Whitaker v. Estelle, 74--2520
| Decision Date | 06 March 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 74--2520,74--2520 |
| Citation | 509 F.2d 194 |
| Parties | Andrew Earl WHITAKER, Petitioner-Appellant, v. W. J. ESTELLE, Director, Texas Department of Corrections, Respondent-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Donald A. Smyth, Staff Counsel for Inmates, Texas Dept. of Corrections, Brazoria, Tex., for petitioner-appellant.
John L. Hill, Atty. Gen., Thomas W. Choate, Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, Tex., for respondent-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Before BROWN, Chief Judge, and COLEMAN and DYER, Circuit Judges.
Whitaker appeals from the district court's denial without hearing of his petition for habeas corpus. He claims that his state rape conviction was unconstitutional because of 1) an illegal arrest and detention, 2) an involuntary confession, and 3) the state court's lack of jurisdiction to try him as an adult. Since we find that none of the errors alleged amounted to a denial of Whitaker's federal constitutional rights, we affirm.
On December 8, 1969, the victim, a waitress at the Cattleman's restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas, finished her shift at approximately 11:00 P.M. While starting her car in a parking lot across the street from the restaurant, a man forced his way into the auto, threatened to kill her if she resisted, drove the car to another section of the parking lot and raped her. Just then a second man, later identified as Whitaker, appeared, and following a short conversation with the initial attacker, also entered the car and raped the victim.
These two men, together with a third picked up en route, then drove the victim to an isolated area where she was again sexually assaulted. While there, Whitaker asked the woman if she would like to see him again. Both out of fear for her life should she refuse and a desire to trap her attacker, she agreed and set up a meeting outside the restaurant two evenings later.
After being released, the victim notified the police, furnished them a general description of her abductors and alerted them to the planned rendezvous. Detective Jones of the Fort Worth police placed the restaurant and parking lot under surveillance on the appointed night and observed Whitaker, wearing clothes similar to those described by the victim, arrive shortly before the victim was scheduled to finish her shift. When Whitaker loitered in the area for several minutes in such a position that he could observe both the front door of the restaurant and the victim's car, Detective Jones placed him under arrest. Following an identification by the victim and his own confession, Whitaker was convicted of rape.
Whitaker's first contention is that he was illegally arrested and detained. The validity of his arrest of course depends on whether it was based on probable cause--the officer's possession at the moment of arrest of sufficient facts to support a genuine probability, though not necessarily a certainty or a conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt, that Whitaker had committed an offense--or on a hunch or mere speculation. Lathers v. United States, 5 Cir. 1968, 396 F.2d 524, 531.
We conclude there was probable cause for the arrest. First, based on information supplied by the victim, the police were aware of a time and location where there was a substantial possibility that the victim's attackers might appear. Indeed, it was because of this information that they were able to place themselves in a position to apprehend Whitaker. Secondly, from the same source they also possessed a general physical description of the assailants and knowledge that the second man, who had asked the victim if she wished to see him again, had been wearing a 'long brown coat.' When Whitaker arrived, Detective Jones saw that he not only fit the physical description furnished by the victim but was clad in a three-quarter length brown coat. Finally, these facts were corroborated by the officer's personal observation of Whitaker walking back and forth in the area for several minutes in such a way as to keep the restaurant and the victim's car in view. The totality of these circumstances was sufficient in our view to give Detective Jones reasonable cause to believe that a felony had been committed and that Whitaker was one of its perpetrators. Hence, he had probable cause to...
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