United States v. Heft, 17077.
| Citation | 413 F.2d 1027 |
| Decision Date | 23 July 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 17077.,17077. |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gerald Edwin HEFT, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit) |
Gerald M. Werksman, Chicago, Ill., for appellant.
Alfred W. Moellering, U. S. Atty., Ft. Wayne, Ind., for appellee.
Before HASTINGS, Senior Circuit Judge, KILEY and KERNER, Circuit Judges.
Defendant Heft has appealed from his conviction, by a jury, of the aggravated robbing of a federally insured bank.1 We reverse and remand.
At about 2:00 p.m. on October 2, 1967, a man with a gun robbed the Indiana Bank and Trust Company in Fort Wayne, Indiana. About two hours later, Rickard, an occupant in a room in the Indiana Hotel, looked through holes in a door to an adjoining room and observed a man he later identified as Heft, sitting on the floor counting a large sum of money. Rickard had heard radio announcements about the bank robbery. His observations were reported to hotel manager Baker. During Heft's absence, Baker entered the room, removed a satchel of money, and called police who joined him in the room. The satchel was then replaced "just like it was" before Baker took it. Heft was arrested later when he returned to the room.
At the trial, without objection from defense counsel, the court admitted into evidence the satchel containing a gun and the stolen money, including certain "bait" money, seized by the police when they arrested Heft. These items of evidence were identified by witnesses before the jury. Later in the trial defense counsel moved to suppress that evidence.2 The court conducted a hearing out of the jury's presence and sustained the motion, because the search and seizure was tainted by police entry of Heft's room without a warrant when they joined Baker and replaced the satchel. The court struck from evidence only the "bait money," but ordered the jury to disregard the other evidence seized.
No motion was made for a mistrial. Heft relies upon the "plain error" rule here to cause us to reverse the conviction. Rule 52(b) Fed.R.Crim.P. The government does not resist the "plain error" request. It contends merely that the ruling on the motion to suppress was error because the seizure of the evidence was lawful as incidental to a lawful arrest, arguing that the police were justifiably in Heft's room earlier attempting to correct what they thought was Baker's improper entry of Heft's room.
Had the evidence been suppressed before trial, the jury would not have observed the satchel, money or gun, nor would government witnesses have been able to testify that the gun used in the robbery and the one seized in Heft's room were similar. True, the court directed the jury to ignore the evidence after the court had suppressed it. But Heft argues the direction did not take the place of a motion to suppress, relying upon Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968). The government does not argue the Bruton question, but instead argues against the validity of the suppression ruling itself on policy grounds.
However, we think Heft should have had the benefit of the district court's suppression ruling, valid or not, and a mistrial ordered sua sponte.
The Supreme Court in Bruton reversed...
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U.S. v. Lawson
...there are situations in which the display of evidence which is later ruled inadmissible constitutes reversible error. United States v. Heft, 413 F.2d 1027 (7th Cir. 1969); United States v. Reid, 410 F.2d 1223 (7th Cir. 1969). However, we have also recognized that not all such displays requi......
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People v. Endress
...been admissible upon the court's finding that the search was by consent as heretofore discussed. Defendant urges that United States v. Heft, 7th Cir., 413 F.2d 1027, required the granting of a mistrial. That case involved aggravated bank robbery, and a suitcase full of money had been admitt......
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United States v. Catalano, 17714-17717.
...Even assuming that it is ordinarily improper to display evidence to the jury which is later ruled inadmissible, see United States v. Heft, 413 F.2d 1027 (7th Cir. 1969), and United States v. Reid, 410 F.2d 1223 (7th Cir. 1969), the display of the guns here merely corroborated the fact that ......
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United States v. Heft
...a federal bank and using a dangerous weapon in the robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d). In the first appeal we reversed, 413 F.2d 1027 (7th Cir. 1969), because in the government's proof a gun, among other things, was exhibited before the jury but was later excluded from evidence as......