United States v. Denton

487 F. Supp. 2d 1180, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37013, 2007 WL 1467425
CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedMay 18, 2007
DocketCriminal 06-330-HA
StatusPublished

This text of 487 F. Supp. 2d 1180 (United States v. Denton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Denton, 487 F. Supp. 2d 1180, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37013, 2007 WL 1467425 (D. Or. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

HAGGERTY, Chief Judge.

In August 2006, defendant Theodore Wallace Denton (defendant) was indicted for felon in possession of a firearm and possession of cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana, with intent to distribute. Defendant filed a motion to suppress [14] on February 20, 2007. The government filed a response [18]. Testimony and oral argument regarding this motion were heard in court on March 22, 2007. Defendant then filed a PosWHearing Memorandum in Support of Motion to Suppress [28], to which the government responded [31]. Defendant then filed a Reply [32]. After conducting the evidentiary hearing and reviewing the entirety of the briefing, defendant’s motion is granted in part and denied in part.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On July 16, 2006, officers of the Canby Police Department attempted to serve an arrest warrant on Kamara B. Kirk at her listed residence of 1400 S. Elm Street, Space 29, Canby, Oregon. Upon arriving at the residence, Officer Ethington saw a young woman inside a car parked in front of the residence. While speaking to this woman, identified as Jodi Jennings, another woman came out of the residence onto the patio. Officer Ethington identified this woman as Kamara Kirk, and, after confirming the arrest warrant, handcuffed her and placed her under arrest.

Kirk requested that she be able to put on shoes before leaving. Kirk was asked where her shoes were, and she replied that they were inside the residence. She then stated that she did not need her shoes. The officers advised her it would not be safe to walk outside and advised her she would need shoes. She then told the officers “go ahead” and consented for them to go into the house to accompany her to get a coat and shoes. Kirk testified that she went to jail another time without shoes.

Upon entering the living room with Kirk, officers saw a man later identified as defendant sitting at a desk, with his back to the officers. Officer Ethington testified that defendant turned around immediately and seemed agitated that the officers were there. Office Ethington immediately recognized him as Theodore Denton, from an officer safety bulletin at the police department. Officer Ethington testified that Officer Britton asked defendant to stand up, for officer safety reasons. The defendant then yelled at the officers and used profanity in telling the officers to get out of his house. After repeating that he needed to turn around to face the officers, Officer Britton testified that defendant abruptly stood up and faced the officers with an aggressive posture. At this point, Officer *1183 Ethington partially removed his taser and also told defendant to turn around. Defendant complied. After defendant stood up, Officer Ethington immediately saw a methamphetamine pipe laying on the chair where defendant had been sitting. Officer Ethington testified that he did not see any other drugs or weapons in plain view in the living room at that point.

Defendant was handcuffed and placed on a sofa in the living room. Officers called for back-up, and Officer Ethington asked Kirk if they could perform an officer safety search to make sure that there was nothing in the house that could injure the officers. She agreed. Officer Britton saw the pipe at this point, and found it warm to the touch. Officer Britton also saw several glass pipes on the desk where defendant had been seated. Both defendant and Kirk stated they did not know to whom the pipe belonged.

Defendant was taken into custody for (1) interfering with a police officer, (2) possession of a controlled substance, and (3) frequenting a drug house. Defendant was read his Miranda rights. Before placing defendant into the patrol car, Officer Dea-son searched defendant and found a small quantity of methamphetamine that had been in his pants pockets in a plastic bag. When additional officers arrived, the residence was cleared room-by-room to determine if others were present that might pose a hazard to the officers. During the clearing, the officers saw drugs, guns, ammunition, and evidence of drug-trafficking.

At 2:15 a.m. on July 17, 2006, Kirk signed a form consenting to a search of her residence at the police station. The government does not rely on Kirk’s consent to search to justify the search of defendant’s bedroom. Rather, the government relies on the search warrant, which permitted a search for controlled substances and firearms.

Detective Fetters applied for five search warrants that were issued by Clackamas County Circuit Judge Robert Herndon at 7:04 a.m. on July 17, 2006. Each is for a different location, but all include the same language for the property to be seized. The warrants state:

TO ANY POLICE OFFICER IN THE STATE OF OREGON, GREETINGS:

You are hereby commanded to search and seize the following described property:

[description of property to be searched]

For the following described property including but not limited to:

1. Any and all scheduled controlled substances, packaging material, scales, paraphernalia, manufacturing equipment, proceeds, and firearms.
2. Electronic data processing and storage devices, hand held computers such as PDAs, laptop computers, computers and computer systems, central processing units, internal and peripheral storage devices and the information contained within such items as fixed disks, internal and external hard drives, floppy diskettes, tape drives, and tapes, optical data storage devices (CD-ROM’s, CD-R’s, CD-RW’s, DVD’s, DVD-R’s, and DVD-RW’s) or other storage devices or other data storage devices, fixed data storage devices such as Memory sticks and Universal Serial Buse data storage devices, optical readers and related communication devices such as modems, together with system documentation, operating logs and documentation and software instruction manuals, and any and all other software which contains, retrieves, produces and/or otherwise makes available records or documentation of listed crimes, or which is used to maintain records, correspondence, *1184 diaries, and/or other writings representing the listed crimes and forensic examination of those items for evidence in the electronic form, such as notes, journals, logs, emails, databases, internet records, or any other form not defined herein, but could contain data in an evidentiary form;
3. Photography equipment including but not limited to; video cameras, Polaroid cameras, digital cameras (including any and all storage devices, i.e.: removable computer data storage cards), 35 mm cameras and/or other film type cameras, flash units, tripods, and remote triggering devices;
4. Any and all diaries, notebooks, notes, and any other records and receipts.
And to seize the aforesaid objects of the search and you are further directed to make return of this warrant to me within five (5) days after execution thereof.

Govt’s Ex. B. After obtaining the search warrants, the police conducted a thorough search of the residence. During the search pursuant to the warrant, numerous firearms and drugs were discovered.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
487 F. Supp. 2d 1180, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37013, 2007 WL 1467425, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-denton-ord-2007.