United States v. Archuleta

222 F. App'x 710
Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit·Decided March 16, 2007·No. 06-2217·Unpublished·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

MARY BECK BRISCOE, Circuit Judge.

After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R.App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is, therefore, ordered submitted without oral argument.

Defendant Nathan Archuleta entered a conditional plea of guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2), and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 37 months. Archuleta now appeals, claiming the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence seized from his home and vehicle. We exercise jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.

I.

Shortly before 9:30 p.m. on August 7, 2005, a shooting occurred at Brookside Park in Farmington, New Mexico. Based upon witness interviews at the park and phone calls from four individuals who volunteered information, Detective Brandon Lane of the Farmington Police Department prepared an affidavit in support of a search warrant for the home and vehicle of defendant Archuleta. In the affidavit, Lane alleged as follows:

On August 7, 2005 at approximately 2129 hours officers of the Farmington Police Dept, were dispatched to the area of Brookside Park in reference to a shooting. It is unknown how many shots were fired but a total of six people were injured, including a one-year old female who was shot in the back. There *712 were also two adult females, one being the infant’s mother who was shot while holding her daughter; and three adult males. One of the adult males was in critical condition and not expected to survive. Several officers arrived on scene, one of whom was Officer Dougherty. Officer Dougherty interviewed two witnesses identified as Marcela Tar-water and Aida Loya. Both stated they saw an older black Cougar passenger car driving around the area immediately before the shots were fired. They also described the driver as a dark skinned, heavy set Hispanic male with a goatee beard. These two witnesses also described a subject in [the] crowd who returned fire and a cartridge case was located in the parking lot that would substantiate their statements.
As the investigation progressed four separate citizens who wished to remain anonymous contacted authorities with suspect information. The first caller was a confidential informant of Officer O’Donnell of the Farmington Street Crimes Unit. Officer O’Donnell has received reliable information from this particular informant on past occasions. This confidential informant identified the shooter by name as Nathan Archuleta and the leader of a street gang identified as Tortilla Flats.
The next citizen, who received information from a family member who did not want to come forward, identified the suspect with a first name of “Nathan” but also stated that Nathan went by a street name of “Enemy.” This citizen also advised me that this shooting was possibly in retaliation for a fight that “Enemy” was involved in recently and apparently lost. The person or persons who beat up “Enemy” previously were identified as “South Side Loco” gang members. The victims of this Brookside shooting were also reportedly associated with “South Side Locos.”
The other anonymous citizen is a relative of one of the victims and fears retaliation and does not wish to be identified. The citizen described the shooter by a street name of “Enemy.” This street name was confirmed to be a gang moniker of Nathan Archuleta, a member of Tortilla Flats, through the Farmington Police Street Crimes Unit.
The forth [sic] citizen placed an anonymous call to the PBX operator for the City of Farmington and stated the shooter’s name was “Enemy” and is a member of the “Tortilla Flats.”
I also contacted another witness at the San Juan Regional Emergency Dept, who advised she was in the Brook-side parking lot when the shooting occurred. This witness was identified as Annie Reyes. Ms. Reyes stated that after the shooting she came to the hospital to check on the wellbeing [sic] of the injured and she saw a black two door passenger car drive by very slowly and the occupants screamed “South Side sucks!” to the crowd outside the emergency room. Reyes believed the occupants of this car were “them,” from the shooting, although she did not see this vehicle at Brookside.
I obtained a booking photo of Nathan Archuleta and his physical characteristics match those given by the witnesses who saw the driver of the black Cougar at Brookside Park. I was also provided Archuleta’s vehicle information by the Street Crimes Unit. Registered to Archuleta is a 2001 dark blue Mercury Cougar two door passenger car displaying New Mexico license plate GWG373. A vehicle matching this description and displaying this plate was found to be parked in the driveway of 6101 Marseille. This residence is under an active *713 utilities account of Clara Archuleta and is believed to be the home of Nathan Archuleta’s parents. This address is also listed on the license plate of the vehicle registered to Nathan Archuleta. Officers contacted Nathan Archuleta at this address and he was uncooperative with their investigation.
This vehicle registered to Nathan Archuleta matches the description of the vehicle seen by the two witnesses at the shooting scene as well as Ms. Reyes’ description of the vehicle that drove by to heckle the people visiting the shooting victims at the ER.
Based upon the above witness statements and information provided by concerned citizens, along with the fact that Archuleta has a vehicle matching that observed at the scene and at the ER, I feel probable cause exists and a seizure of the above vehicle is necessary to recover evidence of the crime. No cartridge casings have yet to be located at the scene and based on witness statements it appears that the shooter(s) were seated in a vehicle at the time and I believe it logical that the cartridge casings would be ejected into the vehicle’s interior and not out onto the ground. I also believe that the interior of the vehicle and items inside the vehicle could contain trace evidence including gunshot residue, latent fingerprints, hairs, and/or fibers left by a suspect(s). Ammunition and/or the weapons themselves could also be concealed in this vehicle.
I also believe that due to the fact this vehicle has been parked at the Archuleta residence for a length of time, evidence from the vehicle may have been moved into the residence to help conceal and/or destroy such evidence as listed above.

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United States v. Archuleta, 222 F. App'x 710 (10th Cir. 2007).

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