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United States v. Theodore Tyler, 943 F.2d 420, 4th Cir. (1991)
United States v. Theodore Tyler, 943 F.2d 420, 4th Cir. (1991)
2d 420
gun, exited the house and was taken into custody. The officers then obtained a
search warrant to search the house for the gun. During the search the officers
found a gun in an upstairs bedroom under a mattress, which is the gun
introduced into evidence.
3
The Fourth Amendment makes "no reference to civil proceedings for the
recovery of debts...." Murray's Lessee v. Hoboken Land and Improvement Co.,
59 U.S. (18 How.) 272, 285, 15 L.Ed. 372 (1856). Even if the Fourth
Amendment did apply in such a situation, the rationale applied in United States
v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984), would bar
suppression of the evidence obtained in the search.3 The officers did everything
possible to act in good faith. Under South Carolina law, the claim and delivery
judgment gave them the authority to enter the house if the property demanded
was not delivered. S.C.Code 15-69-180. After lawful entry, when they were
confronted by the armed defendant, they exited the house and obtained a search
warrant before reentering the house. It is at once apparent there was nothing
more the officers could have done. Therefore, the district court did not err in
denying Tyler's motion to suppress evidence seized during the search.
Tyler correctly asserts that the district court erroneously held Tyler to a
"particularized need" standard in denying his request for a transcript of his first
trial. The Supreme Court has "consistently recognized the value to a defendant
of a transcript of prior proceedings, without requiring a showing of need
tailored to the facts of the particular case." Britt v. North Carolina, 404 U.S.
226, 228, 92 S.Ct. 431, 434, 30 L.Ed.2d 400 (1971); United States v. Pulido,
879 F.2d 1255, 1257 (5th Cir.1989) ("a court must assume that a transcript of a
prior mistrial is valuable to the defense."). However, the district court's
application of the wrong test does not, by itself, warrant reversal of Tyler's
conviction.
While it is true that "the State must provide an indigent defendant with a
transcript of prior proceedings when that transcript is needed for an effective
defense or appeal," Britt v. North Carolina, 404 U.S. at 227, 92 S.Ct. at 433, "if
a hypothetical defendant who is financially solvent would decline to pay for the
production of a mistrial transcript because it would not assist in preparing his
case for a second trial, then theoretically an indigent in the same circumstances
would not be denied equal protection if he were not provided a free transcript."
United States v. Talbert, 706 F.2d 464, 470 (4th Cir.1983).
In this case the second trial took place less than one month after the first trial,
before the same judge. Tyler was represented in each trial by the same attorney,
the first trial only lasted half a day, only three witnesses testified for the
prosecution, the government opened its files to the defense, the prosecution did
not obtain a transcript of the first trial, and the court provided that the second
trial would be interrupted to check the court reporter's notes if necessary. Also,
the same court reporter was utilized at both trials and had her notes available
from the first trial for the use of the defense.4 There was no request by the
defense to have the reporter's notes read to them, and no suggestion of prejudice
in the second trial.
7
The upshot of the case is that the defendant seeks to establish a per se rule of
reversible error for cases in which a transcript of the proceedings in the first
trial is not furnished to the defendant when a mistrial has been followed by a
second trial. The argument goes that "[o]nce having shown that the defendant's
right to a transcript was violated, reversal is required. There is no harmless
error test." Defendant's Brief p. 18.
10
AFFIRMED.
The parties dispute whether an entry order, subsequent to the claim and
delivery judgment, issued by Magistrate Brown was obtained prior to or after
the officers' entry into Tyler's house. The government asserts that no entry was
made until after the entry order was obtained. Tyler argues that the initial entry
into the house was made prior to the officers' securing an entry order.
Magistrate Brown testified that the officers asked for and obtained the entry
order after Tyler confronted them with a gun. The government submits that she
was mistaken in her testimony
S.C.Code 15-69-180 authorized the officers to enter solely on the authority of
the claim and delivery judgment. Therefore, the entry order was unnecessary
and the timing of its issuance is of no consequence.
Leon stands for the proposition that evidence obtained pursuant to a search
warrant, valid on its face, need not be suppressed even if the warrant is later
found to be invalid so long as the officers who executed the search acted in
good faith in relying on the search warrant. "When officers have acted pursuant
to a warrant, the prosecution should ordinarily be able to establish objective
Cf. Britt v. North Carolina, 404 U.S. at 229, 92 S.Ct. at 434. Britt indicates a
"doubt" that "limited access" to the court reporter during the course of the
second trial would be a sufficient palliative. That statement of the Court is
reasonably read to mean that if access to the court reporter during the second
trial was not "limited" a sufficient remedy might have been at hand. The district
court here might well have taken that view, for it provided that access to the
court reporter would not be limited in that it would interrupt the trial if
appropriate to provide defendant access to the court reporter's notes. That
analysis would probably have satisfied the Britt requirement of (1) considering
the value of the transcript to the defendant in connection with the trial for
which it is sought, and (2) the availability of alternative devices. We do not
depend on this construction of Britt, however, for in any event we are of
opinion the error was harmless as set forth in the text