Summary
The Maryland Court of Appeals considered whether an affidavit established probable cause for a search warrant issued in connection with alleged bookmaking activities. The court held that the warrant sufficiently described the appellant and that, even assuming the automobile-search provision was invalid, the warrant remained valid as to the appellant, whose search and arrest were supported by probable cause. The judgment of conviction was affirmed.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the affidavit supplied probable cause to search the automobile described in the warrant.
- Whether an invalid authorization to search the automobile rendered the entire warrant void.
- Whether the warrant sufficiently described the person to be searched.
- Whether the evidence obtained from Giordano was admissible under the Bouse Act and the state constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and general warrants.
- Whether officers could search Giordano and seize gambling-related articles found on his person after his lawful arrest under the warrant.
Holdings
- Assuming without deciding that the affidavit did not establish probable cause to search the automobile, that defect did not invalidate the warrant's separate authorization to search the specifically described person when the application supplied reasonable grounds to believe that person was committing the crime.
- The description of Giordano as a white man of approximately forty years, five feet six inches tall, weighing approximately 175 pounds, and identifiable by Patrolman Taylor described him with reasonable particularity as required by Maryland law.
- The application established probable cause to search the described person because the officer's observations of betting statements and the transfer of money amounted to more than mere suspicion or possibility that the person was engaged in gambling operations.
- Once Giordano was lawfully arrested under the warrant, officers could search him and seize incriminating articles connected with the crime that were found on his person or within his immediate use, control, and possession.
Key quotations
“the recitations in the application for the search warrant that the affiant overheard the appellant receive a bet on a horse and on a number, and the sight of money passed to him, certainly amounted to more than suspicion or possibility that the appellant was engaged in gambling operations” (181)
“When appellant was lawfully arrested under the search warrant the officers were authorized to search him and seize the incriminating articles connected with the crime, either as its fruits or the means by which it was committed, found upon his person or within his use and immediate control and possession.” (182)
Factual background
A police officer observed apparent betting activity near a bench in Patterson Park, including the exchange of money and betting-related statements, and traced the suspected bookmaker to an automobile registered to Mary C. Giordano. A warrant authorized a search of the automobile and of a specifically described white man identified by the observing officer. Several days later, officers identified Giordano, observed another man hand him betting slips, and obtained the slips from Giordano after telling him they had a search-and-seizure warrant. A search later uncovered cash, additional betting information, and an Armstrong Scratch Sheet.
Procedural history
Giordano was tried before the trial judge sitting without a jury and was convicted on three bookmaking counts. He challenged the validity of the search warrant and the admissibility of evidence obtained under it, and appealed to the Court of Appeals of Maryland. The appellate court affirmed the judgment.