United States v. Cole

195 F.R.D. 627, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11411, 2000 WL 1137669
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedJuly 21, 2000
DocketNo. 2:00-CR-48-RL
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 195 F.R.D. 627 (United States v. Cole) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Cole, 195 F.R.D. 627, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11411, 2000 WL 1137669 (N.D. Ind. 2000).

Opinion

ORDER

LOZANO, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on the Motion to Suppress Evidence, filed by Defendant, Antoine Cole, on May 3, 2000. For the reasons set forth below, this motion is GRANTED. The Court ORDERS that all evidence seized from inside the 1124 Jennings Street residence at the time of and subsequent to Cole’s arrest, in addition to all evidence obtained as a result of the illegal search and seizure, be SUPPRESSED.

BACKGROUND

The Defendant, Antoine Cole, has been charged in a three-count indictment with distributing crack cocaine, possessing with the intent to distribute crack cocaine, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Cole has moved to suppress all items seized from inside the 1124 [629]*629Jennings Street residence at the time of and subsequent to his arrest, in addition to all fruit of the search and seizure in question. After the Government filed a brief in response to this motion, the Court held an evidentiary hearing on this matter on May 31, 2000. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Court took the motion under advisement and ordered the parties to file further briefs on the issue, which the parties have now done. After having considered the credibility of the witnesses, the Court makes the following findings of fact.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Shortly before noon on April 23, 2000, members of the Gary Police Department were patrolling near 1124 Jennings Street in Gary. Corporal Jeff Trevino was in uniform in an unmarked vehicle. Sargent Willie Upshaw was in uniform in another unmarked vehicle. Officers Darlene Brightenstein and Frank Carillo were both in uniform in a third, marked vehicle. The officers observed a male individual exit the back door of the residence at 1124 Jennings and walk across the residence’s yard. As the individual exited the residence, the officers observed the individual’s right hand balled up with a white piece of paper in it. When the individual observed the marked police car, he placed his right hand in his pocket.

The officers found this activity suspicious because there had been reports of drug-related activity in the area. In addition, during the previous week, Trevino had seen some but not a heavy traffic of people exiting the back door of 1124 Jennings. Trevino’s actions in watching 1124 Jennings at that time were not taken as part of an official stakeout of the residence.

Upon seeing the aforementioned individual exit 1124 Jennings on April 23 and place his right hand in his pocket, Brightenstein and Carillo exited their vehicle and stopped him. The officers asked him to take his hand out of his pocket, and when he did, Brightenstein saw something drop to the ground. Carillo picked the item up, revealing a substance later determined to be crack cocaine. By this time, Trevino had arrived, and he asked the individual his name, from where he had just come, and who he knew in the 1124 Jennings residence. The individual stated that he had not come from 1124 Jennings but from across the street and was simply cutting across the yard of 1124 Jennings. The individual then handed the officers an identification card identifying him as Evar White-side. This individual, now known to be Evar Whiteside, was placed under arrest and handcuffed.

Trevino, knowing that Whiteside had lied when he stated he had not just come from 1124 Jennings, walked to the back door of the 1124 Jennings residence to determine if he could identify who lived there and if anyone inside could verify that Whiteside had just left there. While Trevino approached the back door, Brightenstein and Carillo stayed with Whiteside at the police car until Upshaw arrived, at which point Brighten-stein approached the back door of the residence.

When Trevino reached the back door of 1124 Jennings, the glass door was shut and the inside door was fully open. Through the glass door, Trevino could see a few stairs leading into a basement area. He could also see an individual standing at the bottom of the basement stairs about twelve feet from the back door and talking on the telephone. Trevino could also see what appeared to be a handgun, some baggies, and some crack cocaine in the basement near the individual.

Trevino knocked on the glass door to get the individual’s attention, and after a few seconds, the individual in the basement looked up. Trevino motioned him to come outside. The individual came outside and immediately shut the glass door behind him.

With both Trevino and the individual now standing outside the back door, Trevino asked him if he lived at 1124 Jennings. The individual stated that he did live there and that it was his mother’s home. Trevino then asked if the individual knew the man under arrest near the street (and now known to the police to be Evar Whiteside). The individual looked over at Whiteside and stated that he did not know him. Trevino asked the individual if the man under arrest near the street had exited the- 1124 Jennings residence, and the individual stated that that [630]*630man (Whiteside) had not exited the 1124 Jennings residence. Trevino then asked the individual at the back door what his own name was, and the individual stated his own name was Evar Whiteside.

Trevino confronted the individual at the back door, who had just identified himself as Evar Whiteside, with the identification card of the man under arrest near the street being Evar Whiteside. The individual at the back door then admitted that his own name was not Evar Whiteside but instead was Antoine Cole. Cole then admitted that the man under arrest near the street was his cousin, Evar Whiteside, and that Whiteside had just left 1124 Jennings prior to his arrest near the street.

Trevino then either asked or told Cole that he needed to see some identification. Cole stated that his identification was downstairs in the basement in his wallet, and that the glass door locked when he shut it behind him. Trevino then stated that the police needed to see his identification to verify who he was because he was lying to the police. Trevino then asked Cole if the front door was unlocked, and Trevino answered that he didn’t think so. Trevino asked Brighten-stein, who had reached the back door some time just prior to or during Trevino’s questioning of Cole, to stay with Cole at the back door. Trevino also signaled to Brightenstein the police code for the presence of a gun, but never indicated to Cole that he saw what he believed to be a gun or drugs in the basement. Trevino stated that he was going to check the front door to see if it was unlocked. Cole did not state that Trevino could not check the front door or that Trevino needed a search warrant to check the front door.

While Trevino believed at the time he went to check the front door that he could have arrested and handcuffed Cole for false informing, Cole was neither arrested nor handcuffed. Instead, Cole remained uncuffed and at the back door with Brightenstein while Trevino checked the front door.

After determining that the front door was unlocked, Trevino decided it would be safer for him to proceed through the house alone and unlock the back door than to go back around to the back door, retrieve Cole, and then lead Cole through the front door and into the basement for the purpose of retrieving Cole’s identification. Trevino then entered the house for the purpose of unlocking the back door so that Cole’s identification could be retrieved.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
195 F.R.D. 627, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11411, 2000 WL 1137669, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-cole-innd-2000.