Commonwealth v. Wilkins

52 Va. Cir. 500, 2000 Va. Cir. LEXIS 322
CourtSuffolk County Circuit Court
DecidedAugust 10, 2000
DocketCase No. CR99-00226
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 52 Va. Cir. 500 (Commonwealth v. Wilkins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Suffolk County Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Wilkins, 52 Va. Cir. 500, 2000 Va. Cir. LEXIS 322 (Va. Super. Ct. 2000).

Opinion

By Judge D. Arthur Kelsey

The Commonwealth accuses Eugene Wilkins of two counts of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute in violation of Va. Code Ann. §§ 18.2-248 and 18.2-248.1 (Michie 1996 & Supp. 2000). In his pretrial motion to suppress, Wilkins claims the Commonwealth obtained in-custody statements [501]*501from him in violation of the Fifth Amendment and collected physical evidence against him in violation of the Fourth Amendment. See Defendant’s Motion to Suppress (Jan. 6,2000), Defendant’s Response to Bill of Particulars (Apr. 19,2000), Defendant’s Letter Brief (July 20,2000). For the following reasons, the Court denies the motion.

I

According to the Commonwealth, the defendant has been a “major supplier of crack cocaine” in both Suffolk and Portsmouth for several years. See Commonwealth Ex. 1 (search warrant affidavits). The investigation into his activities began in February 1999 when officers of the Suffolk and Portsmouth Police Departments conducted a “controlled purchase” of cocaine through the use of a confidential informant. See Hearing Transcript at 17-23.

The informant, Cl,1 purchased cocaine from the home of Calvin West on February 25,1999, after the defendant had allegedly dropped off the product at West’s home just prior to the purchase. Id. From conversations between West and Cl,1 the police learned that the defendant supplied the cocaine in marketable quantities to West. Purchasers from West would know that a delivery by the defendant had taken place by looking at West’s porch light: if the light was on, business was off; if the light was off, business was on. Id. at 21-23. Cl1 also stated that the defendant carried a handgun and would typically stay at West’s home to assist in the sales taking place throughout the day. See Commonwealth Ex. 1 (search warrant affidavits).

Again on June 16, 1999, the police conducted a similar controlled purchase from West’s home. See Hearing Transcript at 24-30. As before, the defendant drove his brown Plymouth van to West’s home (while the porch light was on) and dropped off the cocaine for resale (after which the light was turned off). The defendant carried a “white bag” as he left his own home and brought it with him when he entered West’s home. See Commonwealth Ex. 1 (search warrant affidavits). On this occasion, a different confidential informant, Cl,2 went into West’s home and met with the defendant. Id. The defendant pulled a “large piece of crack cocaine” from the white bag and sold it to CL2 Id.

A similar pattern developed on June 17,1999, with one variation. On that day, the defendant stopped by an intermediate location (a house on Bridge Road in Suffolk) between leaving his home and arriving at West’s home to make the drop off. During their surveillance at the Bridge Road location, police officers saw the defendant walk “to the side of the house or towards the side of the garage area.” Id. at 29. The officers briefly lost visual contact with [502]*502the defendant because of a “big tree on the side of the house.” Id. at 35. The police observed the defendant “coming and going” from this same area. Id. An El Camino vehicle (later discovered to be owed by the defendant) was “parked right behind the big tree” on the side of the house. Id. Then “just a few minutes, very short few minutes” later, the defendant got back in his van and drove “straight” to West’s home to make the cocaine drop. Id. at 29. Cl2 arrived later and made another controlled purchase directly from the defendant. See Commonwealth Ex. 1 (search warrant affidavits).

Based upon the information then in hand, the police secured search warrants for West’s home (6117 Brookwood Drive, Portsmouth), the defendant’s home (100 Waterview Road, Suffolk), and the defendant personally. Id. The next day, June 18, the police decided to conduct a fourth controlled purchase before arresting the defendant. Cl2 went to West’s home early that morning. The porch light was on, indicating that the defendant had not yet made his delivery. See Hearing Transcript at 30. Cl2 spoke with West to confirm this. Id. at 31. West said he had no cocaine, but the defendant “would be en route shortly with some.” Id. During the conversation between West and Cl,2 West called the defendant on a cell phone at about 9:00 a.m. Id. The police, who had been tracking the defendant’s movements, saw the defendant answer the cell phone call while driving in his van. Id. at 31-32.

The defendant drove his van to the Bridge Road location: See id. at 32; Commonwealth Ex. 1 (search warrant affidavits). Once there, the defendant “got out of the vehicle and went to the side of the house again.” Hearing Transcript at 32. As before, the defendant walked “right behind the big tree, and exactly behind the big tree is where the El Camino was.” Id. at 58. The defendant stayed a “short time” at the Bridge Road premises and then made a brief stop at his own home before driving to West’s residence on Brookwood Drive. Id. at 31-32.

By this time, however, West had become suspicious. Before the defendant’s arrival, West got in his car and drove away from his home. Id. at 33. About a block or so from his home, West passed the defendant’s van, slowed down briefly, and continued to drive away. Id. at 33. Realizing that the sting had begun to fall apart — or, to put it in police vernacular, that they had been “burnt” — officers on the tactical team stopped the defendant’s van less than a block or two from West’s house and arrested the defendant for distributing drugs. Id. at 50-51.

The arrest took place at approximately 9:45 a.m. on June 18. Id. at 48. The police conducted a search and discovered cocaine in the pockets of blue “sweat pants” located between the driver and passenger bucket seats of the van. Id. at 79 and 52. The drop-off routine used in prior occasions, plus CI2’s [503]*503confirmation that the defendant “transported drugs in a van,” led the officers to believe probable cause existed for the vehicle search. Id. at 48. They also believed it likely that, absent the search and recovery, evidence “could be destroyed.” Id. at 50.

After the defendant’s arrest, the police drove him back to his own home. At the defendant’s home, a member of the Special Investigations Unit, Detective DeFreitas, asked the defendant “if he had been Mirandized,” and he said “he didn’t know.” Hearing Transcript at 63. The detective then “Mirandized” the defendant. Id. DeFreitas recited the Miranda warnings from his “memory” without using notes or a preprinted card. Id. at 72. The detective then asked the defendant “if he understood his rights.” Id. at 63. The defendant replied that “he understood his rights.” Id.

The detective then asked the defendant “if he wished to talk to [him] without an attorney present.” Id. at 63. The defendant said “yes, he would talk” to the detective. Id. DeFreitas and the defendant had a “continuous” conversation until about noon when the defendant announced that “he wanted to speak to a lawyer.” Id. at 64. The detective promptly suspended any further interrogation. “I told him I couldn’t talk to him any more,” the detective explained. Id.

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Related

Commonwealth v. Wilson
59 Va. Cir. 403 (Virginia Circuit Court, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
52 Va. Cir. 500, 2000 Va. Cir. LEXIS 322, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-wilkins-vaccsuffolk-2000.