United States v. Figueroa-Quiñones

21 F. Supp. 3d 138, 2014 WL 2119997
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedMay 22, 2014
DocketCriminal No. 14-146 (FAB)
StatusPublished

This text of 21 F. Supp. 3d 138 (United States v. Figueroa-Quiñones) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Figueroa-Quiñones, 21 F. Supp. 3d 138, 2014 WL 2119997 (prd 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

BESOSA, District Judge.

Before the Court is defendant Oscar Figueroa-Quinones’ motion to dismiss for improper destruction of evidence (Docket No. 46), joined by defendants Mayco Aponte-Rodriguez and Axel Figueroa-Nieves (Docket Nos. 48 & 50). For the reasons discussed below, the Court DENIES the motion to dismiss.

I. Background

An indictment charges all three defendants with possession with the intent to distribute controlled substances — one hundred or more marijuana plants — in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1)(B) (“Count One”); and possession of firearms — an AK-47 rifle and a Glock pistol — in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) (“Count Two”). (Docket No. 11.) Defendants were arraigned on February 27, 2014 before Magistrate Judge Silvia Carreño-Coll, who ordered an on-site inspection of the seized evidence to be performed within seven [140]*140days. (Docket No. 15.) On March 4, 2014, the Court ordered the government to permit defense counsel to view the marijuana plants no later than March 6, 2014. (Docket No. 13.)

Defense attorneys were granted access to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency(“CBP”)’s storage facility in La Puntilla, in San Juan, Puerto Rico on March 6, 2014 to view the evidence. (See Docket No. 21 at p. 1.) The next day, however, defendants filed a motion alleging a “discovery violation” due to the fact that the marijuana plants had been chopped into pieces and placed into ten storage bags. .Id. Because the attorneys were not permitted to open the bags, photograph the material, or personally inspect the drugs, defense counsel requested court intervention. Upon reviewing CBP’s policies in camera, the Court determined that the government’s denial of defendants’ request to sample the evidence was not a discovery violation. (Docket No. 37.) It assured the defendants of the government’s discovery obligations to provide all documentation regarding the seized marijuana, and explained that if the government were to fall short on those obligations, defendants could file a motion to dismiss based on improper destruction of evidence. Id. at p. 2. On April 23, 2014, defendants filed such a motion, now pending before the Court. (Docket No.« 46.)

II. Motion to Dismiss Due to Destruction of Evidence

A. Standard

Defendants claim that the government destroyed evidence when agents chopped up the marijuana plants before the March 6th viewing. (Docket No. 46 at p. 1.) Alleging that “this purposeful action deprived [defendants] of their right to access and evaluate potentially exculpatory evidence,” defendants seek to dismiss the indictment pursuant to the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Id. The government responds that agents followed normal CBP practices in seizing and storing the' marijuana plants, and that the evidence “ha[s] not been altered or tampered [with] in any manner.” (Docket No. 62 at p. 5.) Deeming defendants’ motion “frivolous” and nothing more than a “thinly veiled attempt to resurrect [their] failed claim of [a] discovery violation,” the government both maintains that it did not destroy evidence and claims that defendants fail to prove that destruction occurred as a result of bad faith. Id. at p. 2.

“It is axiomatic that [Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963) ] and its progeny established that a defendant has a due process right to request and receive evidence that the government possesses which is material to his guilt or punishment.” United States v. Femia, 9 F.3d 990, 993 (1st Cir.1993). “[T]he Supreme Court has developed a framework to analyze ‘what might loosely be called the area of constitutionally guaranteed access to evidence’ ” to be used when a defendant accuses the prosecution of destroying evidence. Id. (quoting California v. Trombetta, 467 U.S. 479, 485, 104 S.Ct. 2528, 81 L.Ed.2d 413 (1984) and Arizona v. Youngblood, 488 U.S. 51, 55, 109 S.Ct. 333, 102 L.Ed.2d 281 (1988)). In order to establish a due process violation pursuant to that framework, a defendant must show: (1) either that the evidence had an exculpatory value that was apparent prior to its destruction or that the government acted in bad faith destroying potentially useful evidence; and (2) that the evidence was irreplaceable. Olszewski III v. Spencer, 466 F.3d 47, 55-58 (1st Cir.2006); Illinois v. Fisher, 540 U.S. 544, 124 S.Ct. 1200, 157 L.Ed.2d 1060 (2004) (per curiam); Youngblood, 488 U.S. [141]*141at 56-58, 109 S.Ct. 333 (1988); Trombetta, 467 U.S. at 488-89, 104 S.Ct. 2528.

B. Analysis

Defendants fail to meet their burden of establishing destruction of evidence. As a threshold matter, the Court finds no basis for holding that “destruction” occurred in this case. The government represents to the Court that since the marijuana plants were seized according to the normal CBP practices, they “have not been altered or tampered [with] in any manner.” (Docket No. 62 at p. 3.) In order to store the marijuana plants, CBP or DEA agents chopped the plants into pieces and placed them into ten large, transparent plastic bags. (Docket No. 46 at p. 2.) Defendants allege that “not only is there no photographic evidence of each of the plants or their roots, but the photographs are- also incapable of showing the number of plants with any accuracy.” (Docket No. 46 at p. 7.) The government’s submission at Docket No. 42, however, represents that controlled substances laboratory reports, color photographs of the marijuana plants, and the seized marijuana have been designated as evidence. (Docket No. 42 at pp. 1-2.) The Court cannot conclude that the plants being in chopped form necessarily means that their roots were “destroyed” without being photographed to preserve an accurate count of the plants. See, e.g., United States v. Montgomery, 676 F.Supp.2d 1218, 1245 (D.Kan.2009) (deeming “obvious” the fact that the number of plants and their root formations would be critical to the case); United States v. Belden, 957 F.2d 671, 673-74 (9th Cir.1992) (not finding bad faith even though law enforcement officials failed to preserve the root systems of the marijuana plants because officers conducted counts twice).

Further, defendants offer no support for the first prong of the destruction of evidence standard. They do not explain what exculpatory value the physical plants could have offered, leaving the Court to surmise that the argument pertains only to Count One’s “100 plants” calculation.

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Related

Brady v. Maryland
373 U.S. 83 (Supreme Court, 1963)
California v. Trombetta
467 U.S. 479 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Arizona v. Youngblood
488 U.S. 51 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Illinois v. Fisher
540 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2004)
United States v. Femia
9 F.3d 990 (First Circuit, 1993)
Olszewski v. Spencer
466 F.3d 47 (First Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Steven Charles Belden
957 F.2d 671 (Ninth Circuit, 1992)
United States v. Deaner Tab Deaner
1 F.3d 192 (Third Circuit, 1993)
United States v. Montgomery
676 F. Supp. 2d 1218 (D. Kansas, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
21 F. Supp. 3d 138, 2014 WL 2119997, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-figueroa-quinones-prd-2014.