United States v. Bethal

245 F. App'x 460
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedAugust 9, 2007
DocketNo. 05-6524
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 245 F. App'x 460 (United States v. Bethal) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth 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. Bethal, 245 F. App'x 460 (5th Cir. 2007).

Opinions

OPINION

J. DANIEL BREEN, District Judge.

The United States appeals the district court’s order granting the motion of the Appellee, Wilbert T. Bethal, to suppress [462]*462evidence seized during a search of his residence. The government contends that the trial court erred (1) in finding that the affidavit supporting the warrant lacked probable cause, and (2) in concluding that the evidence must be suppressed because the officers who searched the residence did not act in “good faith” reliance on the warrant. We AFFIRM.

I. BACKGROUND

In August of 2000, the Louisville, Kentucky Police Department began investigating a series of gang-related drive-by shootings that had occurred in Louisville in the preceding months. In one of those shootings, which occurred on July 31, 2000, the occupants of a maroon car containing several members of a gang called the “Victory Park Crips” shot at a stopped car in which were riding LaKnogany McCurley, Chicoby Moore, Delion Burks, and Kerry Williams. Burks and Williams, who were known to be members of the “Old South-wick Bloods” gang and who would later be arrested in connection with an alleged retaliatory shooting, were unharmed. Moore was injured, and McCurley, who apparently was not connected with the gang conflict, was killed.

Williams, one of the targets of the shooting, later identified the occupants of the maroon car to Louisville police. He listed the occupants as Thomas Taylor, DeShawn Parker, Norman Parker, and Wilbert Bethal. The Parkers, who are related, as well as Taylor and Bethal, were all known to the police as members of the Victory Park Crips.1 Taylor was seen on several occasions driving in a maroon or burgundy car.

The rash of shootings between the Bloods and the Crips apparently stemmed from a gang-related murder in 1996. In addition to the shooting on July 31, in May of 2000, unidentified shooters fired on Williams and Burks (Bloods), and Williams was injured; in June of 2002, members of the Crips, including DeShawn Parker, attempted to shoot Williams and Burks in front of the home of Burks’s grandmother, who herself was struck several times; and in early July of 2000, Burks and Williams fired at Thomas Taylor (Crips) and Robert Shobe.

Finally, in August of 2000, at least six people, including Michael Johnson, witnessed a drive-by shooting that struck two houses and two cars, and injured an innocent bystander. Johnson identified the shooters as Thomas Taylor, Kenneth Parker, DeShawn Parker, Bethal, and Dominique Coffey (Crips). Officers collected .38 caliber and 9mm shells from the May shooting; 9mm shells and others from the June shooting; 9mm and .45 caliber shells from the early July shooting; and .40 caliber shells from the July 31 shooting.

The police obtained information regarding the incidents from a named informant, Shameka Wright.2 Wright related that Williams and Burks claimed responsibility for the shooting of Taylor and Shobe. She also told the police that Kenneth Parker sold marijuana, and that he and the other [463]*463two Parkers stored guns and drugs at a house owned by their grandmother, which Wright had visited numerous times. Additionally, Wright reported that on July 31, prior to the shooting, Kenneth Parker informed her during a phone conversation that he was going to “get” Williams and Burks that night. Wright called Parker after the shooting, and he expressed dismay that the two had survived unharmed. A few weeks prior to the July 31 shooting, Kenneth Parker had offered Wright $5000 to “set up” Williams and Burks, luring them with codeine-containing cough syrup, so that he could arrange for them to be killed.

On October 5, 2000, Detective John Tarter of the Louisville Police Department prepared an affidavit detailing these and other facts gleaned from the investigation of the various shootings, in support of a search warrant for Bethal’s residence. The Government conceded at oral argument that the affidavit, which was eight pages in length, was used to obtain search warrants for multiple residences, not just Bethal’s. In support of probable cause to search Bethal’s house, the affidavit contained the following information: (1) a witness claimed Bethal was among the shooters in the incident wherein LaKnogany McCmiey was killed, (2) another witness maintained that Bethal was with the shooters in an incident occurring on Cedar Street, (3) a statement from Detective Tarter that he was given a list of gang members containing Bethal’s name, and (4) Bethal’s current address. While the affidavit contains information from an informant linking “guns and drugs” to a residence located at 2335 West Kentucky Street3, it provides no similar statements connecting drugs and/or guns to the Bethal’s residence.

The warrant, which was signed by a Jefferson County, Kentucky Circuit Judge, authorized officers to search Bethal’s residence at 1624 West Breckenridge Street for a “40 Caliber, 9MM Caliber, 45 Caliber, .380 Caliber, Semi-Automatic handguns,” as well as “[a]ny and all ammunition” for those or any other weapons, marijuana, and “all contraband, other drugs, and evidence of gang affiliation.”

During their execution of the search warrant at the West Breckenridge house, the officers discovered approximately 13 grams of crack cocaine and $3497 in cash. On February 3, 2004, Bethal was indicted in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky for one count each of possession of, and possession with intent to distribute, crack cocaine. Appellee moved for the suppression of the fruits of the search, arguing that the affidavit in support of the warrant did not provide probable cause to believe that he was connected to any illegal activity, that it “failed to state with specificity” the items to be sought, and that it was improperly executed, as the officers did not knock and announce before entering Bethal’s residence.

After conducting a hearing on the motion to suppress, the magistrate judge recommended that the Appellee’s motion be [464]*464granted, because the affidavit failed to “establish the requisite nexus” between the place to be searched and the evidence sought and because the good faith exception did not apply, since “a reasonably well trained officer” would not have believed that the “bare bones” affidavit established probable cause. The district court adopted the magistrate judge’s recommendation and granted the motion, finding that the affidavit did not establish probable cause and that the good faith exception was not applicable. Neither opinion addressed Appellee’s knock-and-announce argument. The United States now appeals the grant of the motion to suppress.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Standard of review

We review decisions to suppress evidence “ ‘to ensure that the magistrate had a substantial basis for concluding that probable cause existed.’ ” United States v. Laughton, 409 F.3d 744, 747 (6th Cir.2005) (quoting Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238-39, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 2332, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983)). “When reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, we defer to a district court’s findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous, and we review the court’s conclusions of law de novo.” Laughton, 409 F.3d at 747 (citing United States v. Carpenter, 360 F.3d 591, 594 (6th Cir.2004)).

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245 F. App'x 460, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-bethal-ca5-2007.