United States v. Michael O'LOOney

O’Looney was involved in an alleged plot to export guns illegally to Ireland for use by the Irish Republican Army. He was indicted on five counts. One count was for conspiring to engage in the business of exporting arms without registering with the State Department and conspiring to make a false statement with respect to the information required to be kept in the records of a federally licensed firearms dealer, all in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 924(a) and 22 U.S.C. § 1934 . The other four counts were for aiding and abetting the making of false statements in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 and 924(a). O’Looney was convicted by a jury on the part of the first count charging a conspiracy to engage in the business of exporting arms and acquitted of all other counts. We affirm.

O’Looney was born and raised in Ireland. He had lived in the United States for over 20 years and had been a naturalized citizen for about five years. He became interested in the movement to reunify Ireland. After a trip to his homeland, he agreed with co-defendant Harper 1 to purchase weapons for the cause. O’Looney furnished the money and Harper, at times using false identification, purchased the weapons.…

544 F.2d 385 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Michael O'LOONEY, Defendant-Appellant. No. 75-2666. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Aug. 31, 1976. Certiorari Denied Dec. 13, 1976. See 97 S.Ct. 692 David P. Schippers (argued), Chicago, Ill., for defendant-appellant. Bruce R. Castetter, Asst. U. S. Atty. (argued), Terry J. Knoepp, U.S. Atty., Bruce R. Castetter, Asst. U.S. Atty., on the brief, San Diego, Cal., for plaintiff-appellee. Before HUFSTEDLER and WALLACE, Circuit Judges, and SMITH, * District Judge. WALLACE, Circuit Judge: 1 O'Looney was involved in an alleged plot to export guns illegally to Ireland for use by the Irish Republican Army. He was indicted on five counts. One count was for conspiring to engage in the business of exporting arms without registering with the State Department and conspiring to make a false statement with respect to the information required to be kept in the records of a federally licensed firearms dealer, all in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 924(a) and 22 U.S.C. § 1934 . The other four counts were for aiding and abetting the making of false statements in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 and…

(dissenting in part):

I dissent from that portion of the majority opinion stating that O’Looney’s statement need not be suppressed even if his detention was illegal. I agreed that his detention was not illegal, and the whole discussion is unnecessary to the decision. Upon the majority’s assumed premise of illegality, I could not brush off the violation of the Fourth Amendment as de minimis nor could I agree that O’Looney’s acts and statement were either voluntary or purged from illegal taint. Illegal detention for hours in the coercive atmosphere of a police station is not lightly to be overlooked.