United States v. Burke

718 F. Supp. 1130, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8452, 1989 WL 83176
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJuly 21, 1989
Docket88 Cr. 722 (MBM)
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 718 F. Supp. 1130 (United States v. Burke) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Burke, 718 F. Supp. 1130, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8452, 1989 WL 83176 (S.D.N.Y. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

MUKASEY, District Judge.

Defendants James Burke and Larry D. Evans move pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 12 and 41 to suppress all evidence seized in three separate searches. The indictment in this case charges defendants with mail and wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 1343. Burke and Evans were principals of Barclay Galleries; Prudence Clark and Jeffrey Kasner worked as salespersons for Barclay. 1 In April 1984, United States Postal Inspector Robert DeMuro and other members of the United States Postal Inspection Service began investigating the authenticity of Salvador Dali prints Barclay was selling. (DeMuro Aff. at fl 2) In April 1985, DeMuro, Joseph Morahan, and Robert Paschel applied for search warrants for three separate Barclay offices in, respectively, Manhattan, Southampton, and Stamford. These warrants were executed on April 22, 1985.

The question presented here is twofold: (1) whether the warrants issued were unconstitutionally overbroad, and (2) whether the good faith exception to the warrant requirement applies such that suppression is inappropriate. As detailed below, I find that, although the warrants were over-broad, the circumstances of the searches show conclusively that the good faith exception applies to these searches. Defendants’ motion to suppress evidence therefore is denied.

I.

In order to consider the constitutionality of the searches, it is necessary to describe the genesis of the warrants. DeMuro reviewed material relating to five search warrants that the Postal Inspection Service had submitted in an earlier investigation into a “boiler room sales operation,” 2 and, based on these models, prepared draft search warrants for the three Barclay locations. (DeMuro Aff. at ¶ 3) At that time, DeMuro had participated in the preparation or execution of at least 20 search warrants, including at least ten searches executed in connection with mail fraud investigations. (DeMuro Aff. at ¶ 3) Additionally, DeMuro *1133 had been a postal inspector for about 11 years and had specialized in the investigation of boiler room sales operations in the two years before the searches in question here. (DeMuro Aff. at 2)

In the course of the Barclay investigation, DeMuro consulted two experts on Salvador Dali: Albert Field and Robert Desc-harnes. DeMuro also reviewed a report prepared by a third expert, A. Reynolds Morse. DeMuro described his consultations with Descharnes and Field and his review of Morse’s report in the affidavit he drafted to support the government’s application for a search warrant. In his search warrant affidavit, DeMuro referred to Field, Descharnes and Morse as Experts A, B and C, respectively. He did not identify them by name because of the government’s perceived need to preserve their ability to work undercover. (DeMuro Aff. at 11 5) In particular, the affidavit recounts that Field said that the prints “Caesar in Dalivision” and “Dali’s Final Vision,” offered for sale by Barclay, were fake Dali artwork, although they were based on a “Dali image”; Field and Morse said that the print “Cosmic Warrior,” also offered for sale by Barclay, was also a fake and not even based on a “Dali image.” (DeMuro Supporting Aff. to Search Warrant (hereafter “DeMuro Search Warrant Aff.”) at ¶1¶ 14-22) The affidavit reported that all three experts concluded that “none of the Barclay images they have reviewed were signed or numbered by Dali after printing.” (DeMuro Search Warrant Aff. at 1124)

The parties hotly dispute the credentials of these three individuals. According to DeMuro, Field is Dali’s “official archivist and has devoted the last thirty years of his life to compiling a definitive catalogue of Dali’s works.” (DeMuro Aff. at ¶ 4) He first learned of Field when he asked the International Foundation for Art Research (“IFAR”) to authenticate a Dali lithograph Barclay had sold; IFAR’s report relied on opinions by Field and Morse, both of whom it termed “recognized experts.” (DeMuro Sur-Reply Aff. at HU 3, 4) After receiving this report, DeMuro contacted Field directly and met with him several times in late 1984. DeMuro avers that,

In all my conversations with Field, he consistently appeared to be extremely knowledgeable about Salvador Dali. I also learned that Field had met Dali personally on several occasions and that Dali himself had approved of Field’s efforts to assemble and to publish a definitive catalogue of Dali’s works. To that end, Dali had supplied Field with a letter that identified Field as his official archivist.

(DeMuro Sur-Reply Aff. at U 5 & Exh. A) Field’s status as Dali’s archivist has been acknowledged by Barclay itself in its sales literature. (DeMuro Aff., Exh. A at 3) In fact, at one point, Barclay sought out Field to authenticate some of the purported Dale lithographs and etchings it was selling. (DeMuro Aff. at ¶ 3, Exh. B) In the ensuing February 13, 1985 written contract memorializing an agreement between Field and Barclay, defendant Larry Evans referred to Field as “perhaps the leading Dali expert in the Country.” (DeMuro Sur-Re-ply Aff. at H 6, Exh. B) Also in February 1985, DeMuro read a New York Magazine article which reported that an entity called the “Collector’s Guild” has sought Field’s opinion about the authenticity of a Dali lithograph. (DeMuro Sur-Reply Aff. at 117, Exh. C) DeMuro avers that, in late 1984, the New York State Attorney General’s Office informed him that it regarded Field as an expert and that it had consulted him as such regarding its investigation of fake Dali lithographs. (DeMuro Sur-Reply Aff. at 11 8)

According to DeMuro, Robert Desc-harnes was a professional photographer of Dali’s works who served as Dali’s personal secretary from 1981 until Dali’s death on January 23, 1989. (DeMuro Aff. at H 4; DeMuro Sur-Reply Aff. at ¶ 11) IFAR and Michael Ward Stout, Dali’s attorney in the United States, referred DeMuro to Desc-harnes, noting that Descharnes was an expert in Dali artwork. (DeMuro Sur-Reply Aff. at ¶ 11) A. Reynolds Morse was the founder and director of the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. Id. Barclay’s sales literature states that this museum contained the world's largest col *1134 lection of Dali’s works. (DeMuro Aff., Exh. A at 3) DeMuro avers that Stout also told him that both Field and Morse were experts in Dali work and that both had had long personal relationships with Dali. (De-Muro Sur-Reply Aff. at ¶ 9) Moreover, a Wall Street Journal article in March 1985 identified Morse as “a major U.S. Collector of Dali’s works and the director of the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Fla.” (DeMuro Sur-Reply Aff. at II10)

Defendants question whether these experts are “experts in the field of art with particular expertise in the work of Salvador Dali” as DeMuro described them in his affidavit supporting the application for a search warrant. (Kaufman Deck, Exh.

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Bluebook (online)
718 F. Supp. 1130, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8452, 1989 WL 83176, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-burke-nysd-1989.