United States v. Carl Preston Layne

6 F.3d 396, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 25689, 1993 WL 387588
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedOctober 1, 1993
Docket92-6122
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 6 F.3d 396 (United States v. Carl Preston Layne) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth 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. Carl Preston Layne, 6 F.3d 396, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 25689, 1993 WL 387588 (6th Cir. 1993).

Opinion

KRUPANSKY, Senior Circuit Judge.

Defendant-Appellant, Carl Preston Layne, has appealed his conviction as a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Layne was indicted in a one-count indictment on February 2, 1992. He entered a conditional guilty plea pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(a)(2), retaining the right to litigate the issues joined by his motion to suppress the recovered firearm and all post-arrest statements as fruit of a constitutionally defective arrest. An evidentiary hearing was conducted and Layne’s suppression motion was denied. Defendant was sentenced on August 24, 1992, and a timely notice of appeal was filed on the same day.

On the morning of June 24, 1992, the Se-quatchie County, Tennessee, Sheriffs Department received a report of a burglarized garage in their county. Several cases of oil, tools and a riding lawn mower had been reported stolen. Witnesses observed two men in a vehicle and recorded its attached license plate number. The license tag was registered to defendant.

On the following day, June 25, the Sequat-chie County Sheriff and his deputy traveled to the adjacent Marion County where Layne resided for the express purpose of questioning him about the burglary. As the officers approached Layne’s residence they passed a truck matching the description and bearing the reported license plate as the vehicle used in the garage burglary. The officers followed the truck into the city of Whitwell, in Marion County, where they signaled the truck to stop. The Whitwell Police department was summoned for backup and arrived after the vehicle had stopped. An investigative check disclosed that the vehicle registered to Layne had been reported as stolen.

When the Sequatchie County officers approached the vehicle, they observed tools and cans of oil in the rear bed of the truck, matching the items that had been reported stolen on the previous day in Sequatchie County. The deputy sheriff also testified that he saw a shotgun on the floor of the passenger’s side of the truck when Layne exited the vehicle. The shotgun was seized and the defendant and driver of the vehicle were placed under arrest for the burglary of *398 the garage. Layne was taken into custody by the Sequatchie County authorities, while the driver of the vehicle was taken into custody by the Whitwell Police Department.

After Layne’s arrest, he was taken in custody to the Sequatchie County Jail and given his Miranda warnings, Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Thereafter, an interview was initiated by a police investigator. Layne signed a Miranda waiver form at 12:27 a.m. on the morning of June 26, 1991, but the investigator terminated the interview after observing Layne’s nervous and unstable appearance. Later on the same day, Layne was again advised of his Miranda rights, subsequent to which he made a formal statement wherein he denied any involvement in the burglary, but admitted to the possession and ownership of the shotgun.

Defendant was indicted on February 19, 1992, by a federal grand jury as a felon in possession of a firearm. He was arrested by a federal agent on April 1, 1992, as he was leaving the Sequatchie County Courthouse. After taking Layne into custody, the federal agent advised him of his Miranda rights. Layne confirmed his ownership of the firearm recovered during his June 25, 1992, arrest. At the onset of the federal agent’s interrogation, the defendant informed the agent that he was represented by an attorney. At the hearing on the motion to suppress in Layne’s federal trial, the agent testified that he was aware that Layne was represented by an attorney for the state burglary charges, but that he told defendant he did not intend to question him about those charges.

On appeal, defendant argued that his rights under the Fourth Amendment were violated when he was stopped and arrested without a warrant by officers of Sequatchie County outside of their geographical jurisdiction. The record disclosed that the officers had probable cause when making the stop. Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 244 n. 13, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 2335 n. 13, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983) (probable cause only requires a probability or substantial chance of criminal activity, not an actual showing of criminal activity). Accordingly, the Fourth Amendment issue confronting this appellate review is the validity of Layne’s confrontation and arrest in Marion County by officers from Sequatchie County who were admittedly exercising police authority beyond their geographical jurisdiction. This court reviews the legal conclusions of the district court under a de novo standard, but reverses factual findings only if they are clearly erroneous. United States v. Sangineto-Miranda, 859 F.2d 1501, 1512 (6th Cir.1988). In denying defendant’s motion to suppress, the district court specifically relied upon the Tennessee Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Johnson, 661 S.W.2d 854 (Tenn.1983).

In Johnson, an officer from Sequatchie County, Tennessee, arrested a suspect in Bledsoe County after receiving information that the suspect was attempting to sell stolen firearms in his possession in that county. The informant also relayed to the officer a detailed description of a red Ford pickup truck, including the license plate number, that the suspect was driving. Acting on this information, the Sequatchie County officer telephoned the authorities in Bledsoe County, informed them of the situation and received authority to pursue the suspect within Bledsoe County. Whereupon Sequatchie County officers proceeded to Bledsoe County where they observed a red Ford pickup bearing the license plate number described by the informant. The vehicle was stopped and the suspect was arrested. A search incident to the arrest recovered several stolen firearms. At his trial, the defendant argued that his arrest and the subsequent search and seizure were unconstitutional and that the arresting officer had acted without authority because he was acting outside his geographical jurisdiction.

On appeal, the state responded by demonstrating that the arresting officer had been appointed a special deputy of Bledsoe County with authority to pursue and arrest the defendant in Bledsoe County. The Tennessee Supreme Court concluded that it was not required to decide that issue. Rather, the court concluded that arrests within the state of Tennessee made by officers outside of their geographical jurisdictions were valid under the provisions of the state’s citizen’s *399 arrest statute, Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-7-109. 1 Johnson, 661 S.W.2d at 869.

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Bluebook (online)
6 F.3d 396, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 25689, 1993 WL 387588, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-carl-preston-layne-ca6-1993.