United States v. Stoner

• Decision Date: 20 November 1973
• Docket Number: No. 73-1158-73-1160.,73-1158-73-1160.
• Citation: 487 F.2d 651
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert Joseph STONER, Defendant-Appellant. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Joyce Lee MARTIN, a/k/a Joyce M. Teagarden, Defendant-Appellant. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Sherrie Ann STONER, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

487 F.2d 651 (1973)

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert Joseph STONER, Defendant-Appellant.

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Joyce Lee MARTIN, a/k/a Joyce M. Teagarden, Defendant-Appellant.

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Sherrie Ann STONER, Defendant-Appellant.

Nos. 73-1158-73-1160.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued October 8, 1973.

Decided November 20, 1973.

A. V. McDowell, Memphis, Tenn., and John C. Humpage, Topeka, Kan., on briefs, for appellants.

William A. McTighe, Jr. and Glen Reid, Jr., Asst. U. S. Attys., for appellee; Thomas F. Turley, Jr., U. S. Atty., Western District of Tenn., Memphis, Tenn., on brief.

Before PHILLIPS, Chief Judge, CECIL, Senior Circuit Judge, and ALLEN,^* District Judge.

ALLEN, District Judge.

This is an appeal from judgments of conviction as to each of the defendant-appellants, finding them guilty of violating 18 U.S.C. § 2314 and 18 U.S.C. § 2.

Appellants Robert Joseph Stoner and Joyce Lee Martin were tried jointly, and appellant Sherrie Ann Stoner was granted a severance and given a separate trial after the convictions of Robert Stoner and Joyce Martin. The offense charged was the crime of transporting in interstate commerce stolen property in the value of $5,000 or more. The main issue raised on these appeals goes to the asserted invalidity of the original warrantless search of a hotel room occupied by the Stoners, and a search executed pursuant to a search warrant issued after the warrantless search.

The evidence as developed on the motion to suppress and at the trial reveals that the appellants arrived in Memphis, Tennessee on March 15, 1971, and on that day Robert Stoner rented a 1971 Pontiac. Subsequently, the appellants went to the J. B. Hunter store in Memphis. While at the store, appellant Martin took a bottle of perfume and then secreted a hair dryer which Robert Stoner handed her. Appellant Martin was arrested, but before her arrest occurred, she threw the hair dryer under the 1971 Pontiac. The Stoners left the store and returned to the Pontiac.

The next event which occurred was a call from James Conrad, an employee of a Memphis bonding company, to Detective Maxwell of the Memphis Police Department, informing him that Conrad had been contacted by one Bobby Clark of West Memphis, Arkansas, who requested him to make bond for Mrs. Martin. Detective Maxwell testified that he knew Bobby Clark, who had a police record, and that Bobby Clark traveled with Bill Sides, who was wanted on a postal warrant. Maxwell then conveyed this information to Postal Inspector Holman and to the West Memphis Police, including also a description of the 1971 Pontiac.

Subsequently, Inspector Holman conveyed the information received from Maxwell to Postal Inspector Hannah and requested him to look for Sides in West Memphis. Hannah then went to West Memphis, where he was advised that the Police of that city had spotted the Bobby Clark car at Ramada Inn. Upon receiving this information, he went to a location near the Ramada Inn and, together with Captain Gaia and Sergeant Merrill of the West Memphis Police, stopped the suspected vehicle near the Ramada Inn. The traveler initially identified himself as James Clark, then as Dean West, and then as Robert Stoner. An arrest was made by Captain Gaia of Stoner for registering at the motel under the false name of Clark. Thereupon, Stoner was taken back to the motel in Hannah's automobile.

Captain Gaia and Inspector Hannah then went to Room 162 of the Ramada Inn, the room occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Stoner under the name of Mr. and Mrs. James Clark. Mrs. Stoner would not allow the authorities to enter the room, whereupon Hannah attempted to gain entrance by having the hotel staff ask to clean the room. Captain Gaia attempted to get into the room by using a pass key, and both his and the Inspector's attempts were unsuccessful.

After their unsuccessful attempts to get into the room, the authorities drove the police car by the room some 10 to 15 minutes later with Robert Stoner handcuffed in the back seat. Thereupon, when Mrs. Stoner saw her husband in this position, she opened the motel room door. During the interval between the two unsuccessful attempts to get in the room and the opening of the door, there were five officers who were close to the motel room door and had their guns drawn.

When the authorities went into the motel room, they searched for Sides and ascertained that he was not there, after a minute or two. Inspector Hannah, however, remained in the room for a period of approximately 1½ hours and was later joined by Inspector Holman. While in the room, the authorities discovered a rack of six suits, two cardboard boxes and a price tag. Following this, Detective Maxwell brought employees from the...