Gambino v. United States, 275 U.S. 310 (1927)

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Gambino v. United States

No. 226

Argued October 12, 13, 1927
Decided December 12, 1927
275 U.S. 310

CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

Syllabus

1. The term "any officer of the law" in § 26, Title II of the National Prohibition Act, refers only to federal officers. P. 313.

2. If it appears from the evidence or from facts of which the Court will take judicial notice that, in making a search and seizure, state officers were acting solely on behalf of the United States, evidence thus obtained is inadmissible in a prosecution in a federal court if the circumstances of the search and seizure were such as to render it unlawful. P. 314.

3. Defendants were arrested by New York state troopers, their automobile (while occupied by one of them, and therefore within the protection accorded to his person) was searched without a warrant, intoxicating liquor found therein was seized, and defendants and liquor were immediately turned over to federal authorities for prosecution under the National Prohibition Act. The troopers acted without probable cause, and made the arrest, search, and seizure solely on behalf of the United States. Held, that the admission in evidence of the liquor in such prosecution violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. P. 316.

4. A conviction in a federal court resting wholly upon evidence obtained through a violation of the defendants’ constitutional rights may be reversed although the point was not properly presented in the courts below. P. 319.

16 F.2d 1016 reversed.

Certiorari, 274 U.S. 733, to a judgment of the circuit court of appeals affirming a conviction in the district court for conspiracy to import and transport liquor in violation of the National Prohibition Act.