United States v. Bobby Der Enslin, AKA Bobby De Enslin, Bobby Enslin D

327 F.3d 788, 2003 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 3427, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 7730, 2003 WL 1923516
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided April 24, 2003·No. 02-50087·Published·Cited by 87 cases

Opinion

ORDER

The Opinion filed January 13, 2003, slip op. 331, and appearing at 315 F.3d 1205, is amended as follows:

1.At slip op. 344 [315 F.3d at 1213], line 4, insert the following footnote after “During their search,”:

The officers had lawful consent to search the entire house to look for a dangerous fugitive for whom they had an arrest warrant. They had not yet completed their search. Thus, the officers were lawfully in the room when they found Enslin. Accordingly, Enslin’s reliance upon Maryland v. Buie, 494 U.S. 325, 110 S.Ct. 1093, 108 L.Ed.2d 276 (1990), is misplaced. Buie held that an officer must have reasonable suspicion to search previously unsearched areas of a house when the officers were present to execute an arrest warrant and they had already found and arrested the suspect. Id. at 334, 110 S.Ct. 1093. In reaching this conclusion, the Supreme Court relied on the fact that the officers had already accomplished what they set out to achieve. Thus, their justification for being in the house (to execute the arrest warrant) had evaporated. Id. at 332-33, 110 S.Ct. 1093. In this case, the officers were lawfully in the room when they found Enslin because they had not completed their search. Second, in balancing the Fourth Amendment interests, the Buie Court concluded that entering into previously unsearched rooms was not de minimis. Id. at 333-34, 110 S.Ct. 1093. In this case, as we have described above, ordering Enslin to show his hands was a minimal intrusion.

2. At slip op. 343 [315 F.3d at 1212], footnote 29, insert the following at the end of the first paragraph, line 3 from the bottom:

Thus, Enslin’s reliance upon cases that require reasonable suspicion for a Terry stop is misplaced. See United States v. Flippin, 924 F.2d 163, 167(9th Cir.1991) (requiring reasonable suspicion before an officer may forcibly remove a bag from the possession of an occupant during a consent search). These cases do not involve de minimis intrusions into individual liberty.

3. At slip op. 345 [315 F.3d at 1212], footnote 33, line 1, insert “in oral argument” after “Contrary to Enslin’s assertion”.

With these amendments, the panel has voted unanimously to deny the petition for panel rehearing and the petition for rehearing en banc.

The full court has been advised of the petition for rehearing en bane and no active judge has requested a vote on whether to rehear the matter en banc. Fed. RApp. P. 35.

*791 The petition for rehearing and the petition for rehearing en banc are DENIED.

OPINION

T.G. NELSON, Circuit Judge.

Bobby Der Enslin appeals his criminal conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm. 1 He contends that the district court wrongfully denied his motion to suppress evidence from a warrantless search and evidence obtained after he was seized unlawfully. He further contends that the indictment was fatally flawed because it failed to allege a mens rea for his felon status. We affirm because we conclude that (1) even if the person who voluntarily consented to the search did not have authority to consent, the U.S. marshals appropriately relied upon her apparent authority; (2) the seizure imposed a de minimis obligation upon Enslin to show his hands while the marshals searched the room; and (3) United States v. Miller 2 is controlling authority in this circuit, and it appropriately rejected any mens rea requirement for the felon status element of the felon in possession statute.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Enslin was truly in the wrong place at the wrong time. Seven U.S. marshals were searching for a fugitive named Mickey Bass to execute an arrest warrant. Relying upon a tip that Bass had frequented John and Shannon Palacios’ house, they approached the house dressed in plain clothes. 3

At a subsequent suppression hearing, the marshals testified about the ensuing events. They knocked and identified themselves to Larry Chance, Shannon Pa-lacios’ brother. When Shannon Palacios subsequently joined Chance at the door, they asked her if Bass was there and when she replied that he was not, they requested permission to search the house. Shannon Palacios gave them consent to search the house: she did not limit her consent to any part of the house or give any indication that she could not consent to their search of any part of the house, although the marshals admitted that she did not give them particularized consent to search the back bedroom where they subsequently found Enslin. The marshals also admitted that they did not tell her that she had a right not to consent or read her the Miranda warnings.

The marshals entered the house and began searching for Bass. Two of them, Deputy Marshals Maddry and Kitts, went down the hallway and into the back bedroom. Although the back bedroom door had a key lock, there is no indication in the record that the door was locked. When the marshals entered the room, Enslin was in bed, apparently having just awakened from sleep. Enslin’s hands were concealed underneath the covers.

Concerned for their safety while they searched the room for Bass, Maddry and Kitts ordered Enslin to show his hands. The record indicates that the marshals likely had their hands on their weapons at the time. When Enslin put his hands in the air and began to sit up, his movement shifted the covers and the marshals could see a gun in the bed next to him. The marshals drew their weapons and placed Enslin under arrest. Only later did they *792 learn that Enslin was on parole. He was charged subsequently and convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2).

Shannon Palacios testified at the suppression hearing and contradicted some of the marshals’ testimony. However, her testimony was confusing and inconsistent, and she was unable to remember many things about the events of that morning. She stated that she did not meet the marshals at the door: they just came into her home. Furthermore, she testified that she did not give consent to search (although she could not remember whether the marshals asked for consent).

During the previous three months, she had rented the back bedroom to a man named Pat Dicker. Shannon Palacios never entered the room when Dicker lived there. However, she was having trouble getting Dicker to leave, so she enlisted the help of Enslin, who stayed in Dicker’s room at her request.

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United States v. Bobby Der Enslin, AKA Bobby De Enslin, Bobby Enslin D, 327 F.3d 788, 2003 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 3427, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 7730, 2003 WL 1923516 (9th Cir. 2003).

327 F.3d 788 (United States v. Bobby Der Enslin, AKA Bobby De Enslin, Bobby Enslin D) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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