United States v. Alexander Robert Holzman, United States of America v. James Walsh

This is the consolidated appeal of Alexander Holzman and James Walsh who were convicted of passing, and conspiring to pass, forged United States Savings Bonds. Appellants contest the district court’s denial of their joint motion to suppress evidence obtained during the search incident to their arrest, and the subsequent search of their hotel rooms.

I

BACKGROUND

On the evening of December 19, 1983, Arizona Police Detective Hill was working off-duty as a security employee for a department store in Scottsdale, Arizona. He saw two men, Holzman and Walsh, enter the store together and walk to a fragrance counter. Hill recognized one of the men, Walsh, as a suspect he had seen in bank video surveillance photographs relating to a credit card fraud scheme he had been investigating while on duty.

When it looked as if Holzman and Walsh were going to make a purchase, Hill moved closer to observe how they would pay for the merchandise. He allegedly saw Walsh produce an American Express card with a white abrasion mark on its face, a feature common to many stolen and altered cards with which Hill was familiar. After advising the clerk to keep the purchase slip, he followed the two men…