Mothersell v. City of Syracuse

289 F.R.D. 389, 2013 WL 936454, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32085
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. New York
DecidedMarch 8, 2013
DocketNo. 5:08-CV-615 (NAM/TWD)
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 289 F.R.D. 389 (Mothersell v. City of Syracuse) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mothersell v. City of Syracuse, 289 F.R.D. 389, 2013 WL 936454, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32085 (N.D.N.Y. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM-DECISION AND ORDER

Hon. NORMAN A. MORDUE, Chief Judge.

INTRODUCTION

In this amended civil rights complaint (Dkt. No. 64), plaintiff Robert Mothersell (“plaintiff’ or “Mothersell”) alleges Fourth Amendment and other violations arising from a strip search during the execution of a premises search warrant containing an “all-persons-present” clause. New York’s Court of Appeals reversed Mothersell’s conviction for possession of drugs seized from his person during the search, holding that the search warrant application did not support the all-persons-present clause in the warrant. People v. Mothersell, 14 N.Y.3d 358, 900 N.Y.S.2d 715, 926 N.E.2d 1219 (2010). Plaintiff now moves (Dkt. No. 80) for certification of a class of all persons who, during the class period, were strip searched during the execution of an all-persons-present warrant “pursuant to the blanket strip search policy, custom, and or practice of the Syracuse Police Department and the City of Syracuse without regard for the existence of probable cause or reasonable suspicion as to the searches.” As set forth below, the Court denies the motion.

PROCEEDINGS IN NEW YORK STATE COURT

This action stems from the seizure of a plastic bag of crack cocaine by officers of the Syracuse Police Department (“SPD”) in the course of a search of Mothersell’s person during the execution of a warrant to search the first floor front apartment at 114 Isabella Street, Syracuse, New York, on February 23, 2006. Mothersell was not named in the search warrant, which contained a clause authorizing the search of all persons present at the time of its execution. After denial of his suppression motion, Mothersell pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance, fifth degree. The Fourth Department affirmed the conviction. People v. Mothersell, 59 A.D.3d 995, 873 N.Y.S.2d 406 (4th Dep’t 2009). On April 1, 2010, the New York Court of Appeals reversed the Fourth Department’s order, granted the suppression motion, and dismissed the indictment, holding that the search offended the Fourth Amendment and the New York State Constitution. People v. Mothersell, 14 N.Y.3d 358, 900 N.Y.S.2d 715, 926 N.E.2d 1219 (2010).

[391]*391In ruling that the denial of Mothersell’s suppression motion was error, New York’s high court concluded that the search warrant application did not provide probable cause to support the issuance of an all-persons-present warrant.1 The high court did not consider whether the strip search of Mothersell was justified on any other ground, because it relied on Det. David Armstrong’ suppression hearing testimony, which the court characterized as stating that “he searched defendant solely pursuant to what he understood to be the warrant’s authority; he acknowledged that he had no independent basis for an arrest and, in fact, said that defendant was not under arrest at the time of the search.” 14 N.Y.3d at 361, 900 N.Y.S.2d 715, 926 N.E.2d 1219. Nor did the court analyze whether any other officer involved made the decision to strip search Mothersell based on the facts known to him or her at the time of the search.

Although not necessary to its decision, the New York Court of Appeals further addressed Mothersell’s claim that, even if properly issued, the all-persons-present warrant did not authorize the level of intrusiveness of the search to which he was subjected, that is, a strip search “during which he was required to lift his scrotum and then to bend over to expose his anal cavity.” Id. at 361, 900 N.Y.S.2d 715, 926 N.E.2d 1219. The high court referred to these added intrusions as a “visual cavity search.” It stated that at the time the warrant was sought, there were no “specific facts to support a reasonable suspicion” that Mothersell had secreted contraband beneath his clothes or in a body cavity, so that “these extraordinary intrusions could not have been within any authority the warrant was capable of conferring.” Id. at 367, 900 N.Y.S.2d 715, 926 N.E.2d 1219.2 The court did not consider whether facts known to the officers at the time of the search provided justification for such a search.

AMENDED COMPLAINT

The amended complaint (Dkt. No. 64) alleges that on February 23, 2006, City of Syracuse City Court Judge Stephen J. Dougherty issued a search warrant for the apartment at 114 Isabella Street. The warrant application alleged, inter alia, that Thomas Rushlow, the tenant of the apartment, had twice sold narcotics to an informant at the apartment. The warrant authorized the search of the premises, as well as the following:

any and all person(s) present, congregating and/or acting as monitors who may be involved in this narcotic enterprise as co-conspirator(s) while acting in concert with the targeted suspect(s) and/or eustomer(s). Persons patronizing the enterprise for the purpose of purchasing and possessing the narcotic controlled substance commonly known as cocaine, at the time of the execution of any warrant issued pursuant to this application, are considered to be targets of this investigation at the time of said execution.

Plaintiff was present in the apartment at the time the warrant was executed. He was not a resident of the apartment, nor was he [392]*392named in any investigation reports, the warrant application, or the warrant.

According to the amended complaint, during the execution of the search warrant, the following occurred:

[Dets. David Armstrong and David Jones] ordered Plaintiff into the bedroom, and while leaving the door open for everyone in the vicinity to view, ordered him to remove his clothing, ordered him to lift his scrotum, and ordered him to bend over and “spread his cheeks” ... violating the sanctity of his person and his protected rights under the Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and the state constitution.

Plaintiff further claims that while he was bent over, Det. Armstrong committed aggravated sexual assault on him by inserting a plastic coat hanger “in Plaintiffs anus and scraping it down and around Plaintiffs rectum area causing pain, irritation, [and] mental anguish.” Plaintiff adds that he was denied medical treatment. Plaintiff alleges:

The defendants’ actions against Plaintiff were taken pursuant to defendants’ unlawful policy, practice and custom pursuant to which strip search and body cavity searches are routinely conducted on persons present at locations where “All Persons Present” warrants are executed, wholly absent particularized probable cause, reasonable cause, reasonable suspicion or a valid warrant permitting such searches as required by the federal and New York State constitutions.

The class allegations state that plaintiff sues on behalf of himself and all other similarly situated individuals and that plaintiff seeks to represent the following class:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
289 F.R.D. 389, 2013 WL 936454, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32085, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mothersell-v-city-of-syracuse-nynd-2013.