ORDER ACCEPTING MAGISTRATE JUDGE'S REPORT & RECOMMENDATION ON MOTION TO SUPPRESS

[ECF Nos. 25, 33]

ANDREW P. GORDON, District Judge.

Defendant Sergio Caire Davila filed a motion to suppress the physical evidence seized and the statements he made to law enforcement officers at the time of his arrest. ECF No. 25. After conducting an evidentiary hearing, Magistrate Judge Ferenbach recommended that the motion to suppress be denied. ECF No. 33. Mr. Davila filed an Objection to Judge Ferenbach's Report & Recommendation (ECF No. 34) and the Government filed a Response (ECF No. 36). Pursuant to Local Rule IB 3-2(b), I have conducted a de novo review of the motion to suppress and related papers. I also listened to the recording of the evidentiary hearing.

I agree with Judge Ferenbach's findings and analysis and adopt it as my own, with one caveat. Judge Ferenbach found that if the search of the documents was not supported by probable cause, then Davila's statement, his DNA, and the gun should be suppressed. ECF No. 33 at 7:22. I disagree. The documents were found in a bag that Officer Milewski was searching for marijuana. In that bag, he also found ammunition. Davila's vehicle had been stopped because it fled the scene of an apparent shooting at a high rate of speed. The officers testified that by the time the bag and ammunition were found, they were aware that Davila had a prior felony. Thus, the ammunition was evidence of at least two possible crimes: a shooting and a felon in possession of ammunition. Thus, the consensual search of the vehicle that followed Davila's detention (based on the documents suggesting an identity theft crime) was not tainted even if the document search was improper because the ammunition supplied an independent justification for detention and a request for a second search. Thus, even if the search of the documents was not supported by probable cause (although I find it was supported by probable cause), Davila's statement, his DNA, and the gun would not be suppressed.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Magistrate Judge Ferenbach's Report & Recommendation (ECF No. 33) is accepted. Mr. Davila's motion to suppress (ECF No. 25) is denied.