United States v. Hammond

980 F. Supp. 2d 873, 2013 WL 5820273
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedOctober 29, 2013
DocketCase No. 3:13 CR 369
StatusPublished

This text of 980 F. Supp. 2d 873 (United States v. Hammond) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Hammond, 980 F. Supp. 2d 873, 2013 WL 5820273 (N.D. Ohio 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JACK ZOUHARY, District Judge.

Introduction

Pending before the Court is Defendant Patrick Hammond’s Motion to Suppress Evidence and the Government’s response (Docs. 14-15). This Court held a suppression hearing where the Government offered the testimony of three witnesses (Ohio State Highway Patrol Sergeant Wyckhouse, Lake Township Police Sergeant Simms, and Ohio State Highway Patrol Sergeant Ashenfelter) and exhibits (ECF 10/18/13). For the following reasons, Hammond’s Motion is denied.

Background

On June 20, 2013, Hammond, traveling south on 1-280 near Lake Township, Ohio, was pulled over by Ohio State Highway Patrol Sergeant Wyckhouse. Wyckhouse observed Hammond commit a lane violation when Hammond crossed a solid lane line, drifting to his right, across the highway gore, and into a lane reserved for vehicles seeking to merge onto 1-280.

[875]*875Wyckhouse initially questioned Hammond about his erratic driving and visible nervousness and learned Hammond was on federal supervised release stemming from a bank robbery conviction. Wyckhouse, returning to his cruiser, ran Hammond’s information. He returned to Hammond, approaching this time from the left of Hammond’s vehicle. Hammond began reaching near his waistband, despite Wyckhouse’s orders not to, and struggled with Wyckhouse before Wyckhouse wrestled from Hammond an empty black plastic bag. Wyckhouse noted loose ammunition near Hammond’s feet.

Citing safety concerns, Wyckhouse asked Hammond to exit the vehicle. Hammond exited the car and then shoved Wyckhouse, sending the trooper backward into a lane of oncoming traffic. Hammond fled between the rear of his car and the front of Wyckhouse’s cruiser, leapt over the highway guardrail and ran down into a nearby ditch.

All of these events—the initial stop, Wyckhouse’s questioning, the assault on Wyckhouse, and Hammond’s flight—were captured by Wyckhouse’s cruiser dashcam, footage from which the Government played at the hearing. Wyckhouse additionally testified that as Hammond fled he dropped a white plastic bag containing a .38-caliber revolver beyond view of the dashcam.

Wyckhouse and Hammond had a brief standoff, which ended when Hammond decided to flee the scene for good. One day later, Lake Township Police received a tip from a nearby business that led to the discovery of Hammond hidden amid rows of semitrucks at a truck stop. When discovered, Hammond was arrested, and made incriminating statements to Police Sergeant Simms prior to receiving Miranda warnings. According to Simms, Hammond said something to the effect of, “you got me,” when asked for identification (Unoffic. Tr. at 41-42). During the walk from Hammond’s hiding place to a police cruiser, Hammond asked how extensive the search for him had been. Simms described the exchange that followed: “And I said that we, you you know, when somebody has a gun towards—and threatens an officer we take that personal,] we want to [make] sure that we catch that person and [Hammond’s] comment was that he never ... pointed the gun at the officer” (id. at 42).

On June 22, Ohio State Highway Patrol Sergeant Ashenfelter interviewed Hammond, now detained at the Wood County Justice Center. The interrogation lasted roughly 45 minutes. Before questioning began, Ashenfelter took two steps. First, Ashenfelter arranged for the interview to be videotaped. However, Ashenfelter testified that because of technical difficulties, audio of the interrogation was not captured. Second, Ashenfelter secured Hammond’s signature on a form titled “Constitutional Rights Waiver” (See Doc. 15-1). Ashenfelter testified, and the video shows, he walked Hammond through the form, explaining it line-by-line, and that Hammond had no trouble understanding the form’s import. Contained in the video is footage of Hammond signing the Miranda waiver. Ashenfelter took notes during the interview. He generally questioned Hammond about where Hammond had obtained the revolver and other possible crimes. Hammond again made incriminating statements.

Discussion

Traffic Stop

Hammond first seeks to suppress all physical evidence discovered as a result of the traffic stop. The Fourth Amendment protects the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches [876]*876and seizures.” An individual’s detention is “reasonable” for purposes of the Amendment if based on probable cause. In the context of a traffic stop, so long as “the police have probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred,” Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 810, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996), the initial detention is reasonable. Further, an officer may order a vehicle’s occupant out of the vehicle. Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106, 111 n. 6, 98 S.Ct. 330, 54 L.Ed.2d 331 (1977) (“[0]nce a motor vehicle has been lawfully detained for a traffic violation, the police officers may order the driver to get out of the vehicle without violating the Fourth Amendment’s proscription of unreasonable searches and seizures.”).

The Government presented evidence that the traffic stop was based on probable cause that a traffic violation had occurred. Wyekhouse’s cruiser dashcam clearly shows Hammond veer onto the I-280 South onramp, a violation of Ohio Revised Code §§ 4511.202 and 4511.33.

Had Wyckhouse detained Hammond for an unreasonably long time “investigating” the lane violation, the stop, initially appropriate, could have ceased to be so before Hammond made the ill-advised decision to flee the scene. See Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 500, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 75 L.Ed.2d 229 (1983) (“[A]n investigative detention must be temporary and last no longer than is necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop.”). Wyckhouse’s dashcam recorded the precise duration of the traffic stop. According to the video’s time stamp, just seven minutes passed from when Wyckhouse activated his cruiser’s emergency lights (2:00 p.m.) to Hammond’s flight from the vehicle, when Wyckhouse testified Hammond dropped the revolver. Seven minutes can hardly be deemed “too long” in the context of a traffic stop.

In brief, the Government presents additional arguments for why the evidence gathered on June 20 need not be suppressed (see Doc. 15 at 3-5). This Court does not reach those arguments because the cruiser dashcam video, together with Wyckhouse’s testimony about the events captured on film, suffice. The stop was reasonable from the start, remained reasonable until Hammond’s flight, and so the evidence discovered during and after that stop need not be suppressed.

Miranda

Hammond next seeks to suppress two sets of statements. First, Hammond seeks to bar admission of statements he made to Simms on June 21 when discovered at the truck stop. Second, Hammond seeks to suppress statements made to Ashenfelter at the Wood County Justice Center on June 22. Both encounters, Hammond argues, violated his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

That privilege receives protection through the familiar rule in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436

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Related

Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Pennsylvania v. Mimms
434 U.S. 106 (Supreme Court, 1977)
Rhode Island v. Innis
446 U.S. 291 (Supreme Court, 1980)
Florida v. Royer
460 U.S. 491 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Colorado v. Spring
479 U.S. 564 (Supreme Court, 1987)
Whren v. United States
517 U.S. 806 (Supreme Court, 1996)
United States v. Todd Lawrence
952 F.2d 1034 (Eighth Circuit, 1992)
United States v. Jermaine Woods
711 F.3d 737 (Sixth Circuit, 2013)
Thomas v. Cook County Sheriff's Department
588 F.3d 445 (Seventh Circuit, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
980 F. Supp. 2d 873, 2013 WL 5820273, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-hammond-ohnd-2013.