United States v. Crooker

688 F.3d 1, 2012 WL 3064846, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 15635
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedJuly 27, 2012
Docket10-2372
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 688 F.3d 1 (United States v. Crooker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First 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. Crooker, 688 F.3d 1, 2012 WL 3064846, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 15635 (1st Cir. 2012).

Opinion

LIPEZ, Circuit Judge.

Jake Crooker was charged with possession of firearms and ammunition by an unlawful user of a controlled substance, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), and possession of marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 844. After a jury trial, Crooker was convicted of possession of marijuana and fined $4000. He now appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress statements and evidence recovered during the July 15, 2004, search of 62 Joseph Avenue in Westfield, Massachusetts, where he resided with his parents and brothers. Crooker argues that the search warrant was not supported by probable cause and was a defective general warrant that did not state with particularity the items to be seized. Moreover, he alleges that the agents executing the warrant exceeded its scope. He also argues that the statements admitted against him were made during custodial interrogations without the benefit of Miranda warnings. We affirm.

I.

When reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, we rehearse the facts as supportably found by the court below, including any inferences drawn by the court from the discerned facts. United States v. Pontoo, 666 F.3d 20, 24 (1st Cir.2011). Here, we draw from the district court’s bench decision, issued after a hearing on Crooker’s motion to suppress, as well as the affidavit supporting the search warrant and other hearing testimony.

*4 A. Factual Background

The relevant series of events was triggered by an ongoing Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) investigation of Crooker’s uncle, Michael Crooker. 1 The application and affidavit in support of a warrant to search the buildings and grounds of 62 Joseph Avenue, Crooker’s residence, were submitted by FBI Special Agent Richard Winfield. The documents primarily described the FBI’s evidence against Michael, who does not live at 62 Joseph Avenue. The evidence suggested that Michael was involved in the unlawful manufacture, storage, and interstate shipping of explosives, biological toxins, and weapons. Although Michael did not live at 62 Joseph Avenue, Winfield’s affidavit stated that the FBI had reason to believe that Michael had buried ricin near a stump in his brother Stephen’s (and Crooker’s) backyard at 62 Joseph Avenue. 2 The warrant application included an attachment detailing the items the government sought to seize during the search, including specified firearms and evidence of explosives and biological weapons violations, as well as evidence related to those violations stored on one or more computers.

On July 14, 2004, a warrant was issued to search the grounds and residence at 62 Joseph Avenue for

evidence, fruits or instrumentalities of the manufacturing of explosive materials without a license, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 842(a)(1); shipping, transporting or receiving any explosive materials in interstate commerce, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 842(i); illegal storage of explosive materials, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 842(j); and possession and manufacture of biological weapons in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 175.

The warrant did not incorporate the affidavit or the list of items to be seized. Thus, the warrant did not authorize seizure of firearms, ammunition, drugs, or drug paraphernalia. See Groh v. Ramirez, 540 U.S. 551, 557-58, 124 S.Ct. 1284, 157 L.Ed.2d 1068 (2004) (stating that a warrant authorizes only the seizure of items described with particularity on the face of the warrant or in documents explicitly incorporated in the warrant).

Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) and local police executed the search warrant on the afternoon of July 15, 2004. A team of agents consisting of between four and eight men led by FBI Special Agent Mark Karangekis (the “entry team”) entered and cleared the house. They were clad in black clothing and FBI attire and ran up the lawn single file with their weapons drawn. Karangekis knocked at the front screen door and announced the agents’ purpose. After Crooker exited the house and chained up one of his dogs at the agents’ request, the entry team went into the house and began clearing it. 3 After the house had been *5 cleared, the “search team” led by FBI Special Agent Robert Lewis entered the house. Lewis was responsible for coordinating the search, taking custody .of seized evidence at the conclusion of the search, and maintaining contact with the individuals whose house was being searched.

During the multiple hour search, Lewis and Springfield Police Officer Ronald Sheehan had a conversation with Crooker in front of the house. At the beginning of the interaction, Sheehan frisked Crooker and seized a cigarette pack that held a bag containing a green leafy substance. 4 The agents did not arrest Crooker or advise him of his Miranda rights, but instead asked him to consent to questioning. The conversation began in the front yard and, due to the heat, at least some part of the conversation occurred in Lewis’s air-conditioned car. During the conversation, Crooker told the agents that there were four safes in the house — Crooker had access to two, which contained his and his mother’s weapons, and his father had access to the other two, which contained antique firearms. 5 Lewis testified that he knew at the time of the search that the warrant did not authorize seizure of firearms or ammunition. Nevertheless, Lewis asked Crooker to open the two safes to which Crooker had access, and agents seized several weapons and ammunition from inside the safes. Lewis stated that he seized the weapons because he knew that: (1) Stephen Crooker’s prior felony conviction made his possession of weapons and ammunition unlawful and he was unsure whether Stephen had access to the items, and (2) Crooker had confessed to using illegal drugs, making his possession of firearms unlawful.

Later in the search, ATF Special Agents Michael Curran and Debora Seifert interacted with Crooker, who was cooperative and again described the family members’ varied access to the four safes. Crooker also mentioned that there was an unlocked tackle box containing ammunition that belonged to him in the living room. 6 When Curran asked Crooker if he used drugs, Crooker said that he occasionally used marijuana and that there was some marijuana inside the house that belonged to him. Agents then seized bags of what appeared to be marijuana from the kitchen and basement. The tackle box containing ammunition and a cigarette rolling device was seized, along with all of its contents.

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Bluebook (online)
688 F.3d 1, 2012 WL 3064846, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 15635, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-crooker-ca1-2012.