United States v. Christian

39 F. Supp. 3d 942, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115651, 2014 WL 4092947
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedAugust 19, 2014
DocketCase No. 4:14CR165
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 39 F. Supp. 3d 942 (United States v. Christian) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Christian, 39 F. Supp. 3d 942, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115651, 2014 WL 4092947 (N.D. Ohio 2014).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER’

SARA LIOI, District Judge.

Defendant Christian seeks to suppress all evidence seized and statements made by him during a police stop of his vehicle on April 14, 2014. (Doc. No. 11.) By this same motion, Christian also seeks the exclusion at trial of all physical evidence gathered during the subsequent searches of the premises located at 448 and 452 N. Garland, Avenue, Youngstown, Ohio. The government opposes the motion. (Doc. No. [944]*94412.) The Court conducted an evidentiary hearing on the motion on July 7, 2014. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Court took the matter under advisement.

I. Background

In 2013, the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) began investigating alleged drug trafficking activity by defendant. As part of the investigation, the government employed the services of a confidential source (“CS”), who made a series of controlled drug buys from defendant, between March 19, 2014 and April 11, 2014, at two adjoining Youngstown properties associated with defendant. During each buy, defendant’s black Cadillac was parked outside one of the two properties.

On April 3, 2014, Magistrate Judge George Limbert signed a warrant authorizing the placement of a GPS tracking device on defendant’s Cadillac. (Tracking Warrant, Doc. No. 12-1 [Government’s Hearing Exhibit 1].) The tracking warrant permitted officers to install the tracking device, collect and evaluate the resulting data for 45 days, and ultimately remove the tracking device at any time prior to the end of the monitoring period. (Id. at 61:) To justify the need for the tracking warrant, the magistrate judge found that the warrant application demonstrated “reason to believe that the [vehicle] has been involved in and likely will continue to be involved in the criminal activity identified in the application [to wit, drug trafficking].” (Id.) The tracking device was ultimately placed on the Cadillac but the batteries expired within days of its installation.

Also on April 3, 2014, Magistrate Judge Limbert signed two search warrants for the Youngstown properties. (Search Warrants, Doc. Nos. 12-1 and 12-2 [Government Hearing Exhibits 2 and 3].) In support of these warrants, the magistrate judge determined that there was probable cause to believe that evidence of drug trafficking would be found on the premises. The warrants commanded officers to conduct the searches on or before April 16, 2014.

On the morning of April 14, 2014, officers organized for the purpose of executing the search warrants, and defendant was placed under surveillance. Officers observed defendant leave the premises and travel to a nearby store. Between thirty and forty-five minutes later, defendant was observed leaving the store and heading in the direction of his properties. Heading southbound, defendant’s vehicle passed Task Force Officer Samuel Mosca, who was travelling northbound. Defendant looked at Officer Mosca’s unmarked car and kept driving in the direction of his premises. Officer Mosca turned his vehicle around, followed defendant, and stopped him approximately one-tenth of a mile away from the locations where the searches were to take place. Officers detained defendant and searched the vehicle. Officers discovered a cell phone and currency. Officers seized the vehicle and detained defendant “pending the execution of the search warrants.” (Doc. No. 12 at 52.) Defendant was Mirandized at that time.

At the hearing, Officer Mosca testified that he was convinced that defendant had actually spotted his vehicle several times that morning before he stopped defendant. According to Officer Mosca, this was a cause for concern because it was believed that defendant was familiar with several of the vehicles involved in the drug investigation. He explained that, during one or more controlled purchases, defendant told the CS that he knew officers were watching him and described some of the vehicles used by officers, including Officer Mosca’s car. Officer Mosca further testified that, [945]*945as a result of past controlled buys involving defendant, he believed that the car had been involved in drug trafficking activity.

Officer Kevin Ruse was patrolling the general area at the time in a marked Youngstown police cruiser and assisted Officer Mosca with the stop. Once the Cadillac was immobilized, Officer Mosca asked defendant and his passenger to step out of the vehicle, and the two were placed in handcuffs for officer safety. The officers then waited for other members of the surveillance team to arrive.

Officer Josh Wells of the Canfield Police Department, and member of the drug task force, was one of-the first officers to arrive after defendant was placed in handcuffs. He testified that he was en route to defendant’s premises with the search warrants when he learned that defendant had been detained near the premises. He stopped briefly at the scene and spoke with Officer Mosca. According to Officer Wells, defendant’s residences were visible from the intersection where defendant had been stopped. The Cadillac was ultimately searched, and the search yielded the aforementioned currency and cell phone.

Following the search of the vehicle, defendant was transported to the premises that were the subject of the search warrants and officers conducted their search of the premises. During this search, defendant assisted officers by allowing them to use his key to gain entrance and by restraining a “hostile” dog in the backyard of one of the properties. The search yielded a detectable amount of marijuana, weapons, and ammunition. Officers also removed the tracking device from the Cadillac at the time of the searches. Defendant was subsequently charged with five counts of distributing heroin, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C), and one count of being a felon in possession of a weapon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). (Indictment, Doc. No. 6.)

At the hearing, Officers Mosca and Wells each testified that the purpose of the stop was to remove the GPS tracking device, while Officer Mosca added that defendant was detained in order to execute the search warrants. Further, though Officer Wells insisted that defendant was not arrested until after the drugs and weapons were located on his premises, he conceded that, from the time defendant was placed in handcuffs at the scene of the traffic stop, defendant was not free to leave. As for the search of the vehicle, Officer Wells testified that it was searched because it was subject to forfeiture as having been used in the trafficking of illicit drugs.

Defendant argues that there was no lawful cause to stop him while he was traveling in his vehicle, away from his residence, or probable cause to arrest and detain him without a warrant. The government defends the detention and search of defendant and his vehicle on four grounds: (1) the officers properly stopped the car because a tracking warrant gave them the authority to do so, (2) officers properly detained defendant in the vicinity of the house that was to be searched, (3) the automobile exception authorized officers to search the car, and (4) the officers would have inevitably discovered the evidence during an inventory of the car.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
39 F. Supp. 3d 942, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115651, 2014 WL 4092947, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-christian-ohnd-2014.