Robert Joseph Castillon v. United States

Appellant was indicted by a tederal grand jury for concealing narcotics in violation of 21 U.S.C.A. §~ 174 and 176a. Jury trial having been waived, appellant was tried, convicted, and sentenced to imprisonment in a federal penitentiary by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Southern Division. Prior to trial appellant made a timely motion, pursuant to Rule 41(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, 18 U.S.C.A., to suppress evidence obtained in a search made incident to his arrest. No arrest or search warrants having been issued, appellant contended that the search was unreasonable and in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, because the search was made incident to an illegal arrest. It was contended that the arrest was illegal because no warrant was issued and the arresting narcotics agents had no probable cause or reasonable grounds to believe that appellant had committed or was committing a violation of the narcotic laws. The motion to suppress the evidence was denied. The motion was renewed at the trial before a different district judge and the evidence was duly objected to when introduced. The trial…