United States v. Daly

937 F. Supp. 401, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11514, 1996 WL 448228
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 7, 1996
DocketCriminal Action 96-93
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 937 F. Supp. 401 (United States v. Daly) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Daly, 937 F. Supp. 401, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11514, 1996 WL 448228 (E.D. Pa. 1996).

Opinion

ORDER-MEMORANDUM

EDUARDO C. ROBRENO, District Judge.

AND NOW, this 7th day of August, 1996, upon consideration of defendant’s Motion to Sever Counts I and II (doc. no. 13), defendant’s Motion to Suppress Evidence (doc. no. 14), the responses and the supplemental submissions thereto (doc. nos. 15, 21, 22, 25, 33, & 34), following an evidentiary hearing on July 17-18, 1996, it is hereby ORDERED that the motions are DENIED on the terms set forth below:

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

1. Defendant Michael Daly (“Daly”) was charged by a grand jury with two counts of possessing cocaine with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), at two separate locations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 21, 1995, and on January 20, 1996. He moves this Court to suppress evidence which he claims the Government seized in violation of his rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

2. Daly contends “that there did not exist a substantial basis for the issuing authority to believe that contraband would be found at the [defendant’s apartment at the Hill Tower Apartments] on November 21, 1995,” Def.’s Mot. to Suppress, doe. no. 14, at ¶ 4, that the affidavit in support of the search warrant presented materially false and misleading information which affected the issuance of the warrant, and that the detectives lacked exigent circumstances to enter and search his apartment on that date. With respect to the search of the apartment at 11909 Academy *404 Road on January 20, 1995, Daly argues that the detectives lacked probable cause and that they acted in bad faith, since they searched the apartment before the search warrant was signed and never delivered the warrant to the premises.

A. The Hill Tower Apartment

3. The first part of defendant’s motion to suppress concerns the evidence seized on Daly’s person and in Daly’s apartment at the Hill Tower Apartments on November 21, 1995. The search warrant for Daly’s apartment is based on the sworn affidavit of Philadelphia County Detective Michael J. Reynolds (“Reynolds”), who is employed by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office, Dangerous Drug Offender Unit, and who possesses extensive experience and training in the legal enforcement of narcotics trafficking.

4. Reynolds attests that on November 20, 1995, he was called by Montgomery County Narcotics Unit Detective Tony Spagnoletti (“Spagnoletti”), whom Reynolds had personally known for three years. Spagnoletti had received information from a confidential informant (“Cl”) regarding the activities of Daly. Spagnoletti represented to Reynolds that the Cl had provided him with accurate narcoties-related information in the past. 1

5. The Cl had informed Spagnoletti that Daly made trips to Florida at least once a month to purchase cocaine with his brother, William Daly, or with an associate, Thomas Craig Reilly (“Reilly”). Further investigation by Spagnoletti revealed that William Daly had been arrested on cocaine charges on July 23, 1995. Spagnoletti himself had arrested Reilly on January 11, 1994, on charges of delivering marijuana.

6. In addition, the Cl identified the vehicles owned by Daly and described specifically the method by which Daly conducted drug transactions with his customers. The Cl told Spagnoletti that Daly was often high on cocaine. Because the Cl had also observed handguns and a shotgun owned by Daly, he was to be considered armed and dangerous.

7. On November 16, 1995, Spagnoletti was informed by the Cl that Daly and Reilly were in Florida purchasing a large quantity of cocaine and that Daly would return in several days. On November 20, 1995, at approximately 1:30 p.m., the Cl told Spagno-letti that Daly and Reilly had returned from Florida with a large quantity of cocaine and that an individual with whom the Cl was personally acquainted had observed the cocaine and a large sum of money inside Daly’s apartment. Later that day, the Cl called Daly at his apartment and had a drug-related conversation during which Daly admitted to having a large quantity of cocaine for sale.

8. After receiving this information from Spagnoletti, Reynolds dialed a digital display pager telephone number that had been provided to Spagnoletti by the Cl. A few minutes later, a person identifying himself as “Mike” called Reynolds back. Reynolds’ attempt to discover with the aid of Caller ID the number from which “Mike” had returned his call revealed that the number was a “private” listing and that the listing for Michael Daly’s telephone number at the Hill Tower apartment was also unpublished.

9. That evening, Reynolds traveled to the Hill Tower apartment complex with the Cl and another detective, at which time the Cl reiterated his information concerning Daly. The Cl then identified another vehicle belonging to Daly which was parked in the lot of the apartment complex.

10. On November 21, 1995, at approximately 3:05 p.m., surveillance units at the Hill Tower complex observed a male fitting the description of Daly arrive and park one of the vehicles described by the Cl. A check revealed that the vehicle was registered to Daly. The male, identified as Daly, entered the apartment braiding and proceeded up to the sixteenth floor.

11. At approximately 3:30 p.m., the detectives observed Daly exiting the building and *405 approached him as he was walking toward his vehicle. When the detectives identified themselves as police, Daly fled on foot and left his jacket behind. He was apprehended by the detectives in the parking lot. A subsequent search of the jacket resulted in the confiscation of small quantities of marijuana and cocaine.

12. Detectives then proceeded to Daly’s sixteenth floor apartment, number 16B, fearing that other persons were in the apartment and had observed the apprehension of Daly in the parking lot, in order to secure the premises before executing a search. There, they observed drug paraphernalia in plain view. All these activities and observations, including the events after Daly’s exit from the building, were included in Reynolds’ affidavit.

13. At the evidentiary hearing on July 17-18, 1996, several witnesses testified regarding the events leading up to Daly’s November 21 arrest, including Reynolds, Spag-noletti, the detectives at the Hill Tower apartment complex, Reilly, Ed Bradley (an innocent bystander who observed the arrest), Daniella Desiderio (Daly’s friend), Joseph MeCarriek (Daly’s friend), and Daly himself. Reilly testified that he had never travelled to Florida with Daly and that he had never been involved in drug trafficking activities with Daly. Desiderio and MeCarriek testified that they had seen Daly in Pennsylvania on November 18, 1995; however, Daly revealed that he had been in Florida from November 12 to 14. Reynolds testified that he began preparing his affidavit in support of the warrant earlier on the day of November 21,1995.

14. The detectives’ testimony revealed that they had begun their surveillance of the Hill Tower apartment complex at approximately 11:00 a.m.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
937 F. Supp. 401, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11514, 1996 WL 448228, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-daly-paed-1996.