ANGELET
v.
FAY, WARDEN
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The Court held that the participation of federal narcotics agents in a search and seizure, even if illegal, does not require reversal of a state conviction, especially when the exclusionary rule is not applied retrospectively.
Petitioner was convicted in a New York court for possession of narcotics with intent to sell based on evidence seized during a warrantless search of h…
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Mr. Justice Clark delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is a companion case to No. 95, Linkletter v. Walker, ante, p. 618. Petitioner was convicted in a New York State court in 1951 for possession of narcotics with intent to sell. On December 21, 1950, two detectives attached to the Narcotics Squad of the New York City Police Department entered petitioner’s apartment by a door opened by a painter who was just leaving. They ignored the protest of petitioner and proceeded, without a warrant, to search the apartment. Upon entering, one of the officers called an agent of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. After two federal agents arrived the local and federal officers made a thorough search of the apartment. One of the local officers found 54 cellophane envelopes, 106 empty capsules, a box of staples and a scale. A federal agent found four packages under a hat. Analysis revealed that three of the packets contained heroin and the other contained cocaine. These items were introduced in evidence at the state trial without objection of petitioner’s counsel. Nor was objection made to the participation of the federal narcotics agents in the investigation. After conviction petitioner filed a notice of appeal to the Appellate Division but the appeal was dismissed in March of 1952.
In August 1961, after Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U. S. 643, was decided, petitioner resorted to state post-conviction remedies claiming that the evidence found in his apartment and introduced against him had been illegally seized and that his conviction had therefore been obtained in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. Upon seeking habeas corpus in the United States District Court on the same grounds his application was denied. The trial judge refused to apply Mapp retrospectively. The Court of Appeals sitting en banc affirmed by a divided vote. 333 F. 2d 12. We granted certiorari, 379 U. S. 815 (1964), and set this case for argument with Linkletter, supra. That case answers petitioner’s point as to the retrospective application of Mapp.
However, petitioner also contends that the participation of federal narcotics agents in the search and seizure requires reversal here, citing Rea v. United States, 350 U. S. 214 (1956). We cannot agree. That case invoked the supervisory power of a federal court over a federal law enforcement officer and we held that the latter might be enjoined from appearing in a state trial for the purpose of offering evidence previously seized by him illegally as a federal officer and so found by a federal court. But even if an exclusionary rule were fashioned to bar use of the federal agent’s testimony in the absence of a federal court restraint, the petitioner would be entitled to no relief. Such an exclusionary rule would depend upon the reasons given in Mapp and under Linkletter, supra, would not have retrospective application.
Affirmed.
Mr. Justice Black and Mr. Justice Douglas would reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the reasons stated in Mr. Justice Black’s dissenting opinion in Linkletter v. Walker, ante, p. 640.
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Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (U.S. 1966)…, of course, prior to our decision today making the [*496] objection available, the failure to object at trial does not constitute a waiver of the claim. See, e. g., United States ex rel. Angelet v. Fay, 333 F. 2d 12, 16 (C. A. 2d Cir. 1964), aff’d, 381 U. S. 654 (1965). Cf. Ziffrin, Inc. v. United States, 318 U. S. 73, 78 (1943). Because of this disposition of the case, the California Supreme Court did not reach the claims that the confession was coerced by police threats to hold his ailing wife in custody…
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United States v. Peltier, 422 U.S. 531 (U.S. 1975)…rative when it applies its new theory to the facts of this case, see Part II of the Court’s opinion. Rather, I show in the text that, on the Court’s own deterrence rationale alone, today’s suggested reformulation would be a disaster. Angelet v. Fay, 381 U. S. 654 (1965), declined to decide whether Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U. S. 643 (1961), would bar federal agents from testifying in a state court concerning illegally obtained [*555] evidence, because Mapp was held in Linkletter v. Walker, 381 U. S. 618 (1965), to b…
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United States v. Loschiavo, 531 F.2d 659 (2d Cir. 1976)…discloses no proof whatever of various elements of the crime charged has a fatal constitutional taint for lack of due process of law. As we said in our in banc decision in United States ex rel. Angelet v. Fay, 333 F. 2d 12, 16 (2d Cir. 1964), aff’d, 381 U.S. 654, 85 S.Ct. 1750, 14 L.Ed.2d 623 (1965), the question of whether to grant retrospectivity in this type of case should be decided with ‘precisely the same operations of the judicial process as does the development of a body of decisional law in any oth…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (U.S. 1961)
- REA v. United States, 350 U.S. 214 (U.S. 1956)
- United States ex rel. George Angelet v. Honorable Edward M. FAY, 333 F.2d 12 (2d Cir. 1964)
- Douglas v. Alabama, 379 U.S. 815 (U.S. 1964)