United States v. Crews

Procedural entryThis page is a short order in United States v. Crews. Read the opinion of the Court — 502 F.3d 1130
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided September 10, 2007·No. 06-30414·Published

Opinion

FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  No. 06-30414 Plaintiff-Appellant, v.  D.C. No. CR-05-00355-ALH UHURU NAVANDA CREWS, Defendant-Appellee.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon Ancer L. Haggerty, Chief Judge, Presiding

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  No. 06-30589 Plaintiff-Appellant, v.  D.C. No. CR-05-00400-GMK EBONIQUE MANUS, OPINION Defendant-Appellee.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon Garr M. King, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted July 13, 2007—Portland, Oregon

Filed September 10, 2007

Before: Cynthia Holcomb Hall and Milan D. Smith, Jr., Circuit Judges, and Kevin Thomas Duffy,* Senior District Judge.

*The Honorable Kevin Thomas Duffy, Senior United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation.

12045 12046 UNITED STATES v. CREWS Opinion by Judge Duffy 12048 UNITED STATES v. CREWS

COUNSEL

Stephen F. Peifer, Assistant United States Attorney, for appel- lant the United States of America.

Lisa Hay, Assistant Federal Public Defender, for defendant Uhuru Navanda Crews.

Francesca Freccero, Assistant Federal Public Defender, for defendant Uhuru Navanda Crews. UNITED STATES v. CREWS 12049 Raivio, Kohlmetz & Steen, P.C., by Andrew Kohlmetz, Esq., for defendant Ebonique Manus.

OPINION

DUFFY, Senior District Judge:

Most of the arguments raised in these two cases arise from the execution of one search warrant at 6731 SE 82nd Avenue, Apartment 3 (“Apartment 3”) in Portland, Oregon. As resi- dents of Apartment 3, Uhuru Navanda Crews and Ebonique Manus (“Crews” and “Manus,” or collectively “Defendants”) continue to attack the validity of the underlying affidavit upon which the search warrant was based. Defendants argued below, and continue to argue, that the affidavit is so lacking in indicia of probable cause that no police officer could have reasonably relied upon it in good faith. The search warrant resulted in two indictments—one for each defendant— separately charging each with being a felon in possession of a firearm. The case against Crews (05-355-ALH) was assigned to Chief Judge Haggerty, and that against Manus (05-400-GMK) was assigned to Judge King. In each case, the defendant moved to suppress all evidence flowing from the warrant. Chief Judge Haggerty held a hearing on the motion. At the behest of the parties, Judge King relied upon the hear- ing before Chief Judge Haggerty. The district courts agreed with the Defendants’ arguments and in each case ordered sup- pression of the evidence seized during the search and inculpa- tory statements made by Defendants as tainted fruits of an unlawful search. The Government appeals these orders, con- tending that there was probable cause supporting the search, and even if there was not, the good faith exception applies pursuant to United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 925 (1984).

FACTS

At about 2:00 a.m. on July 2, 2005, a police officer attempted to pull Crews over for failing to properly signal a 12050 UNITED STATES v. CREWS turn while driving. Rather than comply, Crews, a convicted felon, increased his speed and then jumped from the vehicle in an attempt to elude the police. After a brief chase on foot, officers arrested Crews for attempting to elude the police pur- suant to Section 811.540 of the Oregon Revised Statutes and for other state and city violations. After the officers advised Crews of his Miranda rights, Crews verbally waived them and admitted that he fled because of an outstanding arrest warrant in the state of Washington, a warrant that, unbeknownst to Crews, was non-extraditable. The officers impounded the car Crews had been driving, a 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass regis- tered to Manus, also a convicted felon, and registered to Manus’s address at Apartment 3, 6731 SE 82nd Avenue, Port- land, Oregon. Crews’ arrest had taken place only a few blocks from that location. Neither the Portland Police Data System nor Crews’s invalid drivers license listed the address of Manus’s apartment as Crews’s residence.

After conducting a sweep of the area where Crews was arrested, officers found a .22 caliber revolver under some shrubbery. As convicted felons, both Crews and Manus were forbidden from possessing a firearm. See 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).1 Because the car Crews had been driving was registered to Manus at Apartment 3, police officers focused their surveil- lance at that address for two days. On the first day, officers observed Crews walking within the complex where Apart- ment 3 is located and then leave with an unknown person in an unknown car that had been parked in the space reserved for Apartment 3. The next day, officers observed Manus walk from the area of Apartment 3 and leave in a Pontiac that had been parked in the space reserved for Apartment 3. Mean- while, officers observed Crews walking from the complex and then return. After Manus returned, officers watched as Manus 1 The relevant portions of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) states that “[i]t shall be unlawful for any person . . . who has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year . . . to . . . possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition . . . .” UNITED STATES v. CREWS 12051 and Crews emerged together from the area where the doorway to Apartment 3 was located. They then proceeded to walk back and forth from Apartment 3 to the Pontiac multiple times before eventually leaving together in the Pontiac, with Crews driving.

Based on these observations and his experiences and gen- eral knowledge of firearm possession, Officer Peter McCon- nell prepared an eight-page affidavit in support of a search warrant for Apartment 3, Crews’s person, the Oldsmobile, and the Pontiac for evidence of the crimes of “attempting to elude police” and “felon in possession of a firearm.” The war- rant was issued on July 14, 2005, and permitted police offi- cers to search Apartment 3 for .22 caliber ammunition, firearm cleaning kits, magazines, receipts and other evidence of firearm possession, as well as items of identification that would show dominion over the places searched.2 Within fif- teen minutes of receiving the warrant, police officers found and picked up Crews off the street near Apartment 3 and advised him of his Miranda rights, which Crews said he understood. Crews denied living at Apartment 3 and stated that he did not believe there to be any firearms there. Eventu- ally, Crews was taken into custody.

The police officers then executed the search at Apartment 3. There, Manus stated that she and Crews had been living together at Apartment 3 for a month and a half, but that there were no firearms inside. Manus was then taken into custody. During the search of Apartment 3, officers discovered a .38 caliber derringer and ammunition inside of a bedroom dresser drawer containing women’s undergarments. The officers also found Crews’s wallet on top of that dresser. No evidence was found on Crews’s person or in the automobiles. 2 In addition to Apartment 3, the affidavit also permitted police officers to search the Oldsmobile, the Pontiac, and Crews’s person. 12052 UNITED STATES v. CREWS The officers returned to the precinct and separately inter- viewed Crews and Manus. Officer McConnell removed Crews’s handcuffs and reminded him that his Miranda rights still applied, which Crews acknowledged.

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