UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
ROBERT HOWARD BROWN A/K/A HOWARD BROWN, APPELLANT
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The court held that the trial court did not err in admitting evidence and arguments concerning the circumstances leading to the officers' presence, nor in denying the motion to suppress the gun and heroin residue, nor in admitting a prior consistent statement.
The defendant was convicted of assaulting federal officers. The conviction stemmed from an incident where the defendant shot an officer who was presen…
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PER CURIAM:
This appeal challenges an April 29, 1971, judgment of conviction and commitment based on a jury verdict finding defendant guilty of a one-count indictment charging the defendant with assaulting, resisting, and interfering with the United States officers of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs while engaged in the performance of their official duties, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111. One such officer was shot by defendant about midnight when he was in the process of ejecting his local Police Chief from his home,2
Secondly, defendant contends that his motion to suppress the gun and the heroin residue should have been granted. The Affidavit for Search Warrant justified the search for heroin and the gun.5 See United States v. Singleton, 439 F. 2d 381 (3d Cir. 1971); cf. United States v. Harris, 403 U.S. 573, 577-583, 91 S.Ct. 2075, 29 L.Ed.2d 723 (1971).
Finally, defendant claims that a new trial is required due to the admission in evidence of a prior consistent statement made by a Government witness in a state court hearing five days after a prior inconsistent statement by such witness had been testified to by a defense witness.6 Particularly in view of the curative instruction given by the trial judge, we have concluded that this contention must be rejected. See IV Wigmore, Evidence (3d Ed.), § 1126, p. 202; United States v. DeLarosa, 450 F. 2d 1057 (3d Cir., 1971); cf. United States v. Grosso, 358 F. 2d 154, 158 (2d Cir. 1966), rev’d on other grounds, 390 U.S. 62, 88 S.Ct. 709, 19 L.Ed.2d 906 (1968).
The April 29, 1971, judgment will be affirmed.
. During the struggle between the Police Chief and defendant, the federal agents had come up on the porch and said, “Police, drop the gun. Federal Agents, drop the gun.”
. We note that the evidence was also admissible to refute the defense that Brown acted reasonably in shooting the agent because he believed he was being robbed, see United States v. Antrobus, 191 F. 2d 969, 971 (3d Cir. 1951), cert. denied, 343 U.S. 902, 72 S.Ct. 637, 96 L.Ed. 1321 (1952), and was a necessary ingredient in explaining the crime in question. See United States v. Bozza, 365 F. 2d 206, 212-214 (2d Cir. 1966); Hanks v. United States, 388 F. 2d 171, 174-175 (10th Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 863, 89 S.Ct. 144, 21 L.Ed.2d 131 (1968).
. The receipt of information from “an informant under the supervision of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs” to whom a number had been assigned and who allowed the Special Agent to monitor the call from defendant, stating that “two pieces” (heroin) would be delivered to the informant at a certain restaurant by defendant’s wife, confirmation of defendant’s name, address and phone number as revealed by the informant, observation of the wife leaving defendant’s home in her car and proceeding toward the restaurant, the finding of jars of lactose (a substance used as a cutting material for heroin) in the back of the car, and the informant’s statement that defendant told him he had $40,000. of heroin in his possession, constituted sufficient information. As to the gun, it is not necessary to rule on the Government’s contention that no warrant was needed to seize a gun which could be used, and had already been used once, to inflict harm on law enforcement agents because the search warrant was valid. See Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 762-763, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969).
. On direct examination the Government witness (a local Police Chief) testified that while he was backing out of defendant’s front door, “the door sort of closed and as I was getting out of a crouched position, the door opened and that is when the shot was fired” (N.T. 157). The defense witness (a local reporter) testified that the Police Chief had told him a few hours after the shooting, ‘T grabbed the barrel and was jmshing it downward when he pulled the trigger and the rifle fired” (X.T. 316). The reporter also testified that the Police Chief had given the following testimony nt a Magistrate’s hearing five clays after the shooting: “I then let go of the barrel and was backing out of the door when he fired the rifle. It struck the agent.” (N.T. 327).
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United States v. Boyce Mitchell, 514 F.2d 758 (6th Cir. 1975)
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United States v. VAN Orden, 469 F.2d 461 (3d Cir. 1972)
Authorities Cited (15 total)
- Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752 (U.S. 1969)
- Grosso v. United States, 390 U.S. 62 (U.S. 1968)
- United States v. Harris, 403 U.S. 573 (U.S. 1971)
- Huth v. S. Pac. Co., 417 F.2d 526 (5th Cir. 1969)
- United States v. Bozza, 365 F.2d 206 (2d Cir. 1966)
- United States v. Grosso, 358 F.2d 154 (3d Cir. 1966)
- United States v. Octabio Gerard de Larosa, 450 F.2d 1057 (3d Cir. 1971)
- Scotty Shirley Hanks v. United States, 388 F.2d 171 (10th Cir. 1968)
- Whited v. Nebraska, 393 U.S. 863 (U.S. 1968)
- United States v. Augustine Ferrone, 438 F.2d 381 (3d Cir. 1971)