United States v. Williams

• Decision Date: 03 July 1963
• Citation: 219 F. Supp. 666
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, v. Robert WILLIAMS and Henry Watson, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

219 F. Supp. 666

UNITED STATES of America, v. Robert WILLIAMS and Henry Watson, Defendants.

United States District Court S. D. New York.

July 3, 1963.

Robert M. Morgenthau, U. S. Atty. for the S. D. of New York, New York City, for the United States; by Martin R. Gold, Asst. U. S. Atty., of counsel.

Stone & Diller, New York City, for defendant Henry Watson.

Selig Lenefsky, New York City, for defendant Robert Williams; by Joseph I. Stone, New York City, of counsel.

CROAKE, District Judge.

On the evening of December 17, 1962, Agents Kreppein, Haridopolos, and Heer, of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, entered Apartment 2-E at 141 West 116 Street, New York City, and arrested defendant Robert Williams. They then searched the premises and found a quantity of narcotics. Later that night the other defendant, Henry Watson, rang the door chimes of the apartment and was arrested by Agent Heer. A search of his person revealed 159 packets of narcotics in his jacket pockets. Both defendants were subsequently indicted for violation of the narcotics laws (21 U.S.C. §§ 173, 174), and both moved to suppress the narcotics evidence—Williams, as to that found in the apartment, and Watson as to that found on his person.

A hearing on the motions was held before the undersigned, at which both defendants, an additional defense witness, and the three narcotics agents testified. There was no dispute as to the above stated facts nor as to the facts that there was no consent given by either defendant to the searches and that the agents did not use a search or an arrest warrant as to either.

The sole ground relied upon by the Government to sustain the legality of the seizures is that they were incident to lawful arrests in both instances. In support of this contention, Federal Bureau of Narcotics Agent John Kreppein testified as follows:

On October 10, 1962 Agent Kreppein was maintaining surveillance of Wilhelmina Adams, during which he observed her enter and leave the premises at 141 West 116 Street. Immediately, thereafter, another agent purchased narcotics from her. Agent Kreppein again observed Miss Adams enter and leave that building on October 17, 1962 and, after she had entered and left another building several blocks away, she gave narcotics to another agent. On December 17, 1962 Agent Kreppein arrested Wilhelmina Adams for narcotics violations. She agreed to cooperate with the Government and stated that her source of supply was the defendant Williams and that Williams lived in Apartment 2-E at 141 West 116 Street, where he was engaged in selling narcotic drugs from "dusk to dawn." She told the agents that his modus operandi was, upon the arrival of a customer, to open the door with the chain latch on in order to identify the customer and then to take the chain off and let the customer in. Agent Kreppein took Miss Adams to the office of the Bureau of Narcotics where he found in the files that Williams had been arrested on eight occasions, once by the Federal Narcotics Bureau, and on other occasions by the New York City Police Department. The file further indicated that the arrests took place in Apartment 2-E, and contained a picture of Williams which Miss Adams identified. Thereafter, about 7 o'clock that evening, Agent Kreppein and his two fellow agents went to the apartment building at 141 West 116 Street and kept Apartment 2-E under surveillance from a hall stairway. They observed a succession of five persons, all appearing to be narcotic addicts, ring the door chimes and leave after receiving no answer. The agents left after about an hour and returned about 10 p. m. They saw another person ring the chimes, heard a peephole door click shut, and observed the door open part way, with the chain latch on, close, and open again to admit the individual at the door. A short time later, that person left the apartment. This routine was followed with a second person, and then with a third. Before the third person had left, Agent Kreppein rang the chimes himself and the door was opened with the chain latch on. He identified himself to Williams and told Williams that he was there to arrest him for violation of the narcotic laws. Williams attempted to slam the door shut but Agent Kreppein "rammed" a "two-by-four" piece of wood into the door so that it could not be closed. The other two agents then "hit" the door breaking the chain. Agent Kreppein entered the apartment and placed Williams under arrest. The agents found two glassine envelopes on the floor and eight on the sofa of the room into which they had entered. Each envelope contained a white powder subsequently identified as an opium derivative. The agents searched Williams and found that he was carrying $1,284 in cash on his person. Upon being questioned, Williams first denied that the narcotic drugs were his, but later admitted that they were. He stated that his source of supply was a moonfaced Negro of heavy build, medium height and medium brown complexion, who was expected to arrive in about an hour with a quantity of drugs. The agents waited in the apartment, and about 1 a. m. on the morning of December 18, defendant Watson, who fit the description given, rang the chimes. Agent Heer opened the door and saw him standing in the hallway. Watson began to flee, and as he ran into a banister Agent Heer observed him expose a tinfoil package. The agent identified himself, told Watson that he was under arrest, searched him, and seized the 159 packets of narcotics wrapped in four tinfoil packages. On cross-examination, Agent Kreppein admitted that he and the other agents did not know Williams was in the apartment before Williams opened the door.

The testimony of the other two agents was in substantial agreement to that of Agent Kreppein.

As to the facts solely relevant to the instant motions, nothing in the defense testimony was in material conflict with that of the Government, except that Williams stated that the agents did not identify themselves or announce their purpose until after they had crashed into the apartment, and except that both defendants testified that they had not met each other prior to December 18.

The court finds the testimony of the agents fully creditable and, further finds that the defense testimony, in so far as it is in conflict with that of the Government, is not worthy of belief.

I

Since it is conceded that neither an arrest warrant nor a search warrant was used in connection with the search of the Williams premises, and since it is clear that consent was not given, the search and the seizure must be justified, if at all, as one incident to a lawful arrest.

The Government claims that the agents were authorized to arrest Williams without a warrant, pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 7607, which reads in part as follows:

"* * * agents, of the Bureau of Narcotics of the Department of the Treasury * * * may * * * make arrests without warrant for violations of any law of the United States relating to narcotic drugs * * * where such person has reasonable grounds¹ to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such violation."

The Government contends that Wilhelmina Adams was a "reliable informant" within the meaning of Draper v. United States, 358 U.S. 307, 79 S.Ct. 329, 3 L.Ed.2d 327 (1959) so that the agents would have had reasonable grounds to believe that Williams was guilty of criminal activity. Unlike the informer in the Draper case, however, Miss Adams had never supplied the Government with information concerning offenders other than defendant and, hence, the Government had no opportunity to verify her reliability as to such other offenders. Instead, the Government relies on the fact that information given by Miss Adams concerning defendant Williams was corroborated in that her statements as to his address, apartment number, and operating procedure proved correct.

Before Williams opened the door the agents did not know whether he was in the apartment. If the agents had probable cause to arrest Williams, it was not until that instant. Even after seeing Williams at the door, Agent Kreppein had no way of knowing whether anyone else was in the apartment with Williams, other than the suspected customer who had not yet left. Thus, the agents did not know whether it was Williams or others who were receiving the customers.² However, when Williams did answer the door, and when Agent Kreppein recognized him,³ after all of the other details that Miss Adams had revealed, it was as though the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle had dropped into place. No reasonable man would in the place of Agent Kreppein have been, at the instant before defendant Williams opened the door, without the suspicion that Williams was then and there in the very act of selling narcotics to the last visitor to the apartment. Agent Kreppein had certainly done nothing unlawful by ringing the door chimes, thereby causing Williams to expose himself and to supply the last interlocking piece of information to complete the combination of facts giving rise to "probable cause."

The act of ringing the chimes was not equivalent to the proverbial knock on the door in the middle of the night, characteristic of police tactics in a totalitarian society. It was, rather, a case of the Government agents taking advantage of the method of operation used by the defendant to conduct his unlawful business, and certainly no more objectionable than the use of many other kinds of ruses⁴ employed by law enforcement officers to apprehend criminals engaged in activities of a furtive nature. The court, therefore, holds that Agent Kreppein had, the instant the door was opened, "probable cause" to arrest Williams for the violation of the narcotics laws.

II

The legal inquiry as to the validity of the subsequent search and seizure cannot, however, rest with the holding that "probable cause" existed. Were the case of Trupiano v. United States, 334 U.S. 699, 68 S.Ct. 1229, 92 L.Ed. 1663 (1948) and its...