Charles Frederick Rocha v. United States

Charles Frederick Rocha appeals from his conviction on a charge of concealing and facilitating the concealment of heroin in violation of the Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act, 35 Stat. 614 (1909) as amended, 21 U.S.C. § 174 (1964).

Rocha’s only point on appeal is that the trial court should have granted his pretrial motion to suppress certain evidence and therefore erred in admitting the evidence at the trial. The evidence in question consists of 57.585 grams of heroin which was found at Rocha’s service station as a result of a search made immediately after his arrest at the service station on September 23, 1965.

Rocha made a pretrial motion to suppress the evidence. Three grounds for such relief were asserted, namely: (1) the evidence was seized under color of a search warrant issued by a California state magistrate, and the state warrant is illegal under California law because the supporting affidavit is inadequate; (2) the issuing state magistrate having granted a motion to suppress the evidence on the ground that the affidavit supporting the warrant is inadequate, it was unlawful for state officers to thereafter turn over the evidence to federal officers and it was…