Leininbach v. United States
Leininbach v. United States
Opinion of the Court
In the court below, Jake Leininbach was tried, convicted, and sentenced on an indictment charging him with interfering with a person authorized to make searches and seizures. Thereupon he took this appeal. The proofs tended to show that Kinsley and Flood were prohibition agents; that as such Kinsley had frequently visited the brewery of the Delaware Beverage Company near Easton, Pa.; and that he knew Leininbach, who had worked at the brewery and who had accompanied him on such inspections. About 5 a. m. on December 8, 1927, the two officers visited the brewery and inspected it, during which time Leininbaeh was present. They found everything wet and an odor of beer, but found no beer. When they came out and were about to leave, an auto started from near the brewery and an unknown man left the building about the same time. The agents followed the car some four or five hundred yards, when it turned into a driveway. They stopped at the entrance of the driveway and found a large truck projecting some four or five feet from a bam door. The truck was covered over with canvas, but, on inspection, a number of wet beer barrels were found on it which had no marks or labels upon them. There were several men on the truck. One ran away. The agents detected the smell of beer, whereupon they seized the truck for inspection, Kinsley going on it, and sending Flood to get an ebulliometer and for assistance. While Kinsley was on the truck, Leininbaeh appeared with some eight men and said: “Kinsley, I’ll give you two minutes to get off that truck, or I’ll pull you off.” Kinsley replied that he had seized the truck and was going to hold it, whereupon Leininbach and the eight men took possession of the vehicle, and he directed that it be driven from where it was in Pennsylvania over into New Jersey. While on the' journey, which extended over several miles, Kinsley showed Leininbach his credentials as a prohibition officer. He was finally grabbed by the arm and, under threat of being thrown off, left the truck, which, with its contents, was driven away.
The substantial question in this ease is whether the federal statutes afford protection to a prohibition agent in the lawful performance of his duty. The indictment was framed and the conviction was had under section 65 of the Criminal Code (18 USCA § 121), which provides that: “Whoever shall forcibly assault, resist, oppose, prevent, impede, or interfere with any officer of the customs or of the internal revenue * * * or any person authorised to make searches and seizures, in the execution of his duty, or shall rescue, attempt to rescue, or cause to be rescued, any property which has been seized by any person so aiuthorized * * * shall be imprisoned not more than ten years.”
That statute was on the books when the Congress by section 38 of title 2 of the National Prohibition Act (27 USCA § 61) authorized the Commissioner of Internal Revenue “to appoint and employ such assistants, experts, clerks, and other employees ® 'i' * as they may deem necessary for the enforcement of the provisions of this title,” and when by section 28, tit. 2 (27 USCA § 45), it provided that: “The commissioner, his assistants, agents, and inspectors, and all other officers of the United States, whose duty it is to enforce criminal laws, shall have all the power and protection in the enforcement of this chapter * * * which is conferred by law for the enforcement of existing laws relating to the manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors under the law of the United States.”
It is unnecessary to determine in this ease whether prohibition agents are officers of the customs or of the internal revenue within the words of section 65 of the Criminal Code (18 USCA § 121), for, whether or not officers of those grades, they are in given instances persons “authorized to make searches and seizures” as embraced generally and literally within the terms of that section, and we have no doubt that when the Congress by section 28 of the National Prohibition Act (27 US CA § 45) extended the protection of previous acts to those enforcing the later act, it included the protection of section 65 of the Criminal Code (18 USCA § 121) to persons “authorized to make searches and seizures,” whether such persons were revenue officers, customs officers, or officers of other grades.
Holding that in this ease the prohibition agent was entitled to protection against resistance, prevention, or interference with his work lawfully pursued, and against rescue of property lawfully seized, the next question is whether the prohibition agent at the time
The other questions involved in the case we have carefully examined and find they involve no error. The judgment below is therefore affirmed.
Reference
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- LEININBACH v. UNITED STATES
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