United States v. Graham

119 F. Supp. 2d 116, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19286, 2000 WL 1655936
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedOctober 26, 2000
DocketCrim. 3:99CR271(CFD)
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 119 F. Supp. 2d 116 (United States v. Graham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Graham, 119 F. Supp. 2d 116, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19286, 2000 WL 1655936 (D. Conn. 2000).

Opinion

RULING ON MOTIONS TO SUPPRESS

DRONEY, District Judge.

The defendant, Kimberly Graham, was indicted for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 100.grams and more of mixtures and substances containing a detectable amount of phencyclidine (PCP) in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846. She has filed a motion to suppress physical evidence, a motion to suppress statements, and a motion to suppress evidence seized from her residence. For the following reasons, each of the motions to suppress is DENIED

I. Background

The defendant claims several violations of the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution in her suppression motions. These claims arise mainly from a motor vehicle stop on November 13, 1999, by police officers assigned to the New Haven Drug Task Force. During the stop, the officers searched the vehicle and seized two bottles of liquid PCP. The defendant, who was driving the car, made statements to the officers following their discovery of the PCP Although the defendant was not arrested at that time, Task Force officers later obtained and executed a search warrant for the defendant’s home at 10 Rosewood Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut, from which they recovered additional evidence. 1

The defendant was charged by a single-count indictment on November 30, 1999 with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 100 grams and more of mixtures and substances containing a detectable amount of PCP. On March 9, 2000, the defendant filed a motion to suppress physical evidence on the ground that the Task Force officers lacked probable cause to stop or search the car she was driving on November 13, 1999, including a search of her purse found in the car, in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. 2 The defendant also filed a motion to suppress statements on March 9, 2000, claiming that her statements to the officers following their discovery of the PCP were made in violation of the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments. In addition, on March 10, 1999, the defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence seized from 10 *120 Rosewood Avenue on the ground that the search warrant lacked probable cause, was based in part on illegally seized evidence from the car stop, and included false and misleading information in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. 3 The Court conducted evidentiary hearings on the motions to suppress on June 19 and 27, 2000.

II. Findings of Facts

The Court makes the following findings of fact based on the evidence presented at the hearings on the suppression motions, which the government has proven by a preponderance of the evidence. See U.S. v. Matlock, 415 U.S. 164, 177 & n. 14, 94 S.Ct. 988, 39 L.Ed.2d 242 (1974).

The Drug Enforcement Administration in New York City began an investigation in July 1999 of Mark Godfrey Theus, also known as “Sanchez,” a suspected distributor of liquid PCP. During the course of its investigation, the DEA learned that Mr. Theus was providing PCP to Michelle Little and other individuals in New Haven, Connecticut. The DEA contacted the Task Force in New Haven to determine whether it had any information concerning Ms. Little or the other individuals. The Task Force then began its own investigation of Ms. Little, among others. As part of their investigation, Task Force officers received information from reliable confidential informants confirming that Ms. Little was involved in selling PCP with an unidentified female partner. They also observed Mr. Theus at Ms. Little’s home in New Haven. In addition, they conducted judicially authorized electronic surveillance of Ms. Little, which included wiretaps of her telephone. 4 The Task Force had no information concerning the defendant or her suspected involvement in criminal activity, however, prior to November 13, 1999.

On November 12, 1999, Task Force officers monitored a telephone call between Mr. Theus and Ms. Little, in which they agreed to meet the next day in New York so that Ms. Little could purchase PCP from Mr. Theus. Ms. Little called 10 Rosewood Avenue the next morning and asked to speak to “Kim.” When the person who answered the phone refused to awaken Kim, Ms. Little indicated that she would stop by and awaken Kim herself. Ms. Little then paged Mr. Theus, who called her in response. Mr. Theus and Ms. Little arranged to meet at a car wash in New York City, where they had met on previous occasions, so that Ms. Little could purchase nine ounces of liquid PCP from Mr. Theus. Ms. Little also indicated to Mr. Theus that she would leave Connecticut around 10:00 a.m. and would bring someone with her.

Task Force officers placed Ms. Little under physical surveillance and followed her in a gray Lexus to 10 Rosewood Avenue, where she picked up a female later identified as the defendant. 5 The officers followed the two women in the Lexus as they headed south on Interstates 91 and 95 toward New York. After breaking off their surveillance near Fairfield, Connecticut, the officers alerted the DEA in New York.

Shortly thereafter, the DEA advised the Task Force that its agents observed Mr. Theus meet with Ms. Little and the defendant at the car wash, and that the women were headed back to Connecticut in the *121 Lexus. Task Force officers resumed physical surveillance of the Lexus as it returned to Connecticut and headed toward New Haven. Detective Samuel Cot-to and Detective Rafael Segarra, who were New Haven police officers assigned to the Task Force, decided to stop the Lexus. They hoped to recover the nine ounces of PCP discussed in the conversation between Mr. Theus and Ms.' Little, which they suspected would be in the car following the meeting at the car wash. After observing the Lexus speeding at approximately 85 to 90 miles per hour, the detectives stopped the car on Route 80 near Middletown', Connecticut. The detectives were wearing police uniforms and driving a marked police cruiser in order to appear as if the stop were a routine traffic stop.

As the detectives approached the Lexus, they observed the defendant in the driver’s seat and Ms. Little in the front passenger seat. Neither the defendant nor Ms. Little was wearing a seatbelt. Detective Cot-to told the defendant and Ms. Little that they had been stopped because they were speeding. He asked the defendant to get out of the car and sit in the police cruiser while Detective Segarra prepared an infraction for driving without a seatbelt. Detective Cotto told the defendant that she would receive only a verbal warning for speeding, and said to her “you’ll be on your way” once the seatbelt infraction was prepared. Neither police officer mentioned the PCP investigation, and neither the defendant nor Ms. Little was placed under arrest.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Sanchez
2016 Ohio 3167 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2016)
United States v. Goins
157 F. Supp. 3d 148 (D. Connecticut, 2016)
Bernard West v. United States
100 A.3d 1076 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2014)
United States v. McKREITH
708 F. Supp. 2d 216 (D. Connecticut, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
119 F. Supp. 2d 116, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19286, 2000 WL 1655936, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-graham-ctd-2000.