) constitutionally valid depends upon whether, at the moment the arrest was made, the officers had probable cause to make it whether at that moment the facts and circumstances within their knowledge and of which they had reasonably trustworthy information were sufficient to warrant a prudent man in believing that the petitioner had committed or was committing an offense.
In the case of hearsay information such as in the instant case, the two-pronged test of Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 114-15, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 1513-14, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964), must be met. Under this test, the credibility of the informant and the reliability of his information as such was presented to Handorf prior to the arrest must be demonstrated. Id.
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