United States v. Deans

549 F. Supp. 2d 1085, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29104, 2008 WL 880195
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedMarch 28, 2008
Docket0:07-cv-00423
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 549 F. Supp. 2d 1085 (United States v. Deans) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Deans, 549 F. Supp. 2d 1085, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29104, 2008 WL 880195 (mnd 2008).

Opinion

ORDER

JAMES M. ROSENBAUM, Chief Judge.

Defendants, Robert James Deans and Jason Robert Zeimes, object to the Report and Recommendation, issued February 13, 2008 [Docket No. 66], by the Honorable Susan Richard Nelson, United States Magistrate Judge. The Report recommended granting in part and denying in part defendants’ motions to suppress statements and evidence. Defendants’ objections to the Report were timely filed, pursuant to Local Rule 72.2. The Court has also considered the government’s belated response.

Based upon a de novo review of the record herein, the Court adopts the Magistrate’s Report and Recommendation.

Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that:

1. Deans’ Motion to Suppress Statements, Admissions, and Answers is granted [Docket No. 16].

2. Zeimes’ Motion to Suppress Statements, Admissions and Answers is denied as moot [Docket No. 38].

3. Deans’ Motion to Suppress Evidence Obtained as a Result of Search and Seizure is denied. [Docket No. 20].

4. Zeimes’ Motion to Suppress Evidence Obtained as a Result of Search and Seizure is granted in part and denied in part, as described in the Report and Recommendation [Docket No. 37].

5. Deans’ Motion to Dismiss Indictment for Insufficiency is denied [Docket No. 43],

6. Zeimes’ Motion to Dismiss Indictment for Insufficiency is denied [Docket No. 39].

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

SUSAN RICHARD NELSON, United States Magistrate Judge.

This matter comes before the ■ undersigned United States Magistrate Judge on Defendants’ dispositive motions: Motions To Suppress Statements, Admissions and Answers (Doc. Nos. 16 & 38), Motions to Suppress Evidence Obtained as Result of Search and Seizure (Doc. Nos. 20 & 37), and Motions to Dismiss Indictment for Insufficiency (Doc. Nos. 39 & 43). The matter has been referred to the undersigned for a Report and Recommendation pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636 and District of Minnesota Local Rule 72.1(a). As explained in detail below, this Court recommends that Deans’ Motion to Suppress Statements, Admissions and Answers *1090 (Doc. No. 16) be granted, that Zeimes’ Motion to Suppress Evidence Obtained as Result of Search and Seizure (Doc. No. 37) be granted in part and denied in part, and that the remaining motions be denied.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Law enforcement officials were investigating Defendant Jason Robert Zeimes and through use of an undercover officer set up a controlled buy from Zeimes to occur on November 1, 2007, following at least two previous controlled buys from Zeimes. Officers arrested Zeimes following that transaction and then searched him — recovering an electronic pass key to a parking garage — and also searched his vehicle — recovering cellphones and keys to what appeared to be a mailbox and an apartment. After .using the key card to investigate the apartment building in which they suspected he resided, officers then used the other keys to determine in which apartment Zeimes likely resided. Based on the information they thus obtained, they sought and obtained a warrant to search his apartment for documents and the controlled-buy funds. The officers executing that search seized numerous items, including several digital scales.

Based at least in part on information obtained from the searches of Zeimes and his vehicle, the Minnesota BCA was also investigating Defendant Robert James Deans. On November 15, 2007, they located him in North Dakota. Officers arrested him that day pursuant to a warrant where he was residing — with his uncle in the uncle’s trailer. After obtaining consent from Deans’ uncle, officers conducted a warrantless search of the premises and seized an address book and a telephone from that residence. They then interviewed Deans following provision of Miranda warnings.

Defendants have been indicted for distribution of cocaine and for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. (Doc. No. 1.) They now present numerous dispositive as well as non-dispositive pretrial motions. 1

At the initial hearing on this matter on January 4, 2008, Minnesota BCA Agent Benjamin C. Rittmiller testified on behalf of the Government. The Court ordered additional briefing and scheduled a second motions hearing on the issue of the search of Deans’ residence. Both Defendants filed waivers of their rights under the Speedy Trial Act. (Doc. Nos. 53 & 54.) At the second hearing on January 23, 2008, Deputy Sheriff Robert Fontenot testified on behalf of the Government and Mr. Deans testified on his own behalf.

II. DISCUSSION

Each Defendant has filed suppression motions contending that various warrant-less searches and seizures were unconstitutional. In addition, Zeimes argues that the warrant to search his apartment was invalid and that the executing officers seized items beyond those authorized in the warrant. Deans asserts that his statement during his interrogation by officers was obtained in violation of his Miranda rights. Finally, each Defendant moves to dismiss the indictment. In light of the potential for the resolution of a particular motion to impact on the outcome of another, the Court will analyze the issues in chronological order.

*1091 A. Suppression Motions

With respect to warrantless searches, the Supreme Court has reiterated “ ‘the basic rule of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence’

“The Fourth Amendment proscribes all unreasonable searches and seizures, and it is a cardinal principle that searches conducted outside the judicial process without prior approval by judge or magistrate are per se unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment — subject only to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions.”

Horton v. California, 496 U.S. 128, 133 n. 4, 110 S.Ct. 2301, 110 L.Ed.2d 112 (1990) (quoting Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385, 390, 98 S.Ct. 2408, 57 L.Ed.2d 290 (1978)).

1. Search Of Zeimes’ Vehicle And Contents Thereof

In New York v. Belton, the U.S. Supreme Court held that “when a policeman has made a lawful custodial arrest of the occupant of an automobile, he may, as a contemporaneous incident of that arrest, search the passenger compartment of that automobile.” 453 U.S. 454, 460, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981). In Thornton v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that the rule of Belton is not limited to situations where the officer makes contact with the occupant while the occupant is inside the vehicle

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Bluebook (online)
549 F. Supp. 2d 1085, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29104, 2008 WL 880195, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-deans-mnd-2008.