U.S. v. Thomas, 76-1250
| Decision Date | 15 December 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 76-1250,76-1250 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America v. Alvin B. THOMAS, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit |
Arthur L. Fox, Washington, D. C. (appointed by this Court), for appellant.
Lillian A. McEwen, Asst. U. S. Atty., Washington, D. C., with whom Earl J. Silbert, U. S. Atty., and John A. Terry, Asst. U. S. Atty., Washington, D. C., were on the brief for appellee.
Before BAZELON, Chief Judge, and WRIGHT and ROBINSON, Circuit Judges.
The appellant Alvin Thomas was convicted of possession with intent to distribute a Schedule I drug in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a) (1972), a felony. On appeal, Thomas argues (1) that the evidence seized following the warrantless arrest should have been suppressed because probable cause for the arrest was lacking, and (2) that the conviction for possession with intent to distribute was not supported by sufficient evidence.
At the pretrial suppression hearing and at trial, Officer Beard testified that he observed appellant pass to an unidentified male a silver object in exchange for currency. This observation occurred from a rooftop 100 feet away with the aid of 10-power binoculars. Even though the night was misty, Beard stated that he "could see the silver end of (the tinfoil)" (Tr. 125) and that subsequently he saw appellant count out in his hand other "long rectangular objects" (Tr. 14) taken from the same manila envelope as the object exchanged. If credited by the trial judge, as we assume it was, this testimony indicated that the officer positively identified the silver object as a tinfoil packet 1 prior to ordering appellant's arrest. Because all innocent explanations for this exchange of a tinfoil packet for currency seem so implausible, we affirm the trial court's finding of probable cause.
We do not find it necessary to rely on the "high-crime" character of the neighborhood for our conclusion. Although decisions of this court count this as a relevant factor for probable cause, 2 we are concerned that officers not be encouraged to attach suspicion too readily to the activities of the residents of those neighborhoods simply because they are slum or ghetto areas.
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