United States v. Cohn
| Citation | 472 F.2d 290 |
| Decision Date | 13 February 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 72-1768.,72-1768. |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jack COHN, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Anthony C. Aguilar (argued), Joseph Abraham, Jr., El Paso, Tex., for defendant-appellant.
Thomas N. Crowe, Asst. U. S. Atty. (argued), Wm. C. Smitherman, U. S. Atty., Phoenix, Ariz., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before CHAMBERS and CHOY, Circuit Judges, and BYRNE,* District Judge.
Jack Cohn, appellant, was convicted by jury of conspiracy to smuggle and possession with intent to distribute thirty-nine (39) kilo bricks of marihuana, violations of 21 U.S.C. § 846 and § 841(a)(1) and (b) respectively. On this appeal, Cohn claims that the trial court committed error by refusing to suppress the above-mentioned contraband which was discovered by an Arizona state narcotics officer during a warrantless search of a Buick automobile.
The facts are not in dispute. At approximately 9:00 P.M., on September 9, 1971, Arizona state narcotics officers Capp and Jones were seated in a motel coffee shop in Yuma, Arizona, when they observed three individuals (later identified as Cohn, Felix Armenta-Borjorquez, and Robert Gluck) who were seated in a nearby booth. The officers' attention was attracted to these individuals because "they continually looked around" and their "conversation . . . appeared guarded." Therefore, when Cohn and Armenta-Borjorquez walked out of the coffee shop, the officers decided to follow them. The officers observed the pair get into an Oldsmobile automobile that was parked outside. Armenta-Borjorquez took the driver's seat and Cohn seated himself on the passenger's side of the front seat. The officers followed the Oldsmobile in their own unmarked vehicle until they lost visual contact in downtown Yuma.
However, a few minutes later, the officers spotted Armenta-Borjorquez walking alone in the same area where they had previously lost sight of the Oldsmobile. They watched him walk up to a Buick automobile that was parked on First Avenue, get into it, and drive away. They followed. In doing so, they noticed that the Oldsmobile which they had been following earlier was parked about one block from where Armenta-Borjorquez had got into the Buick. The officers followed the Buick across town and observed it stop behind a residence of an individual known for his involvement in marihuana-trafficking. At that residence, Armenta-Borjorquez got out of the Buick and met an unknown person in the backyard. Thereafter, the officers returned to where the Oldsmobile was still parked and they waited. A short time later, they observed Armenta-Borjorquez drive the Buick back to the exact location from which he had taken it, park it, get out, walk north one block to the Oldsmobile, get into it, and drive away. Rather than following Armenta-Borjorquez in the Oldsmobile, the officers stayed at their location and kept the Buick under surveillance.
At approximately 11:15 P.M., the two officers and another state narcotics officer who had since joined in the stakeout exited their vehicles and approached the Buick. They had no search warrant and had made no effort to obtain one. At a distance of five feet from the automobile, they noticed a very strong odor of marihuana that appeared to be coming from a half-open window on the passenger's side. Officer Capp used his flashlight to look inside and saw a few inches of a brick-shaped object that was protruding from under the passenger's side of the front seat and appeared to be marihuana. He opened the Buick's door, picked up the object, confirmed the fact that it was a kilo brick of marihuana, and replaced it in the same position as he had found it. In addition, he reached over the front seat, pressed his fist against the back seat, and noticed that it was unusually hard. Thereafter, the officers returned to the vehicles and resumed their stakeout.
At approximately midnight, two agents from the U. S. Bureau of Customs arrived on the scene, were briefed by the state officers, went to the Buick and confirmed the information obtained by Officer Capp during his search, and thereupon took over the stakeout. For the next nineteen hours, nothing unusual occurred pertaining to the Buick except that the Customs agents ascertained that it was registered in the name of Cohn's mother. However, at...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
U.S. v. Spetz, s. 80-1331
...and can articulate specific grounds for believing that a known accomplice, acquaintance, or, in unusual cases such as United States v. Cohn, [472 F.2d 290 (9th Cir.1973) ] an unknown person passing by is likely to move the vehicle or destroy evidence within it before a warrant could be secu......
-
Fair v. State
...416 U.S. 983, 94 S.Ct. 2385, 40 L.Ed.2d 760 (1974) (search of an unoccupied automobile parked on public street); United States v. Cohn, 472 F.2d 290, 292 (9th Cir.1973) (unoccupied automobile parked on public street)). The Cadillac was parked directly next to Tanner's vehicle. Tanner and ap......
-
State v. Kapoi
...to "articulate specific grounds for believing that a known accomplice, acquaintance, or, in unusual cases such as United States v. Cohn, (472 F.2d 290 (9th Cir. 1973)), 1 an unknown person passing by is likely to move the vehicle or destroy evidence within it before a warrant could be secur......
-
State v. Toucet
... ... which would justify ... conviction." Brinegar v ... United States , 338 U.S. 160, 175-76 (1949). Thus, the ... quantum of proof to establish probable ... States v. Tramunti , 513 F.2d 1087, 1100-01 (2d Cir ... 1975); United States v. Cohn , 472 F.2d 290, 292 (9th ... Cir. 1973); United States v. Marshall , 526 F.2d ... ...