ROBERTO A. LANGE, District Judge.
After being indicted for one count of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon and one count of Assault Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury, Defendant Leon Donald Farlee filed a Motion to Suppress, Doc. 19, seeking to preclude admission at trial of statements Farlee made to Tribal Police Officer Jeremi Blacksmith and certain evidence seized by tribal law enforcement officers after Farlee's arrest. Doc. 29 at 1. Magistrate Judge Mark Moreno held a hearing on September 19, 2012, and heard testimony from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Police Detectives Russell Leaf and Larry LeBeau as well as from Officer Blacksmith. On October 9, 2012, 2012 WL 6093510, Judge Moreno issued a Report and Recommendation, Doc. 48, recommending that Farlee's Motion to Suppress be denied. The Report and Recommendation was served upon the parties as required by 28 U.S.C. § 636 and Farlee timely objected, Doc. 51.
In considering a magistrate judge's recommendation on a dispositive matter, such as a motion to suppress evidence, a district court must make a "de novo determination of those portions of the report or ... recommendations to which objection is made." 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). This Court has conducted a de novo review of the record. For the reasons explained below, this Court adopts the Report and Recommendation with certain qualifications.
Around 11:00 p.m., on March 31, 2012, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Police Department Officers, in response to a 911 call, went to Leslie Oakie's trailer in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, which is within Indian country on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe's Reservation. Doc. 22-4 at 1. Tribal police officers found Merton Eaton lying on the Oakie trailer's floor with multiple facial lacerations and head injuries. Doc. 22-4 at 1. Eaton's injuries were severe and he was air-lifted to Rapid City Regional Hospital for treatment. Doc. 22-4 at 1.
Later that night, Officer Blacksmith responded to a separate, unrelated call from Alvina Circle Bear's trailer. T.
Officer Blacksmith finished handcuffing Farlee and transported him first to the
Sometime in the next day or two, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Detective Russell Leaf went to the Oakie trailer and observed evidence of blood coming down the outside front door and blood in the trailer's interior. T. 9. Detective Leaf determined that blood samples should be taken. T. 9. Detective Leaf called Leslie Oakie on the phone and received her oral consent to search her trailer, but Detective Leaf was out of town for training. T. 9; T. 11. After obtaining Oakie's oral consent to search her trailer, Detective Leaf called Detective Larry LeBeau around 11:00 a.m on the morning of April 3. T. 11; T. 30-32. Detective Leaf told Detective LeBeau that Oakie had consented to a search of her trailer and that Detective LeBeau should go to the house and take blood samples from the door and the windows. T. 11; T. 38. Detective LeBeau went to the Oakie trailer and collected blood swabs from its exterior. T. 32.
Later on April 3, around 4:15 p.m., Detective LeBeau went back to Leslie Oakie's trailer. Doc 30-31. Shortly after Detective LeBeau arrived, Oakie and some of her family members returned home. T. 29-31. Oakie signed a consent form Detective LeBeau provided her that allowed him to search and seize certain evidence from her trailer. T. 29-31; Doc. 22-5. Detective LeBeau then searched the interior of the trailer, took blood swabs from its interior, and seized a knife from inside the trailer. Doc. 18-19.
Meanwhile, Farlee was still in jail in Eagle Butte. Detective LeBeau applied for and received two tribal search warrants. The first warrant, issued on April 3, was to seize Farlee's boots, which jail personnel had collected upon Farlee's entry into the jail. Doc. 22-4 at 2. The second warrant, issued on April 4, was to gather a sample of Farlee's saliva. Doc. 22-5 at 2. Detective LeBeau submitted an affidavit in his application for each warrant. Doc. 22-4 at 1; Doc. 22-5 at 2. In support of the warrant for the boots, Detective LeBeau stated that "[f]he investigation revealed Leon D. Farlee ... did assault Merton Eaton with his fist and shod feet" and that "[t]he investigation revealed Mr. Leon D. Farlee at the time of the assault against Eaton was wearing a pair of brown western style (cowboy) boots." Doc 22-4 at 1. In support of the warrant for Farlee's saliva, LaBeau's affidavit states that the investigation led the officers to suspect Farlee and that Farlee's "boots did have a dark red substance on the both boots in the toe area that may be blood." Doc. 22-5 at 3. Detective LeBeau did not conduct the investigation he referenced in the affidavit, but drafted the affidavits based on what Detective Leaf had told him. T. 36. Judge Karen Jeffries of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Children's Court signed both warrants. T. 36-38; Doc. 22-4 at 3; Doc. 22-5 at 2. Detective LeBeau testified that he handed Judge Jeffries the warrants and affidavits, she looked them over, and she signed them. T. 40. Based on these warrants, Detective LeBeau seized Farlee's boots and took buccal samples. T. 19-20; T. 25.
On April 10, 2012, a federal grand jury indicted Farlee with two counts of assaulting Eaton: one for assault with a dangerous
Farlee made five objections to the Report and Recommendation: (1) Farlee argues that the questioning by Officer Jeremi Blacksmith of Farlee was an interrogation for Miranda purposes; (2) Farlee argues that his statements to Officer Blacksmith were involuntary; (3) Farlee argues the validity of the consent obtained by tribal police officers to search the alleged crime scene; (4) Farlee argues that the search warrant was defective because it was conclusory and lacked detail; and (5) Farlee argues that, assuming there was an absence of probable cause supporting the warrant, the good faith exception to the warrant requirement does not apply. For the reasons explained below, the Report and Recommendation is adopted with qualifications.
Judge Moreno concluded that Farlee's statements to Officer Blacksmith about his arm injury were not the product of an interrogation and need not be suppressed for a failure to give Miranda warnings. Farlee objects to this conclusion.
The United States Supreme Court held in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), that any time a person is taken into custody for questioning they must be advised of their Fifth Amendment right to be free from self-incrimination in order "to counteract the `inherently compelling pressures' of custodial interrogation." Arizona v. Roberson, 486 U.S. 675, 681, 108 S.Ct. 2093, 100 L.Ed.2d 704 (1988) (quoting Miranda, 384 U.S. at 467, 86 S.Ct. 1602). Miranda warnings are required prior to questioning "whenever a suspect is (1) interrogated (2) while in custody." United States v. Griffin, 922 F.2d 1343, 1347 (8th Cir.1990). "Interrogation" is the "direct questioning [by a law enforcement officer] or any practice reasonably likely to evoke an incriminating response from a suspect." Griffin, 922 F.2d at 1347 (citing Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 301, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980)).
This Court adopts the Report and Recommendation on this matter because Blacksmith's questioning did not amount to an interrogation. Officer Blacksmith was not aware of the Eaton assault and was arresting Farlee at the time on a different matter. Officer Blacksmith was not interrogating Farlee when he asked Farlee what happened to his arm after Farlee asked Officer Blacksmith to watch out for the arm. Officer Blacksmith was not attempting to evoke an incriminating response, but trying to determine the nature and extent of Farlee's arm injury that Farlee brought to Officer Blacksmith's attention. Because Officer Blacksmith's inquiry was not an "interrogation" for Miranda purposes, no Miranda warnings were required. Farlee's statement about cutting his arm on a wire panel fence will not be suppressed under Miranda.
Farlee next argues that the statement made to Officer Blacksmith about his arm injury was involuntarily coerced and, therefore, inadmissible under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Fifth Amendment prohibits the use of involuntary statements at trial. See United States v. LeBrun, 363 F.3d 715, 720 (8th Cir.2004). "A statement
This Court adopts the Report and Recommendation on this issue because there was no coercive or overreaching police activity sufficient to render Farlee's statements involuntary. There is no evidence that Officer Blacksmith did anything coercive when he arrested Farlee. Officer Blacksmith made no threats toward Farlee — a 39-year-old with a high school degree — that would impair Farlee's capacity for self-determination. Farlee called attention to his injury and Officer Blacksmith inquired as to its cause and severity to be in a better position to avoid further harming Farlee and to obtain any necessary treatment. Officer Blacksmith then took Farlee to the hospital. Farlee's statements were voluntary, and the Government has met its burden to show that the statements comported with due process requirements. Farlee's statements to Officer Blacksmith will not be suppressed.
Farlee contests the validity of consent given by Oakie on two separate occasions to tribal police officers to search her trailer.
The police may enter and search a person's house after receiving the voluntary consent of that person. United States v. Spotted Elk, 548 F.3d 641, 652 (8th Cir.2008); see also Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 219, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973) ("It is equally well settled that one of the specifically established exceptions to the requirements of both a warrant and probable cause is a search that is conducted pursuant to consent."). There is no requirement that the person giving consent be advised that she can refuse to give consent. United States
Judge Moreno concluded with some hesitation that the tribal search warrants that led to the seizure of Farlee's boots and saliva were validly based on probable cause set forth in the applications for those warrants. Farlee challenges this conclusion.
The Warrant Clause of the Fourth Amendment requires that warrants (1) be issued by a neutral and detached judge; (2) contain a particular description of "the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized"; and (3) be based "upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation." Dalia v. United States, 441 U.S. 238, 255, 99 S.Ct. 1682, 60 L.Ed.2d 177 (1979); see also U.S. Const amend. IV. The third requirement for a valid warrant — probable cause based on an affirmation — is at issue here. "Probable cause exists, if under the totality of the circumstances, a showing of facts can be made sufficient to create a fair probability that evidence of a crime will be found in the place to be searched." United States v. Wallace, 550 F.3d 729, 732 (8th Cir.2008) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). When evaluating whether probable cause supported the issuance of a warrant, a court is to assess the "totality-of-the-circumstances" including the "`veracity' and `basis of knowledge' of persons supplying hearsay information." Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238-39, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983). A reviewing court "is simply to ensure that the magistrate had a `substantial basis for ... conclud[ing]' that probable cause existed." Id. (quoting Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 271, 80 S.Ct. 725, 4 L.Ed.2d 697 (1960)). A court's review should be "flexible" and not "hypertechnical," but the affidavit "must provide the magistrate with a substantial basis for determining the existence of probable cause." Id. at 236, 239, 103 S.Ct. 2317. And "wholly conclusory statement[s]" fail to meet this standard. Id. at 239, 103 S.Ct. 2317.
Detective LeBeau submitted an affidavit on April 3, 2012, to a tribal court judge to obtain a search warrant to seize Farlee's boots, and a second affidavit on April 4, 2012, to obtain a search warrant for a saliva sample from Farlee. Doc. 22-4; Doc. 22-5. The entirety of the text of the affidavit supporting the search warrant for Farlee's boots was the following:
Doc. 22-4 at 1. Detective LeBeau's second affidavit and application for a search warrant submitted on April 4, 2012, contained the same language, but included two more details. The second affidavit added information about a dark red substance, possibly blood, being found on the exterior of the door and window of the Leslie Oakie home where Eaton had been assaulted. Doc. 22-5 at 3. The second affidavit also stated that the pair of boots worn by Farlee had been confiscated and a "dark red substance on the [sic] both boots in the toe area that may be blood." Doc. 22-5 at 3.
The Gates Supreme Court decision guides the determination of when an affidavit is too conclusory to support issuance of a warrant. In Gates, the Court reviewed its jurisprudence as follows:
Gates, 462 U.S. at 239, 103 S.Ct. 2317.
Both of Detective LeBeau's affidavits in support of the warrants state that an "investigation revealed" that Farlee assaulted Eaton with his fists and feet. Detective LeBeau's affidavits do not, directly or indirectly, provide any information by which a judge could discern how or why Farlee became a suspect.
An issuing judge "may draw reasonable inferences ... in determining whether probable cause exists." Wallace, 550 F.3d at 732. After all, affidavits "are normally drafted by nonlawyers in the midst and haste of a criminal investigation." United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 108, 85 S.Ct. 741, 13 L.Ed.2d 684 (1965). Here, the tribal judge could infer that the tribal police had knowledge that an assault resulting in serious bodily injury occurred based on the police responding to the call and involvement in transporting the victim Eaton for medical care. See Doc. 22-4. The first affidavit contains information by which the tribal court judge could discern the importance of seizing the
In recommending the warrants be upheld, Judge Moreno stated "although not completely free from doubt or debate, LeBeau's affidavits provided sufficiently reliable information" because the issuing judge could reasonably infer that the investigating officers obtained their information through reliable sources. Doc. 48 at 13. Judge Moreno cited to a few cases where search warrants were found to have detailed enough facts to support a probable cause determination. Doc. 48 at 13 n. 35. In each of these cases, the affidavits contained some greater explanation of factual information gained in the investigation than did Detective LeBeau's affidavit. See United States v. Reed, 700 F.2d 638, 641-42, 641 n. 1 (11th Cir.1983) (upholding probable cause determination because the affidavit thoroughly described the facts gathered in the investigation and the facts gathered were based upon the affiant's personal observation or observation of fellow officials); State v. Willits, 413 So.2d 791, 792-93, 795 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1982) (upholding probable cause determination when affidavit furnished an "abundance of detail" about facts gathered in an investigation and "the affiant or his sources came about their information in a reliable way"); State v. Jaroma, 128 N.H. 423, 514 A.2d 1274, 1278 (1986) (upholding probable cause determination after an investigation of a check-kiting scheme when a citizen eyewitness gave evidence and the police listed specific facts gathered from the investigation).
Unlike in Reed, Willits, and Jaroma, Detective LeBeau's affidavits contained no information to connect Farlee to the assault of Eaton other than the bald statement that it was what the "investigation revealed." If there had been some information in the affidavit as to how the investigation so revealed — whether by Farlee being found there, the victim blaming Farlee, some eyewitness to the assault, someone seeing Farlee and the victim together close in time to the assault, or some statement or admission attributable to Farlee — the result would be to adopt Judge Moreno's recommendation. However, Detective LeBeau's affidavits contained no such information, so the warrants should not have been issued by the tribal judge without further inquiry or information on why Farlee was the suspect in the assault.
Judge Moreno recommended that even if the warrant was found to lack probable cause, the evidence need not be suppressed because of the applicability of the good-faith exception to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement as set forth by United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984) and its progeny. Doc 48 at 14. Farlee objected to this conclusion. Doc. 51.
When violations of the warrant requirement occur, the Exclusionary Rule operates as "a judicially created remedy designed to safeguard Fourth Amendment rights generally through its deterrent effect, rather than a personal constitutional right of the party aggrieved." Leon, 468 U.S. at 906, 104 S.Ct. 3405. In Leon, the Supreme Court articulated a good-faith exception to the Exclusionary Rule. Id. at 922, 104 S.Ct. 3405. Under the exception, the Exclusionary Rule is not to "be applied to exclude the use of evidence obtained by officers acting in reasonable reliance on a detached and neutral magistrate judge's determination of probable cause in the issuance of a search warrant that is ultimately found to be invalid." United States v. Taylor, 119 F.3d 625, 629 (8th Cir.1997) (citing Leon, 468 U.S. at 905, 922, 104 S.Ct. 3405); see also United States v. Gipp, 147 F.3d 680, 688 (8th Cir.1998) (applying the Leon good-faith exception to a tribal search warrant). The Supreme Court explained the rationale behind the good-faith exception in this manner:
Leon, 468 U.S. at 921, 104 S.Ct. 3405 (internal quotation and citation omitted).
"The Exclusionary Rule is designed to deter police misconduct rather than to punish the errors of judges and magistrates." Id. at 916, 104 S.Ct. 3405. "[S]uppression of evidence obtained pursuant to a warrant should be ordered only on a case-by-case basis and only in those unusual cases in which exclusion will further the purposes of the exclusionary rule." United States v. Hessman, 369 F.3d 1016, 1021 (8th Cir.2004) (citing Leon, 468 U.S. at 918, 104 S.Ct. 3405). The good-faith exception does not exclude evidence when an officer's reliance on a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate is objectively reasonable. Leon, 468 U.S. at 922, 104 S.Ct. 3405. An officer's reliance is not objectively reasonable, and the good-faith exception does not apply, in four circumstances: (1) when the issuing judge is misled by information that is false or made in reckless disregard for the truth; (2) when the issuing judge completely abandons her judicial role; (3) when the information provided to the judge includes so little indicia of probable cause that the officer's belief in its existence is entirely unreasonable; and (4) when the warrant is so facially deficient, i.e., in failing to particularize the place to be searched or the things to be seized, that the executing officer cannot reasonably presume it to be valid. Id. at 923, 104 S.Ct. 3405; see also Hessman, 369 F.3d at 1020 (noting these four situations).
Here, the issuing judge signed both warrants after she read the affidavits submitted by Detective LeBeau. Although probable cause did not exist based on the terse and conclusory nature of the affidavits, this Court cannot conclude Judge Jeffries abandoned her judicial role. Both the issuing judge and Judge Moreno believed the information contained in the affidavits were sufficiently reliable upon which to base a probable cause determination. Whether probable cause existed based on the affidavits to justify the issuance of these warrants is not an easy determination. The issuing judge should have been more demanding of the affiant, inquired into the basis for the conclusory assertions in the affidavits, and required more facts before issuing the warrants. But the issuing judge did not abandon her judicial role by approving these warrants under the circumstances of this case. Cf. Swift, 720 F.Supp.2d at 1058-59.
Under the third circumstance listed in Leon for refusal to apply the good-faith exception, "[e]vidence should be suppressed only if the affiant-officer could not have harbored an objectively reasonable belief in the existence of probable cause." United States v. Gibson, 928 F.2d 250, 254 (8th Cir.1991) (citing Leon, 468 U.S. at 921-23, 104 S.Ct. 3405). The Leon inquiry "is confined to the objectively ascertainable question whether a reasonably well trained officer would have known that the search was illegal" in light of all of the circumstances. Leon, 468 U.S. at 922 n. 23, 104 S.Ct. 3405. This rule was not fashioned to provide incentives for detectives to write better search warrants, but "to deter unlawful police conduct" by suppressing evidence gained from a search the officer knew to be unconstitutional. Id. at 918-19, 104 S.Ct. 3405.
In this case, Detective LeBeau based his affidavits on information relayed to him by Detective Leaf. Detective Leaf had begun the investigation and had information to reasonably suspect that Farlee assaulted Eaton. Detective LeBeau, at the request of Detective Leaf, collected blood samples and seized a knife from the alleged crime scene. Detective LeBeau could and should have provided more facts in his affidavit seeking the search warrants. But under
Thus, this is not one of those "unusual cases in which exclusion will further the purposes of the exclusionary rule" because the judge did not completely abandon her judicial role and the search was not objectively unconstitutional. Leon, 468 U.S. at 918, 104 S.Ct. 3405. This Court adopts Judge Moreno's Report and Recommendation in refusing to suppress the physical evidence because the good faith exception to the warrant requirement applies.
For the foregoing reasons, it is hereby
ORDERED that the Report and Recommendation, Doc. 48, is adopted in part by this Court. It is further
ORDERED that the Defendant's Objections, Doc. 51, to the Report and Recommendation are overruled except for the objection to whether there was sufficient probable cause set forth in the affidavit and application for the search warrant. Finally, it is hereby
ORDERED that the Motion to Suppress, Doc. 19, is denied.