State v. Aikens

950 A.2d 911, 401 N.J. Super. 298, 2008 N.J. Super. LEXIS 142
CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedJune 30, 2008
StatusPublished

This text of 950 A.2d 911 (State v. Aikens) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Aikens, 950 A.2d 911, 401 N.J. Super. 298, 2008 N.J. Super. LEXIS 142 (N.J. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

SKILLMAN, P.J.A.D.

The primary issue presented by this appeal is whether members of the United States Marshals Service are authorized to arrest a fugitive who they have reason to believe has fled from one state to another to avoid prosecution. We conclude that such flight constitutes a violation of the Federal Fugitive Felon Act, 18 U.S.C.A. § 1073, and that United States Marshals are authorized to make a warrantless arrest of a person who they have probable cause to believe has violated that Act.

I

The United States Marshals Service has established task forces around the country to pursue fugitives. These task forces consist of permanent United States Marshals and local law enforcement [302]*302officers deputized as Marshals solely for task force operations. One such task force is based in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. According to a Department of Justice memorandum of understanding, the mission of this task force “is to seek out and arrest, in a joint coordinated manner, persons who have unexecuted state and federal warrants lodged against them.”

From October 22 to October 28, 2006, the Marshals Service conducted FALCON III, a large-scale mobilization of fugitive task forces in the eastern and midwestern parts of the United States to apprehend individuals wanted on state and federal warrants. In order for the task forces to meet the objectives of FALCON III, a substantial number of local law enforcement officers were deputized as temporary special Deputy United States Marshals.

One of the fugitives targeted by the Eastern District task force as part of FALCON III was Michelle Smith, an escapee from a Pennsylvania detention center. A warrant had been issued for Smith’s escape and violation of parole, and Pennsylvania parole agents received information that Smith was residing at 20 North Main Street in Phillipsburg, New Jersey.

On the morning of October 25, 2006, members of the task force, including a Deputy United States Marshal and five Pennsylvania law enforcement officers who had been deputized as special Deputy United States Marshals, went to this Phillipsburg address to arrest Smith. All wore identifying badges or jackets.

Four officers entered a vestibule inside the front door of the building, while two officers secured the outside of the building. One of the officers, Tim Hornbaker, knocked on the door and announced the presence of the federal law enforcement officers. After thirty to sixty seconds, the door opened, and Officer Horn-baker observed Smith standing next to defendants, Murray Aikens and Anthony Brown, inside the apartment. Hornbaker told Smith, “you know why we’re here.” Aikens then pushed Smith towards the officers. One of the officers behind Hornbaker grabbed Smith and handcuffed her.

[303]*303After the officers arrested Smith, they entered the apartment to detain the other occupants. Hornbaker testified that they did so “for officer safety” until Smith was removed from the scene. He also testified that defendants appeared “real nervous” and that the man who had opened the door had stepped into an adjoining bedroom.

Hornbaker asked defendants to sit on the floor. Aikens cooperated, but Brown first tossed something that looked like a bag behind the couch. Upon seeing Brown toss the bag, Hornbaker immediately handcuffed defendants and a female who was in the kitchen.

Hornbaker then approached the bathroom because Brown had been partially in that room. Hornbaker shone his flashlight into the open toilet while standing outside the room. He discovered a bag containing a white rocky substance floating in the toilet, which he retrieved. Hornbaker also retrieved the bag tossed behind the couch. Both bags contained cocaine. At this point, a member of the task force called the Phillipsburg police, who arrived shortly thereafter. The task force then completed a protective sweep of the apartment, which revealed four other persons in the bedroom.

After the arrival of the Phillipsburg police, several occupants of the apartment were taken to Phillipsburg police headquarters. Aikens, who was the registered tenant, remained at the apartment with Lieutenant Mirenda of the Phillipsburg Police Department and executed a written consent to search the apartment. This search revealed additional drugs and drag paraphernalia.

Both defendants were indicted for numerous third- and fourth-degree drug offenses. The indictment charged that defendants entered into a conspiracy to distribute cocaine between October 1 and October 25, 2006. The indictment included three counts charging Brown with drug offenses that were apparently based on an undercover purchase of drugs from Brown by a Phillipsburg police officer on October 20, 2006. The other drug offenses were alleged to have occurred on October 25, 2006, the day of Smith’s arrest and the subsequent search of the apartment at 20 North [304]*304Main Street. In addition to the drug charges, Brown was charged with escape, hindering his own apprehension and criminal mischief, based on his kicking out the window of a police car and attempting to flee after his arrest.

Defendants filed a motion to suppress all of the evidence seized in the apartment. Before the hearing on the motion, the motion judge indicated that he had doubts whether the members of the task force had jurisdiction to execute Pennsylvania arrest warrants in New Jersey. The supervisors of the task force and its members testified concerning the authorization for Smith’s arrest and how the arrest and subsequent search were conducted.

However, the hearing on the motion to suppress was never completed. After scheduling a date to hear testimony by witnesses who were unavailable during the first two days of the hearing, including Lieutenant Mirenda, who had obtained Aikens’s consent to search the apartment, the trial court issued a written opinion which concluded that all of the evidence obtained in the search of the apartment should be suppressed because the task force did not have authority to execute the Pennsylvania warrant for Smith’s arrest in New Jersey without the assistance of New Jersey law enforcement officials. The court also concluded, as an alternative ground for suppressing the evidence, that the task force members’ entry into the apartment after Smith’s arrest did not constitute a valid protective sweep incident to her arrest.

The State filed a motion for reconsideration on the grounds that the trial court had granted defendants’ motion to suppress without affording the State an opportunity to fully brief the issue of the United States Marshals Service’s authority to arrest Smith in New Jersey or to present all evidence relevant to the validity of the search of the apartment. The court denied the motion. In rejecting the State’s argument that the court should not have decided the motion to suppress without first hearing all .the evidence, the court stated:

Such evidence concerns the collection of evidence following the federal raid and any statements or consents to search which may have been given by these defendants. [305]*305The court viewed the jurisdictional issue as the primary issue in this case; the resolution oí which would resolve all of the remaining issues. The remaining issues are, in this Court’s opinion, collateral and inferior 1.o the jurisdictional issue.

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Bluebook (online)
950 A.2d 911, 401 N.J. Super. 298, 2008 N.J. Super. LEXIS 142, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-aikens-njsuperctappdiv-2008.