United States v. Boarden

29 F. Supp. 3d 1164, 2014 WL 2894904, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87216
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedJune 26, 2014
DocketCase No. 14-CR-61-JPS
StatusPublished

This text of 29 F. Supp. 3d 1164 (United States v. Boarden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Boarden, 29 F. Supp. 3d 1164, 2014 WL 2894904, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87216 (E.D. Wis. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER

J.P. STADTMUELLER, District Judge.

On March 11, 2014, a federal grand jury returned an eight-count indictment against Chauncey Boarden (“Boarden”) and seven other defendants. (Docket # 1). Boarden is charged in Count One of the indictment with conspiracy to distribute 100 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing heroin, in violation of Title 21 United States Code, Section 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(B). Indictment at 1-2. Boarden entered a plea of not guilty on April 4, 2012. (Docket #47). The matter comes before the court on Boarden’s motion for an evidentiary hearing and motion to suppress. (Docket # 81). For the reasons explained below, Boarden’s motion for an evidentiary hearing will be denied, but his motion to suppress will be granted.

1. Events As Described in the Police Report

Milwaukee Police Officer Erik Maldonado (“Officer Maldonado”) was on patrol on Thursday, October 3, 2013, along with Milwaukee Police Officer Decleene (“Officer Decleene”). At about one o’clock in the morning, the officers observed a' silver Chrysler Town and Country Minivan traveling eastbound on West Atkinson Avenue; the officers followed the vehicle to conduct a DOT check of the license plate. Before the officers were able to conduct the check, the vehicle did a U-turn and parked. The driver, later identified as Thomas Wilson (“Wilson”), exited the vehicle and dropped his cell phone. Officer Decleene called out to Wilson to tell him he dropped something; Wilson walked back, picked up his phone, and then walked toward an apartment complex. The officers then left the area and continued on their patrol.

About an hour later, at 2:19 a.m., the officers again observed the minivan, this time driving southbound on North Nineteenth Street. Due to the frequency of minivan thefts in the area, the .officers pulled behind the vehicle. After the officers had begun following the minivan, but before the officers conducted a DOT check, Wilson pulled the vehicle over. Both Wilson and Boarden exited the vehicle. The officers exited the squad car and conducted a field interview of Wilson and Boarden. Officer Maldonado ordered Wilson and Boarden to re-enter the vehicle; Wilson and Boarden complied. Then, Officer Maldonado approached the vehicle. The driver’s-side door was open and Wilson was seated in the driver’s seat. As he approached the vehicle, Officer Maldonado observed a corner cut of a substance he believed to be cocaine; the corner cut was resting inside the driver’s-side interior door handle compartment. Officer Maldonado ordered Wilson out of the vehicle and placed him under arrest.

Officer Decleene ordered Boarden to get out of the vehicle and to sit on the curb. Officer Decleene obtained Wilson’s and Boarden’s identifiable information, returned to the squad car, and conducted DOT checks. Officer Decleene wrote on an index card that Wilson had an investigative alert as a repeat gun offender; Offi[1167]*1167cer Decleene showed the. card to Officer Maldonado.

Officer Maldonado ordered Boarden to stand up, and placed Boarden in handcuffs to detain him while Officer Maldonado conducted a thorough search of the car for drugs. Officer Maldonado explains that he detained Boarden because the search would require Officer Maldonado to walk past Boarden with his back to Boarden. Officer Maldonado conducted a pat down search of Boarden and felt what he believed to be drugs in the front pocket of Boarden’s hooded sweatshirt. Officer Maldonado also smelled a strong odor of marijuana emanating from Boarden’s person. Officer Maldonado firmly pressed against Boarden’s pocket and retrieved a purple Crown Royal liquor sack. Inside the sack, Officer Maldonado found multiple corner cuts of a green leafy substance that later tested positive for THC, and a corner cut of a white chunky substance that later tested positive for cocaine base. Officer Maldonado placed Boarden under arrest.

Officer Maldonado then conducted a thorough search of the vehicle. He recovered a black backpack from the floor board of the vehicle, directly behind the center console. The backpack contained a firearm, along with paperwork from Waukesha County Technical College with Boarden’s name written and typed on it. Officer Maldonado did not observe any identifiable information for anyone other than Boarden. Wilson and Boarden were conveyed to District # 5 for processing.

2.Boarden’s Motion for an Evidentiary Hearing

As the moving party, Boarden bears1 the burden of establishing that an evidentiary hearing is necessary. United States v. Rodriguez, 69 F.3d 136, 141 (7th Cir.1995). Boarden requests an evidentiary hearing to determine the following issues:

1. Whether the police account of the stop of Boarden is credible.
2. Whether individual facts in this case, or the totality of those facts[,] support a finding of objectively reasonable suspicion that Boarden was ' committing, was about to commit or had committed a crime.
3. Whether the police had reasonable suspicion based upon articulable facts to justify the stop of Boarden in this case.
4. Whether the individual facts in this case, or the totality of those facts[,] support a finding of probable causé to support Boarden’s arrest and probable cause to support the search of Boarden’s person.

Motion (Docket # 81) at 6-7. In his reply briefing, Boarden expands upon the first issue, disputing the credibility of statements from the police report that the police were investigating whether the minivan was stolen and that Boarden was arrested and searched for police protection. Reply (Docket # 83) at 4-5. Boar-den submits his own affidavit in support of his motion. (Docket # 81-1). In his affidavit, Boarden avers that he had just exited a vehicle when he was stopped by Milwaukee Police Officers. Boarden Aff. at ¶ 2. Boarden further states:

I was then ordered by Milwaukee Police Officers to re-enter the vehicle. I was ordered out of the vehicle. I was handcuffed and police officers conducted a pat-down of my person and police removed from my clothing a purple Crown Royal liquor sack. Police searched the contents of this sack.

Boarden Aff. at ¶ 3. In its response, the government argues that an evidentiary hearing is not warranted because Boarden has not identified any disputed facts that [1168]*1168affect the outcome of the motion. Response (Docket # 82) at 4.

The court can only agree with the government that Boarden has not shown an evidentiary hearing to be necessary. . It is well-established that evidentia-ry hearings are warranted only when the defendant’s allegations are definite, non-conjectural, and detailed enough to enable the court to conclude that a substantial claim is presented and that there are disputed issues of material fact that will affect the outcome of the motion. United States v. Coleman, 149 F.3d 674, 677 (7th Cir.1998). Evidentiary hearings on motions to suppress are not granted as a matter of course but are held only when the defendant alleges sufficient facts which, if proven, would justify relief. United States v. Hamm, 786 F.2d 804

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
29 F. Supp. 3d 1164, 2014 WL 2894904, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87216, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-boarden-wied-2014.