United States v. Ayala Ayala

289 F.3d 16
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedApril 30, 2002
Docket01-2148, 01-2150 to 01-2152
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 289 F.3d 16 (United States v. Ayala Ayala) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First 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. Ayala Ayala, 289 F.3d 16 (1st Cir. 2002).

Opinion

LIPEZ, Circuit Judge.

Rafael Ayala Ayala, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Dennis Hickey Rivera, and Armando Torres Ortiz were convicted of entering onto the Camp Garcia Naval Installation on the island of Vieques, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1382. Unpersuaded by their arguments on appeal, we affirm their convictions.

I. Background

On April 28, 2001, appellants participated in a campaign of civil disobedience aimed at disrupting live-fire artillery and bombardment exercises which the Navy periodically conducts in and around Vie-ques. Each was charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 1382 (barring entry “upon any military, naval, or Coast Guard reservation, post, fort, arsenal, yard, station, or installation, for any purpose prohibited by law or lawful regulation”). The four cases (along with four others) were consolidated for trial in the district court on July 6, 2001. Appellants were convicted and sentenced to thirty days’ imprisonment.

On appeal, Ayala and Ortiz argue that the informations against them should have been dismissed because the government failed to take them before a magistrate within 48 hours of their arrest; that the government did not prove that they had entered onto a naval installation in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1382; and that the evidence at trial was insufficient to establish that they were among the individuals detained on Vieques on April 28, 2001. Kennedy and Rivera argue that the district court judge erred in refusing to permit them to put on a defense of necessity, and in not recusing himself from the case. We address these issues in turn.

II. The 48-Hour Rule

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 5(a) states, in pertinent part, that “any person making an arrest without a warrant shall take the arrested person without unnecessary delay before the nearest available federal magistrate judge.” Although Rule 5(a) does not specify what would constitute an “unnecessary delay,” courts have construed the Fourth Amendment as imposing a presumptive 48-hour time limit on detentions in the absence of a probable cause determination. 1 “Where an arrested individual does not receive a probable cause determination within 48 hours,” the burden is on the government “to demonstrate the existence of a bona fide emergency or other extraordinary circumstance.” County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U.S. 44, 57, 111 S.Ct. 1661, 114 L.Ed.2d 49 (1991). Having been brought before a magistrate approximately 51 hours after their initial detention, Ayala and Ortiz argue that the district court erred in denying their motion to dismiss the informations against them on that ground. We review the district court’s construction of Rule 5(a) and the Fourth Amendment de novo, and its factual determinations for clear error. United *20 States v. Encarnacion, 239 F.3d 395, 397 (1st Cir.2001).

Ayala and Ortiz’s motion to dismiss asserted the following facts, which the government has not disputed. Appellants were detained by military personnel at approximately 11:20 a.m. on April 28 and transported to a detention/processing center at Camp Garcia (on Vieques), where they were searched, questioned, and photographed. The next morning appellants were transported by boat to Roosevelt Roads, a naval installation on the main island of Puerto Rico, where they were again searched, questioned, and photographed. “Late on Sunday night,” April 29, appellants were moved to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Guaynabo. Some time after 2:00 p.m. on April 30, Ayala and Ortiz were taken before a magistrate.

The government filed a cursory response: “The motion is without merit. It has been rejected by the sections of this Court considering this issue. See e.g. Memorandum Order by Judge José Antonio Fusté, dated June 1, 2001, in the case of United States v. Cecilio Lebron, # 01-330. Based upon the extraordinary demands fixed by the large number of arres-tees brought over from Vieques Island, the time elapsed was not unreasonable.”

At trial, in denying the motion to dismiss, the district court said that 181 individuals had been arrested in the “wave” of trespassers which included Ayala and Ortiz, and that the large number of detainees, and the transportation required to get them before a magistrate, constituted “extraordinary circumstances” that warranted an exception to the 48-hour rule. The district court was entitled to take judicial notice of the 181 arrests, a circumstance readily ascertainable by the district court. See Fed.R.Evid. 201(b)(2) (authorizing judicial notice of facts “capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned”). Although the relevant facts in the record are regrettably sparse, the district court concluded correctly that over 100 civil disobedience arrests at a naval base on an island off the coast of Puerto Rico, executed in the midst of a military exercise, constitute an extraordinary circumstance sufficient to justify the slight delay beyond 48 hours in bringing Ayala and Ortiz before a magistrate. 2

*21 In Encamación, we reserved the question “whether Rule 5(a) can ever be a basis for dismissal of an indictment absent evidence of unwarranted interrogation during the period of detention.” 239 F.3d at 400 n. 5. Without now deciding that question, we also note the absence in this case of any claim of prejudice arising out of appellants’ detention beyond 48 hours.

III. The Informations

The informations charged that Ayala and Ortiz had entered onto “lands reserved for the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States” in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1382, which provides for punishment of “[wjhoever, within the jurisdiction of the United States, goes upon any military, naval, or Coast Guard reservation, post, fort, arsenal, yard, station, or installation, for any purpose prohibited by law or lawful regulation.” Ayala and Ortiz moved under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29 for a judgment of acquittal at the close of the prosecution’s case, arguing, inter alia, that the piece of land on which they were arrested, the South Salinas Finger, is not “reserved for the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States,” as the informations allege.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In re: Enmiendas al Reglamento del Tribunal de Apelaciones
2025 TSPR 141 (Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, 2025)
Pueblo De Puerto Rico v. Ramón A. Mercado Camacho
Tribunal De Apelaciones De Puerto Rico/Court of Appeals of Puerto Rico, 2025
United States v. Dahlquist
District of Columbia, 2025
United States v. McGlashan
78 F.4th 1 (First Circuit, 2023)
United States v. Jackson
58 F.4th 541 (First Circuit, 2023)
United States v. Greaux-Gomez
52 F.4th 426 (First Circuit, 2022)
United States of America v. Laveneur Jackson
578 F. Supp. 3d 240 (D. New Hampshire, 2022)
Marquez v. United States
S.D. California, 2021
(PC) Rader v. County of Placer
E.D. California, 2021
Sansoucie v. Howell
D. Nevada, 2020
State of Washington v. Spokane County Dist. Court
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2020
(PC) Candler v. Palko
E.D. California, 2019
Barth v. City of Peabody
D. Massachusetts, 2018
Armando Avila v. United Parcel Service, Inc.
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018
United States v. Hansel Bailey
598 F. App'x 117 (Third Circuit, 2015)
Marko v. Marko
2012 S.D. 54 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2012)
Sanchez Ex Rel. DR-S. v. United States
671 F.3d 86 (First Circuit, 2012)
United States v. Ayotte
841 F. Supp. 2d 398 (D. Maine, 2012)
Morgan v. Dickhaut
677 F. Supp. 2d 424 (D. Massachusetts, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
289 F.3d 16, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-ayala-ayala-ca1-2002.