C. LYNWOOD SMITH, JR., District Judge.
This case is before the court on defendant Donaldo Figueroa-Cruz's "Motion to Suppress" (doc. 28), "Amended Motion to Suppress" (doc. 30), and "Further Motion to Suppress" (doc. 37). After holding an evidentiary hearing, the magistrate judge entered his findings and recommendation on August 2, 2012 (doc. 47). Defendant filed a "Notice of Appeal From Magistrate to District Judge" on August 7, 2012 (doc. 49).
Upon consideration of the entire record in this case, the court hereby ADOPTS the findings of the magistrate judge as the findings of this court, and ACCEPTS his recommendation. Accordingly, the motions to suppress (docs. 28, 30, and 37) filed by defendant Donaldo Figueroa-Cruz are DENIED.
PAUL W. GREENE, United States Chief Magistrate Judge.
On July 6, 2012 Donaldo Figueroa-Cruz filed an amended Motion to Suppress evidence seized during seized by law enforcement officers from a home in Birmingham, Alabama on October 5, 2011. (Doc. # 30). On July 17th he filed a second amendment. (Doc. 37) The motions are related to evidence seized by the government during an investigation into drug trafficking in the Northern District of Alabama. The investigation began in August and resulted in the arrest of the defendant and others in early October. The Government has submitted a response to each motion. (Docs. # 29 & 40) In the amended motion Mr. Figueroa anticipated the legal arguments later made in the government's response. (Doc. # 30 see unnumbered pages 2-6) A hearing on the motion began on Thursday July 19th and was reconvened and concluded on Monday July 23rd. The issues are joined and the matter is ripe for disposition. The motions are before the undersigned Magistrate Judge upon the June 25th reference of United States District Judge C. Lynwood Smith in accord with 28 U.S.C. 636(b)(1)(B); L.R. 72.1(b)(1)(B); see also United States v. Raddatz, 447 U.S. 667, 100 S.Ct. 2406, 65 L.Ed.2d 424 (1980); United States v. Powell, 628 F.3d 1254, 1256 (11th Cir.2010)
Mr. Figueroa's amended motions implicate two separate Fourth Amendment principles governing the seizure of evidence for use in a criminal prosecution. The first, is the newly announced rule that the act of attaching a GPS tracking device
Mr. Figueroa's first amended motion asserted, inter alia that he had ". . . driven[a] vehicle in the time prior to his arrest. . ." to which the government had attached a GPS tracking device without authority of a warrant and further that ". . . [he had done so] as a bailee and with the permission of the
The second amended motion also asserted that Mr. Figueroa seeks to suppress evidence discovered by the government ". . . [o]nly after [an] illegal entry and arrest of the defendant . . ." (Doc. # 37 p. 1) The defendant maintained that while agents had obtained a search warrant from a state court judge for the residence in which he was found law enforcement officers had previously and unlawfully entered the dwelling before the warrant was actually issued.
Special Agent Sean Stephens of the Drug Enforcement Agency was the only witness called by either party. Stephens was the Case Agent and it was Stephens who made certain decisions which give rise to the issues addressed below. For the purposes of this order the facts set out below are presumed to be undisputed. To the extent that there may be an actual dispute of fact as opposed to a mere dispute over the significance of a fact or the effect that fact upon a legal conclusion, the factual findings below are based upon the undersigned's assessment of the credibility of the witness. The existence of the fact is not subject to de novo review if adequately supported by the record absent a new hearing before an Article III judge. Powell, 628 F.3d at 1256-57 The legal conclusions, however are entitled to no presumption and are subject to a review de novo. The facts are as follows.
(1) In August 2011 law enforcement officers in the Austin Texas area arrested two people in possession of in excess of 5 Kilograms of heroin. (Tr. 7/23/12 pp. 72-75)
(2) Agents in Texas relayed the information received from the CS to agents in Birmingham including S.A. Stephens on August 23rd or 24th. (Tr. 7/19/12 p. 12) Using a map drawn by the CS Birmingham agents located the Apartment at 310 Beacon Crest Parkway. Agents could view the interior of the apartment through an open window. The unit appeared to
(3) Agents conducted sporadic visual surveillance on the Jetta but were never able to observe anyone drive or even approached the car. (Tr. 7/19/12 p. 17) After a time agents "[d]ecided to put a GPS tracker on the vehicle in the hopes that whenever somebody did drive it off, [they] would be able to track the movements of the vehicle." (Id.) On September 20th, 2012 Detective Brock of the Hoover Police Department attached a self-powered GPS tracking device to the Jetta while it was in the parking lot of the Willows Apartment complex. (Tr. 7/19/12 p. 18)
(4) At the time the GPS device was attached agents had information that (1) the Jetta was registered to Hosea Cueverra Ugartae at 310 Beacon Crest Drive in Homewood, Alabama (2) that it had been driven by a heavy set Hispanic male and (3) that the Jetta was available for use by the drivers of the "load cars" during the period of time the unidentified Hispanic male had possession of the vehicle which contained the drugs which had been transported from Texas. Agents had never seen anyone drive the Jetta after it was located at the Willow Apartment complex. They had no information to suggest that the Jetta had ever been driven by Donaldo Figueroa-Cruz although they knew from official sources that the vehicle was not registered to anyone by that name and was not registered to anyone known to be living at the Willow Apartment complex. (Tr. 7/19/12 p. 16)
5. Agents continued physical surveillance on the Jetta after the GPS was attached and never saw Donaldo Figueroa-Cruz or anyone else in the car until September 25th. On that date Hoover Detective Brock was in the area of the Willow Apartments and received a signal from the GPS unit that the Jetta was in motion. (Tr. 7/19/12) Brock contacted a Hoover patrol unit and instructed the officers to stop the vehicle if they observed the driver commit a traffic violation. (Tr. 7/19/12 p. 20, p. 48-49)
6. On October 4th, nine days after the traffic stop and fifteen days after agents began to monitor the GPS device they received a signal indicating that the Jetta was located in the parking lot of Walmart store in on Lakeshore drive in Homewood. (Tr. 7/19/12 p. 21, p. 45) Agents knew from experience as well as from information received from the CS in Texas that the parking lots of large stores were locations favored by drug dealers in which to pick up or drop off a drug courier vehicle. (Tr. 7/19/12 p. 22) After observing that no one was in the Jetta Special Agent Stephens entered the Walmart store. In the store he saw a heavy set Hispanic male purchasing a large quantity of FoodSaver brand heat sealing bags. (Id.) At the time the agents did not know the man's name but he was identified the following day as Donaldo Figueroa-Cruz. Sealing bags such as those the defendant purchased in bulk were known to Stephens to be used by drug dealers to seal and package drugs as well as bulk currency for transport. (Tr. 7/19/12 p. 23) The defendant left the store and got into the green Jetta. This was the first time agents could link Figueroa to the vehicle. After the defendant left the store agents followed him to an auto parts store, a Mexican restaurant and then to the Willow Apartments where the Jetta had been parked when the GPS unit has been attached. (Tr. 7/19/12 p. 24)
7. On the following morning October 5th at approximately 8:00 am Agent Stephens was monitoring the GPS tracker and saw that the Jetta was moving. Using information from the device he went to the location where the Jetta had become stationary which proved to be the parking lot of a Howard Johnson motel on Oxmoor Road near the interstate highway in Homewood. (Tr. 7/19/12 p. 25) When he arrived at the motel Special Agent Stephens saw not only the green Jetta but also a gray Lexus with Texas licence plates. Stephens contacted agents in Austin Texas and confirmed that the Lexus was the same car that had been driven by the CS when he/she received a traffic ticket while transporting heroin from Texas to Alabama. (Tr. 7/19/12 p. 26) At approximately 8:30 am the defendant, who was still unidentified came out of a motel room and drove away in the Jetta. He returned to the Willow Apartments where he was observed by Detective Brock entering the second floor common area which provided access to multiple units.
8. Agents maintaining visual surveillance on the gray Lexus followed the vehicle to a house located at 1156 Skyline Drive in Birmingham, Alabama. (Tr. 7/19/12 p. 29) The Lexus was parked in the driveway of the house in front of a basement garage. (Id.) Agents were unable to keep a constant visual surveillance on the Lexus because the location, but were able to establish a close perimeter on all access streets to ensure that it could not leave the house without being observed. (Id.) Despite the limitations on surveillance an agent was able to position himself so that he could see one side and a portion of the rear of the house. (Id.) During a drive-by surveillance of the house agents saw that the Lexus was no longer in the driveway and concluded that because it could not have left the area with having been seen it must have been moved into the basement garage. (Tr. 7/19/12 pp. 28-29)
9. At 10:30 am a white Toyota SUV arrived at the house and parked in the rear. Approximately four minutes later the Toyota left. Agents on the scene asked Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputies to conduct a "traffic stop" of the Toyota.
10. At 1:00 or 1:30 pm agents on the scene dispatched another agent to begin work on an affidavit in support of a search warrant for the house on Skyline
11. Beginning at 1:00 or 1:30 pm and continuing through the Traffic stop of the Black Jeep which began shortly after 3:10 pm agent Stephens was in communication with the agent charged with the task of preparing the search warrant affidavit. Stephens was providing the agent with updates on the activity at the house including the fact that a number of people were coming and going.(Tr. 7/19/12 pp. 35-36) While drug agents could observe the traffic stop they were not actually involved. The Sheriff's deputies actually engaged in the traffic stop were in communication with those agents and information about the progress of the traffic encounter was passed on to Agent Stephens at the house. After about an hour Stephens was told that the deputies had completed all of the tasks related to the stop including the arrest of the passenger. Stephens was told that because the basis for the stop no longer existed the deputies were about to release McGowan and his remaining passenger. (Tr. 7/19/12 p. 36;pp. 54-56) Stephens believed that since the deputies had discovered and seized the money it was probable either McGowan or his passenger would use a cell phone to alert the occupants of the house as soon as they were released. (Id.) Because he was concerned that the occupants of the house would soon know of the presence of the agents outside Stephens made the decision to have agents enter the house to "secure the scene" while waiting for the warrant to authorize a search. It was Stephens' intention to "knock and announce" but also to force entry into the house if no one answered the door. (Tr. 7/19/12 p. 37) At 4:18 pm agents knocked on the door and entered the house without a warrant. (Tr. 7/19/12 p. 38) They went into the house on the first floor and saw a set of stairs leading to the basement. Stephens went downstairs
The Fourth Amendment protects "[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures." Not all intrusions violate the Fourth Amendment—only "unreasonable" ones do. As the Supreme Court has specifically observed, "`reasonableness is still the ultimate standard' under the Fourth Amendment." Soldal v. Cook County, 506 U.S. 56, 71, 113 S.Ct. 538, 121 L.Ed.2d 450 (1992) (quoting Camara v. Municipal Court of San Francisco, 387 U.S. 523, 539, 87 S.Ct. 1727, 18 L.Ed.2d 930 (1967)).
In recent decades when deciding a Fourth Amendment question courts have been charged with providing for a remedy, usually through the exclusionary rule "when government officers violate a person's `reasonable expectation of privacy.'" United States v. Jones, ___ U.S. ___, ___, 132 S.Ct. 945, 950, 181 L.Ed.2d 911 (2012). In addition to considering a "reasonable expectation of privacy", as it has recently been explained that there is apparently also "a particular concern for government trespass upon the areas (`persons, houses, papers, and effects') [the Fourth Amendment] enumerates." Id. In rediscovering the trespassory origins of the Fourth Amendment the Jones majority observed that the more recently adopted "reasonable-expectation-of-privacy test has been added to, not substituted for, the common-law trespassory test." id. at 952.
This property-based trespass analysis alters the matrix most frequently applied in the assessment of Fourth Amendment issues because questions of ownership or the existence a legally cognizable property interest have not generally been considered of controlling analytical importance when determining whether an expectation of privacy in a place or thing is reasonable. Under the reasonable expectation of privacy test ownership, [and presumably a legal bailment] while perhaps factors to be considered, are not dispositive. United States v. Chaves, 169 F.3d 687, 690 (11th Cir. 1999); United States v. Ramos, 12 F.3d 1019, 1023 (11th Cir.1994). It has been generally accepted since Katz that "even where a defendant does not own the property searched, he or she may nonetheless have a reasonable expectation of privacy in that place by virtue of his or her relationship with that place." Chaves, 169 F.3d at 690. In Jones however, the attachment of the GPS device only becomes a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment precisely because of an actual property interest.
It is significant that the Court expressly relied upon the undisputed fact that Antoine Jones had been determined by the District and Circuit Courts to have been the "exclusive driver" of the vehicle upon which the government trespassed in attaching the GPS device when finding he had "standing" to assert a claim of trespass. Unlike an "expectation of privacy" the holding of Jones is implicated only when the defendant first establishes a legally cognizable property interest. If that were not the threshold requirement the Court would have held, as the four concurring justices would have held, that Jones had a constitutionally protected reasonable expectation of privacy in his movements and tracking those movement violated the Fourth Amendment protection. The Court did not decide that question. Indeed Justice Alito pointed to the very circumstance to be found in the present case when he wrote
Jones, 132 S.Ct. at 961
Here unlike Jones the government does not concede Mr. Figueroa's claim of a cognizable property interest. It is also important to observe the Figueroa has produced no evidence of any kind to support his assertion of a bailment. While is not clear what quantum of proof is required to establish the contested fact of a bailment it would seem a fundamental notion that Figueroa bears the burden of producing it. The only evidence on the question is as follows. (1) Agents in Birmingham had information that a criminal organization ring based in Austin Texas transported large quantities of illegal drugs to Birmingham, Alabama using a number of "load cars" driven by couriers who did not own the vehicles. (2) Agents knew that a CS had driven one load to Birmingham in a gray Lexus known to be owned by someone else. (3) The drivers of the "load cars" would meet a heavy set Hispanic male who drove a green Jetta who would then drive the "load car" away leaving the green Jetta for the use of the "load car" driver. (4) The green Jetta was registered to Hosea Cueverra Ugartae at 310 Beacon Crest Lane in Homewood, Alabama an apartment agents knew to be empty before the green Jetta was located.
In United States v. Luna-Santillanes, 2012 WL 1019601 (E.D.Mich.2012) the district court citing Jones, supra rejected a claim similar to that asserted by Figueroa because the defendant failed to produce ". . . evidence showing either an ownership or contractual interest in any of these vehicles or exclusivity of such use. . . ." (Id. at **7) Mr. Figueroa has likewise offered no proof of exclusivity, indicia of ownership or even an unqualified permission to use the Jetta.
Moreover, there is absolutely no proof that Figueroa-Cruz was in possession of the Jetta at the time the device was attached. To be sure the GPS tracker was attached while the vehicle was in the parking lot of an apartment complex where Figueroa was later seen. At the time the device was attached on September 20th, however no one had been observed in or around the Jetta. Five days after that Benitez was driving the vehicle. Four days after Benetiz the Jetta was driven by "Gotto". Six day later it was driven by one of the men who drove the Lexus from Texas.
Mr. Figueroa contends that the "recording device . . . was significant in bringing about the search and seizure of the contraband which is the basis for the charges . . ." (Doc. # 30 p. 1) He therefore "moves for an order suppressing any and all contraband, currency and other matters found or located in the residence where this defendant was arrested." (Id. p. 6) Presumably Figueroa contends that if there had been an unconstitutional trespass when the GPS tracker was attached to the Jetta all evidence of any kind obtained after that point is due to be suppressed, though he does not explain why that would be so.
Only two events involving Mr. Figueroa came to light from the attachment of the GPS to the Jetta on September 20th. First, because of the GPS signal the agents knew that the Jetta was in the parking lot of the Walmart store on October 4th. Because they were in the parking lot agents were able to enter the store and see a man matching a description given to them by the CS in Texas weeks before buying items they knew to be favored by drug traffickers to package drugs and currency. Only after he left the store were they able to connect the man they saw to the Jetta, a vehicle they also knew from other sources to be linked to the drug trade. Although they did not learn his name agents learned of the identity of Mr. Figueroa during this encounter. If this knowledge of the defendant's identity is considered evidence it is not subject to suppression as a matter of law. The Eleventh Circuit has squarely held that "the exclusionary rule does not apply to evidence to establish the defendant's identity in a criminal prosecution." United States v. Farias-Gonzalez, 556 F.3d 1181, 1189 (11th Cir.2009) see also United States v. Lopez-Garcia, 565 F.3d 1306, 1320 (11th Cir.2009).
The second event occurred the following day of October 5th. Again because of the GPS signal agents learned that the Jetta, but not necessarily Mr. Figueroa was at the Howard Johnson motel. When they arrived at the motel they saw not only the Jetta but also the gray Lexus. Agents had independent and verified information that the Lexus was a "load car". Only after they saw the Jetta and the Lexus in the parking lot did they see Figueroa come out of room and drive away in the Jetta. From that point forward Figueroa and the Hispanic males at the motel were kept under visual surveillance by the agents. Figueroa was followed while driving the Lexus, not the Jetta to the Skyline Drive address. After the Lexus arrived at the Skyline Drive house agents observed known drug dealers coming and going.
The exclusionary rule generally requires the exclusion of evidence that is "directly" or "primarily" discovered as the result of an unlawful search. 6 Wayne R. LaFave, Search and Seizure § 11.4 (4th ed.2004). Stated another way, the exclusionary rule prohibits the "introduction into evidence of tangible materials seized during an unlawful search, and of testimony concerning knowledge acquired during an unlawful search." Murray v. United States, 487 U.S. 533, 536, 108 S.Ct. 2529, 101 L.Ed.2d 472 (1988) Despite the apparent breadth of the exclusionary rule, it is not without limitations. Indeed, suppression of evidence should not be a court's first impulse. Hudson v. Michigan, 547 U.S. 586, 591, 126 S.Ct. 2159, 165 L.Ed.2d 56 (2006). "[E]xclusion may not be premised on the mere fact that a constitutional violation was a `but-for' cause of obtaining evidence." Hudson, 547 U.S. at 592, 126 S.Ct. 2159. Under what has become
There is no bright-line rule for the application of the attenuation doctrine. Instead, courts are to look to three factors when evaluating whether evidence has been sufficiently purged of the taint from an unlawful search or seizure: "`the temporal proximity of the unlawful [search] and the emergence of the incriminating evidence at issue, the presence of intervening circumstances, and, particularly, the purpose and flagrancy of the official misconduct.'" Hudson, 547 U.S. at 592, 126 S.Ct. 2159 (quoting Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590, 603-04, 95 S.Ct. 2254, 45 L.Ed.2d 416 (1975)) (internal brackets omitted).
Here the search of the Skyline Drive house took place on the same day agents went to the Howard Johnson motel because the GPS monitor placed the Jetta at that location. The temporal proximity factor does not favor attenuation. The second factor—intervening circumstances— focuses on whether any circumstances or events "interrupt[ed] the causal connection between the illegal act and the possibly tainted consent." United States v. Delancy, 502 F.3d 1297, 1311 (11th Cir.2007). Here, assuming without deciding that learning of the location of the Jetta on October 5th by using the GPS tracker was itself a search the subsequent conduct of the defendant and his accomplices in combination with the prior knowledge of the agents quickly established independent probable cause to believe there was ongoing criminal conduct. It was these intervening events, not a trespassory search which led to the discovery of the drug house on Skyline Drive. Officers did not use the GPS to follow the defendant in a known "load car" to Skyline Drive. Indeed the location of the Jetta was wholly separate from the activity which led to the house. When Figueroa got into the Lexus and drove to Skyline Drive he dissipated any taint arising from the use of the locate GPS the Jetta.
As a final factor courts evaluate "the purpose and flagrancy of the official misconduct," Hudson, 547 U.S. at 592, 126 S.Ct. 2159. As observed by the Supreme Court in Davis, supra
Davis, 131 S.Ct. at 2427. For reasons more fully discussed below in the context of "Good Faith" the government conduct at issue, using the GPS to find the Jetta on the morning of October 5th simply was not a flagrant abuse of authority intended to circumvent what the exclusionary rule was designed to accomplish. See Herring v. United States, 555 U.S. 135, 143-44, 129 S.Ct. 695, 702, 172 L.Ed.2d 496 (2009) The evidence seized from Skyline Drive house was obtained in such a manner that even if a trespassory warrantless search occurred when agents attached the GPS device and used a signal from the unit to locate the Jetta on October 5th, 2011 the actual discovery of the evidence was more than sufficiently attenuated from that event that suppression is not appropriate.
On September 20th 2011 when the GPS device was attached to the Jetta there was unanimous support for its validity in the face of Fourth Amendment challenge. For almost the entirety of the time agents were tracking the Jetta with the GPS device, the three Circuit Courts that had expressly addressed the issue had unanimously concluded that police did not implicate the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement by monitoring a GPS tracking device on a car in public. United States v. Marquez, 605 F.3d 604, 609-10 (8th Cir. 2010); United States v. Pineda-Moreno, 591 F.3d 1212, 1216-17 (9th Cir.2010); United States v. Garcia, 474 F.3d 994, 997-98 (7th Cir.2007); see also United States v. Michael, 645 F.2d 252 (5th Cir. 1981) (upholding tracking with a beeper attached to a vehicle).
In United States v. Michael, supra the Fifth Circuit in an en banc decision consider the Fourth Amendment implications of the warrantless attachment of a "beeper" or tracking device on a Van owned by a suspected drug manufacturer.
Michael, 645 F.2d at 258-59 In July 2010 relying on Michael, Eleventh Circuit held in an unpublished opinion that the installation of a GPS device on a defendant's car did not violate the Fourth Amendment "because the [car] was parked in a place easily accessible to the public and was reachable from a public thoroughfare" so that the defendant "had no reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to the exterior of the vehicle." United States v. Smith, 387 Fed.Appx. 918, 921 (11th Cir.2010)(unpublished)
As noted above "[S]uppression is not an automatic consequence of a Fourth Amendment violation." Herring, 555 U.S. at 137, 129 S.Ct. at 698. Rather, the exclusionary rule applies only where its potential to deter future violations outweighs the substantial social costs of letting guilty defendants go free. Id., at 141, 129 S.Ct. at 701. In light of this limitation, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that suppression is not appropriate where a Fourth Amendment violation occurs despite
Some courts have concluded that unless prior precedent was factually and textually identical to the challenged conduct some impermissible "extension" of the rule of Davis takes place for some equally undefined reason said to relate somehow to what is meant by "binding precedent". See e.g. United States v. Amaya, 853 F.Supp.2d 818 (N.D.Iowa 2012) (Bennett, J.) Such cases strain at self bred legal gnats to reach a conclusion that neither the Fourth Amendment nor the exclusionary rule require. There is no question that as of September 20th, 2011 binding Eleventh Circuit precedent clearly established that the attachment of a "beeper" tracking device to monitor the movement of a defendant's vehicle violated no constitutional right. Courts quibbling with the application of the holding of Davis to pre-Jones governmental conduct do so by finding some distinction in the technological differences in a "beeper" tracking device and a "GPS" tracking device.
The judicially created exclusionary rule is "a deterrent sanction that bars the prosecution from introducing evidence obtained by way of a Fourth Amendment violation." Davis v. United States, ___ U.S. at ___, 131 S.Ct. at 2423. The rule seeks to prevent future Fourth Amendment violations. "But when the police act with an objectively reasonable good-faith belief that their conduct is lawful or when their conduct involves only simple, "isolated" negligence, the `deterrence rational loses much of its force,' and exclusion cannot "pay its way."" Id. at 2427-28. (citations omitted) In Davis, which was issued a year prior to the Jones decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the exclusionary rule does not apply to "searches conducted in objectively reasonable reliance on binding appellate precedent [that is later overruled] . . . [b]ecause suppression would do nothing to deter police misconduct in [those] circumstances." Id. at 2423-24. When properly viewed it is readily apparent that exclusion
The Jones claim fails because (1) Mr. Figueroa has failed to establish the requisite property interest to mount such a challenge. (2) If an unconstitutional trespass is presumed the evidence he seeks to suppress was obtained in a manner which clearly dissipated any taint. (3) The agents acted in good faith when the GPS tracking device was attached to the Jetta and suppression of the evidence seized at the Skyline Drive house would be inappropriate.
Mr. Figueroa contended and proved that agents entered the Skyline Drive house approximately thirty minutes before a search warrant was issued. Although the evidence established that the government was actively seeking a search warrant and indeed that the process had been ongoing for several hours the fact remains that the entry into to the house where Mr. Figueroa, the drugs and the money were found was warrantless. "It is a `basic principle of Fourth Amendment law' that searches and seizures inside a home without a warrant are presumptively unreasonable." Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 586, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 1380, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980). "A warrantless search is allowed, however, where both probable cause and exigent circumstances exist." United States v. Tobin, 923 F.2d 1506, 1510 (11th Cir.1991) (en banc). United States v. Santa, 236 F.3d 662, 668 (11th Cir.2000). Under limited circumstances, officers may legally enter a residence without the benefit of a warrant. The law excuses the requirement of a search warrant and allows entry by law enforcement officers when there are exigent circumstances creating a "compelling need for official action and no time to secure a warrant." Bashir v. Rockdale County, 445 F.3d 1323, 1328 (11th Cir. 2006) (citations and internal quotation omitted). However, "[t]he exigent circumstances exception only applies if the police reasonably believed that an emergency situation justified warrantless action." United States v. McCoy, 259 Fed.Appx. 264, 267 (11th Cir.2007) (citing United States v. Holloway, 290 F.3d 1331, 1338 (11th Cir. 2002)). Exigent circumstances may exist when there is "danger of flight or escape, loss or destruction of evidence, risk of harm to the public or the police, mobility of a vehicle, and hot pursuit." Bashir, 445 F.3d at 1328 (citation and internal quotation omitted).
Once an entry is lawfully made to one portion of a residence a brief entry into other rooms is constitutionally permissible under the "protective sweep" doctrine announced in Maryland v. Buie, 494 U.S. 325, 334-35, 110 S.Ct. 1093, 108 L.Ed.2d 276 (1990). According to Buie, law enforcement officials may, "as an incident to the arrest," conduct a "cursory inspection of those spaces where a person may be found" if there are "articulable facts which, taken together with the rational inferences from those facts, would warrant a reasonably prudent officer in believing that the area to be swept harbors an individual posing a danger to those on the arrest scene." Id. The search may "extend only to a cursory inspection of those spaces where a person may be found," and may last "no longer than is necessary to dispel the reasonable suspicion of danger and in any event no longer than it takes to complete the arrest and depart the premises." Id. at 335-36, 110 S.Ct. 1093, The Court stressed that "[a] protective sweep is without question a `search' . . . [and] they are permissible on less than probable cause
In United States v. Santa, supra the Eleventh Circuit rejected the Government's contention that exigent circumstance were present when police received a signal from a confidential informant that drugs were in an apartment under surveillance by agents. Officers entered the apartment without a warrant contending later that they had done so the ". . . . prevent the destruction of evidence and [a suspect's] escape." Santa, 236 F.3d at 669 Noting that there was no evidence that the occupants of the apartment had any knowledge that they were under police investigation or surveillance the Eleventh Circuit stated that "[t]he urgency arising after the CI emerged from the apartment was entirely foreseeable-the agents themselves had concocted the ruse. [The defendant's] in home arrest may not be justified on the basis of exigent circumstances or created by the Government itself." Santa, 236 F.3d. at 676.
Mr. Figueroa contends that the Government controlled the release of Artavis McGowan and his passenger from the traffic stop. He argues that if that potential release could have resulted in a warning call to the occupants of the house all that would have been required was for the agent in charge of the investigation to order a further delay of the termination of the traffic stop until a warrant could have been obtained. Certainly the discussion in Santa requires consideration of that contention. In Santa the Court of Appeals like the District Court recognized that the government had as much as two days notice that a drug transaction would occur at Santa's Miami apartment.
At no time did the agents seek to obtain a search warrant. The Circuit Court was unpersuaded by the government's contention that because the CI was supposed to return with money to pay for the drugs Ramirez might have grown suspicious as time went on. The court noted that they
In contrast to the behavior of the officers in Santa the agents outside the Skyline Drive house had dispatched an agent hours before the 4:18 pm entry to prepare and present to a State Court judge the materials necessary to obtain a search warrant. The process was ongoing with the agent applying for the warrant receiving updates from agents on the scene including information about the stop of the Black Jeep (see Government Ex. # 1, the Affidavit at p. 3) While the situation at the house was fluid at all times Agent Stephens concluded that circumstances had reached critical mass when the warrant had not be secured as the traffic stop was coming to an end. Mr. Figueroa does not appear to dispute that there was a very real possibility that when released the occupants of the Jeep would alert those in the house. Instead he argues that the drug agent could have compelled the deputies to continue the traffic stop beyond the period lawfully permitted.
First, while the warrant was actually signed only 22 minutes after the agents entered the house Stephens had no way of knowing that before he ordered agents to secure the house. Second, as a matter of law such an order from Stephens would have rendered the traffic stop unlawful and resulted in the suppression of the evidence found in the Jeep. Once an officer has briefly stopped a motor vehicle operator for the purpose of issuing a traffic citation, a continuing detention of the vehicle and its occupants is authorized by the Fourth Amendment only if the officer can point to "specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonable warrant the intrusion." United States v. Griffin, 109 F.3d 706, 708 (11th Cir.1997) (citing United State v. Tapia, 912 F.2d 1367, 1370 (11th Cir.1990)). See also, United States v. Holloman, 113 F.3d 192, 196 (11th Cir. 1997). The stop "may not last `any longer than necessary to process the traffic violation' unless there is an articulable suspicion of other illegal activity." United States v. Purcell, 236 F.3d 1274, 1277 (11th Cir.2001) The stop had already been extended with the consent to search and no lawful justification for continued detention existed. It was only after the agent entered the house and confirmed that drugs were in fact present that probable existed to arrest the occupants of the Jeep.
Unlike the officers entry into the apartment of Gloria Santa agents at the Skyline Drive house had every reason to believe that the occupants of the house would soon be alerted to the presence of the agents. Stephens ordered an entry to "secure the scene." That stated purpose alone does not alter the fact that the entry was not authorized by a warrant. "Any warrantless entry based on exigent circumstances must, of course, be supported by a genuine exigency." Kentucky v. King, ___ U.S. ___, ___, 131 S.Ct. 1849, 1862, 179 L.Ed.2d 865 (2011) citing Brigham City v. Stuart, 547 U.S. 398, 406, 126 S.Ct. 1943, 164 L.Ed.2d 650 (2006). Stephens stated purpose, however is relevant to the inquiry into whether he "created" exigency as they Eleventh Circuit found was the case in Santa. "A warrantless search is allowed,[ ], where both probable cause and exigent circumstances exist." United States v. Tobin, 923 F.2d at 1510. Exigent circumstances exist "where the
The agents watching the Skyline Drive location had reasonable grounds to believe that whoever was in the house would soon be alerted that some form of investigation was on going. With such knowledge the individuals may have been able to flee without detection because agents had only a limited view of the scene.
After consideration of the defendant's motions, the legal position of the parties, the applicable law in light of the evidence adduced at the evidentiary hearings it is recommended that the motions to suppress (Doc. # 28, 30 and 37) be DENIED.
The clerk is DIRECTED to serve a copy of this recommendation on counsel of record for the parties. The parties are DIRECTED to 28 U.S.C. § 636 and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure with regard to the procedure and requirements to obtain a review of the recommendation by an Article III Judicial Officer.
As to the foregoing it is SO ORDERED this the 2nd day of August, 2012.
(Tr. 7/19/12 p. 46) Rather then proof of a bailment the testimony casts significant doubt on the assertion Figueroa makes in his Motion that he was driving the Jetta ". . . as a bailee with the permission of the