United States v. Abdalla

327 F. Supp. 3d 1079
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Tennessee
DecidedAugust 29, 2018
DocketNo. 2:17-cr-00007
StatusPublished

This text of 327 F. Supp. 3d 1079 (United States v. Abdalla) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Abdalla, 327 F. Supp. 3d 1079 (M.D. Tenn. 2018).

Opinion

WAVERLY D. CRENSHAW, JR., CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

On June 17, 2018, members of the Fifteenth Judicial Drug Task Force executed a warrant to search a residence located at 332 New Hope Road, Alexandria, Tennessee. As a result of the search and a subsequent interrogation, Samer Walid Abdalla was charged in this Court in a one-count Indictment with possessing five firearms after having previously been convicted of a felony, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924. He has filed a Motion to Suppress (Doc. No. 20), that has been exhaustively brief by the parties (Doc. Nos. 20, 22, 24, 27, and 28), and which was the subject of an evidentiary hearing on July 31, 2018. For the reasons that follow, the Motion will be granted in part and denied in part.

I. Discussion

Abdalla's Motion to Suppress is multi-faceted. He seeks to suppress both the fruits of the search (the firearms), and statements he made, both at the scene of his arrest and while in custody. He also requests a hearing pursuant to pursuant to Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978).

A. Motion to Suppress the Fruits of the Search

Abdalla first moves to suppress the firearms that were found in his residence because the information used to obtain the search warrant was allegedly stale. According to the Search Warrant Affidavit, three controlled buys of narcotics were made over a span of four months. More specifically, it states that (1) on February 2, 2017, a confidential informant ("CI") went to the New Hope Road residence, "made contact" with Courtney Paris, and purchased $90 worth of heroin while Abdalla and Ernest Tanner were in the home; (2) on March 16, 2017 the CI went to the residence and made contact with both Abdalla and Paris and purchased $150 worth of heroin; and (3) on June 2, 2017, the same events were repeated with the CI making contact with both Abdalla and Paris, but this time a Ruger 9mm pistol was displayed.

"In the context of drug crimes, information goes stale very quickly 'because drugs are usually sold and consumed in a prompt fashion.' " United States v. Brooks, 594 F.3d 488, 493 (6th Cir. 2010) (quoting United States v. Frechette, 583 F.3d 374, 378 (6th Cir. 2009) ). Nevertheless "[w]hether information is stale in the context of a search warrant turns on several factors, such as 'the character of the crime (chance encounter in the night or regenerating conspiracy?), the criminal (nomadic or entrenched?), the thing to be seized (perishable and easily transferable or of enduring utility to its holder?), [and] the place to be searched (mere criminal forum of convenience or secure operational base?).' " Id. (quoting United States v. Hammond, 351 F.3d 765, 771-72 (6th Cir. 2003) ). Simply put, " '[t]he function of a *1085staleness test in the search warrant context is not to create an arbitrary time limitation within which discovered facts must be presented to a magistrate.' " United States v. Spikes, 158 F.3d 913, 923 (6th Cir. 1998) (quoting United States v. Henson, 848 F.2d 1374, 1382 (6th Cir.1988) ).

Here, the last purchase was made one week before the application for the search warrant. By itself, this does not render the information from the CI stale. See United States v. Jeanetta, 533 F.3d 651, 655 (8th Cir. 2008) ("Standing alone, the fact the controlled buy was made two weeks before the warrant issued does not render the information in the application stale."); United States v. Ortiz, 143 F.3d 728, 732-33 (2d Cir. 1998) (citation omitted) ("In investigations of ongoing narcotics operations, intervals of weeks or months between the last described act and the application for a warrant [does] not necessarily make the information stale."). Besides, "even if a significant period of time elapsed, it is possible the magistrate judge may infer that a search would uncover evidence of wrongdoing." United States v. Pinson, 321 F.3d 558, 565 (6th Cir. 2003).

Such an inference could easily be made in this case. Three purchases were made from two individuals in the residence in a four month period. This suggests not a "chance encounter in the night," but rather purchases from "a secure operational base." Moreover, a 9mm handgun was displayed during the last purchase. While Abdalla correctly points out that DeKalb County Judge David A. Patterson issued the Search Warrant after finding probable cause to believe that felony trafficking or felony money laundering might be occurring at the New Hope road premises, the judge also described the evidence to be seized as including "firearms, ammunition, [and] receipts of purchase of firearms[.]" (Doc. No. 20-1 at 14-15). Any reasonable jurist knows that "drugs and guns go 'hand in hand' " and that "firearms are tools of the drug trafficking trade." United States v. Hornbeak, 575 F. App'x 618, 621 (6th Cir. 2014) (citation omitted). Accordingly, the firearms will not be suppressed on the grounds that the information in the warrant was stale.

In his Second Supplemental Brief, Abdalla argues that the search warrant was improperly issued because there was insufficient information supplied to Judge Patterson to determine whether the CI was reliable. Arguing the typical indicia of reliability was lacking, he writes:

There is no statement that the confidential informant was reliable or had been used before. There is no statement that the confidential informant was named to the magistrate judge.

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Bluebook (online)
327 F. Supp. 3d 1079, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-abdalla-tnmd-2018.