Gary Leland Cotton v. United States

Cotton was found guilty of violating 18 U.S.C. § 2312 , by transporting a stolen motor vehicle, a 1963 Chevrolet, identification No. 31269J174220, from Columbia Falls, Montana to Las Vegas, Nevada, knowing that it was stolen. Before his trial, he made a motion to suppress certain evidence under Rule 41(e), F.R.Crim.P., which was denied.

The facts developed at the hearing of the motion, stated most favorably to the government, are these: At 1:30 A.M. on November 2, 1965 Officer Pearns of the Las Vegas Police Department was driving in an alley, with the headlights of his car turned off, and saw another vehicle pull into the alley, turn off its lights, proceed up the alley and park. Cotton got out of the car, walked about 50 yards up the alley and entered a used car lot. The officer stopped his vehicle near the entrance to the used car lot, left the door slightly ajar so that the police dog that accompanied him could be summoned, entered the lot and accosted Cotton. He asked Cotton what he was doing and the response was that he was just looking around. He asked Cotton if he knew the owner of the lot or had any business there and the response again was “No, I am just looking around.”…