United States v. Andrew Brandwein

796 F.3d 980, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 14084, 2015 WL 4745929
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedAugust 12, 2015
Docket14-1502
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 796 F.3d 980 (United States v. Andrew Brandwein) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Andrew Brandwein, 796 F.3d 980, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 14084, 2015 WL 4745929 (8th Cir. 2015).

Opinions

COLLOTON, Circuit Judge.

Andrew Brandwein was charged with unlawful possession of firearms as a previously convicted felon and attempted manufacturing of methamphetamine. Before trial, he moved to suppress evidence seized during a search of his residence and statements made as a result of the search. The district court1 denied the motion, and a jury convicted Brandwein of unlawful possession of a firearm, but acquitted him of the methamphetamine charge. Brandwein appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress, and we affirm.

I.

On January 8, 2011, a shed on the rural property leased by Andrew Brandwein and his wife, Debra, caught fire. Two neighbors placed a call for emergency assistance and then approached the nearby house where the Brandweins lived. One of the neighbors knocked on the door and shouted to determine if anyone was present, but received no response. Concerned that a pickup truck parked very close to the burning shed would catch fire, the neighbor moved the truck using keys he found in the truck’s ignition. The neighbor also noticed a small dog inside the pickup truck, and a rifle laying on the ground near the truck.

When Deputy Arthur Brown of the Cole County, Missouri Sheriffs Department arrived at the scene at approximately 7:15 p.m., the fire department was already, present. A firefighter told Brown about the truck that had been moved, the rifle, and the small dog. Brown thought all of these circumstances were suspicious, and he placed a call to Sergeant Troy Thurman to request his assistance at approximately 7:30 p.m. After Sergeant Thurman arrived at 7:45 p.m., Deputy Brown briefed him on information he had learned from the firefighters. Thurman examined the rifle and discovered that it was loaded. He also noted that the rifle was found in what appeared to be a makeshift firing range consisting of a sandbag placed on a log.

The two police officers spoke with the son of the man who owned the property where the Brandweins resided. According to the officers, he informed them that all of the Brandweins’ vehicles were present on the property. At this point, several emergency vehicles had responded to the scene, and their lights and sirens had operated directly outside of the house. Sergeant Thurman and Deputy Brown also knocked loudly on the door four or five times and announced their presence. The officers professed concern that the circumstances suggested that there may be injured or deeeásed persons inside the home. The district court, after evaluating the testimony of the officers, found that they were “very concerned for the welfare of the residents of the home and assumed or suspected they were likely inside and possibly deceased or injured.”

After receiving no response to their knocks, the officers used the keys that had been found in the truck to enter the house. Once inside, they observed drug paraphernalia in plain view on the dining room table. The police also saw several firearms in plain view in the living room. The officers continued to announce their presence, and Brandwein emerged from the master bedroom. He was fully dressed, [983]*983sweating profusely, and seemed to be disoriented and confused. Brandwein informed the officers that Debra was out shopping.

Debra called the Brandwein residence at shortly after 8:00 p.m. and returned home when she was informed of the fire. When Debra arrived at the property, Detective Colin Murdick first allowed her to check on her husband. Detective Murdick then interviewed her separately, first outside the house and then in the kitchen, explaining that he suspected the fire may have been caused by a methamphetamine lab. While they were speaking in the kitchen, Murdick noticed two large glass jars containing a white residue that he believed to be methamphetamine. Accordingly, Mur-dick informed Debra that he was going to secure the residence and apply for a search warrant. Officers told Debra that she was free to leave, but then acceded to her request to stay with her husband in the living room. The officers instructed Debra not to touch anything, referring specifically to the jars in the kitchen that were believed to contain methamphetamine.

Detective Murdick then contacted Sergeant Shannon Jeffries with the area drug task force to request his assistance, and he arrived at approximately 9:00 p.m. Mur-dick and Jeffries interviewed Debra a second time outside the house. Jeffries asked Debra for permission to search the residence. The district court found that Debra first asked Jeffries why they wanted to search the house, and he responded that the officers had found items associated with the manufacture of methamphetamine and wanted to determine if there were any other illegal items in the house. The district court found that Debra then consented to the search.

Detective Murdick returned to the kitchen, where he saw that the two jars containing the white residue suspected to be methamphetamine had been washed and placed in the sink. Murdick asked Deputy Brown whether anyone had accessed the kitchen. Brown, who had not been aware of the jars, responded that he had permitted Debra to. fetch a glass of water from the kitchen. Debra was placed under arrest for suspected tampering with evidence. According to the government, she later admitted to the tampering in an interview at the local jail. Brandwein also made incriminating statements. The government alleged that Brandwein admitted that his wife had cleaned the jars, that he used and manufactured methamphetamine, and that he owned one of the firearms found in the residence.

A grand jury charged Brandwein with the unlawful possession of six firearms as a previously convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2), and attempted manufacturing of methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(C), and 846. He moved to suppress all evidence obtained during the search of his home, including the firearms, drug paraphernalia, and statements he later made to the police. The district court denied the motion, ruling that the entry to the house was permissible under the “community caretaker” doctrine and that Debra freely and voluntarily consented to the search.

II.

Brandwein contends on appeal that police violated the Fourth Amendment by searching his house. He contends that evidence found in the house, and statements made after the search, should have been suppressed as the fruits of an unlawful search. We review the district court’s findings of fact for clear error and its application of the Fourth Amendment de novo.

[984]*984The Fourth Amendment generally prohibits police from entering a residence without a warrant, Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 589-90, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980), but there are exceptions to the rule. One exception, invoked by the government here, is the authority of police to undertake so-called “community caretaking functions.” These are activities, “totally divorced from the detection, investigation, or acquisition of evidence relating to the violation of a criminal statute.” Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U.S. 433

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
796 F.3d 980, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 14084, 2015 WL 4745929, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-andrew-brandwein-ca8-2015.