Harman v. Pollock

446 F.3d 1069, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 10886, 2006 WL 1149524
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedMay 2, 2006
Docket04-4294
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 446 F.3d 1069 (Harman v. Pollock) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harman v. Pollock, 446 F.3d 1069, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 10886, 2006 WL 1149524 (10th Cir. 2006).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Melissa Harman and Justin Overton rented and resided in the garage apartment at 44]é West 2700 South in South Salt Lake, Utah. Defendant Brent Pollock, a narcotics agent with the Utah Depai'tment of Public Safety’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations, had been investigating and observing the residents of the adjacent 44 West 2700 South for drug dealing. Defendant Scott Barnett was a Sergeant with the Utah Department of Public Safety.

On February 12, 2003, pursuant to a search warrant for 44 West 2700 South, a Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) of the Utah Highway Patrol and Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT) prepared and executed an operations plan that encompassed a midnight raid of both residences. The raid resulted in the detention of the plaintiffs Ms. Har-man and Mr. Overton for at least an hour and a half before they were released. As a result, the plaintiffs filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against defendants, alleging violations of their Fourth Amendment rights to be free from unlawful searches and seizures. The district court granted qualified immunity to each defendant, and dismissed the claims.

The plaintiffs now appeal, and, for the reasons stated below, we affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

A. 44 West 2700 South

Agent Pollock began investigating Ignacio Ascention (known to Agent Pollock at the time only as “Pawoo”) and Conception Rodriguez (known to Agent Pollock at the time only as “Isabel”) in late July of 2002. He suspected they were dealing heroin and cocaine. Acting undercover, Agent Pollock made several drug purchases from them.

On January 30, 2003, Agent Pollock learned from his colleague, Agent Cori Start, of Pawoo’s and Isabel’s residence at 44 West 2700 South, and thereafter observed the house from a pick-up truck parked nearby. Agents Pollock and Start watched the house for several days. During this time, Agent Pollock noticed a detached garage located to the side and rear of the house, and Agent Start also noted two mailboxes on the front of the 44 West 2700 South structure.

Agent Pollock observed that Pawoo and Isabel only entered into and exited from the 44 West 2700 South house. He noted that they drove exclusively either a silver Geo Tracker or a black Oldsmobile Cutlass. According to Agents Pollock and *1073 Start, the suspects did not use any of the other cars parked on the property.

B. 44 West 2700 South record search

On January 30, 2003, Agent Pollock telephoned Joe Gomez, a Criminal Information Specialist for the Utah Bureau of Investigations, and requested that Mr. Gomez “run a search on the property and the residents of the home.” Aplts’ App. vol. IV, at 1308 (Dist. Ct. Order, dated Nov. 9, 2004) (internal quotation marks omitted). Agent Pollock explained to Mr. Gomez that there was a detached structure on the property. Id. vol. II, at 543. Mr. Gomez’s search revealed that James Byron Tucker owned the property, and that Mr. Tucker leased the property to tenants. Mr. Gomez’s review of the Questar Gas records indicated that the gas account for 44 West 2700 South was listed under the name of Melissa Harman. After obtaining Ms. Harman’s social security number, he learned that she had a New Mexico driver’s license and credit activity in New Mexico.

The Salt Lake County Recorder’s Office listed 44 West 2700 South as a single family dwelling that included a detached structure. The records indicated that the detached structure was built in 1954 and contained a “finished main floor,” built in 1963. Id. vol. IV, at 1309 (internal quotation marks omitted). Agent Pollock recalls discussing the property description with Mr. Gomez, who informed him that the property “was two plots of land divided roughly in the middle.” Id. vol. II, at 539. The property description from the county assessor also indicated that the property encompassed “LOTS 44 & 45.” Id. at 516-17.

Agent Pollock does not recall reviewing the 1987 deed of trust for the property. The deed described the property as follows:

LOTS 44 AND 45, BLOCK 1, SOUTH GATE PARK PLAT “A,” ACCORDING TO THE PLAT THEREOF, AS RECORDED IN THE OFFICE OF THE COUNTY RECORD OF SAID COUNTY.

Id. at 508.

Agent Pollock recalls discussing with Mr. Gomez the gas bill and the bill payor, Melissa Harman. Mr. Gomez told him “that she’s the one that applied with Ques-tar to get the gas hookup to the home.” Id. at 540. Agent Pollock recalls that either he or Mr. Gomez mentioned seeing a white vehicle with New Mexico license plates in the driveway of 44 West 2700 South. Agent Pollock stated that he did not think Melissa Harman was the woman he had been investigating, but, after seeing the New Mexico plates, he “just assumed that it was [Ms. Harman’s] vehicle.” Id. at 542. Despite these apparent inconsistencies, Agent Pollock did not run a check on these plates, nor did he instruct anyone to run a search on these plates. Id. at 527, 542.

, Mr. Gomez also reported that two other individuals indicated they resided at 44 West 2700 South, Benjamin Paul and Williams Fawcett. Subsequent investigation revealed that Mr. Paul and Mr. Faw-cett each had criminal felony records.

C. The affidavit and search warrant

Given his surveillance and purchases from Pawoo and Isabel, Agent Pollock drafted an affidavit in support of an application for a search warrant. The affidavit described Isabel as a Hispanic female with red hair and brown eyes, and Pawoo as a Hispanic male with black hair and brown eyes. Agent Pollock conferred with District Attorney Katherine Bernards-Good-man, who reviewed the draft affidavit, and asked her about searching the garage. He *1074 stated he was trying to “find out if [he] had legal rights to go through the garage” but “wanted to make sure since [the garage] was on the same property ... that ... with [his] training and with [his] past knowing that people store things in the garage, was it acceptable under the same search warrant to go through the garage because it was detached.” Id. at 547. District Attorney Bernards-Goodman asked if there were any indicia that a second residence was on the property, such as separate address numbers or a separate mailbox. According to the district court, Agent Pollock told her he was “not aware of any indicia of a second residence.” Id., vol. II, at 854.

One February 4, 2003 Agent Pollock submitted the proposed search warrant and affidavit to a Utah state court judge. The application described the property to be searched as:

44 West 2700 South, South Salt Lake City, Utah, a white house, brown roof, front door faces south, small wood fence to the west of the door across the front, # 44 on the wall to the right of the front door, a detached garage to the rear of the house on the east side

Id. at 485 (emphasis added).

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Bluebook (online)
446 F.3d 1069, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 10886, 2006 WL 1149524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harman-v-pollock-ca10-2006.