United States v. Harris

154 F. Supp. 3d 299, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 167706, 2015 WL 9008253
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedDecember 15, 2015
DocketCriminal No. 3:15-cr-100
StatusPublished

This text of 154 F. Supp. 3d 299 (United States v. Harris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Harris, 154 F. Supp. 3d 299, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 167706, 2015 WL 9008253 (E.D. Va. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Robert E. Payne, Senior United States District Judge

This matter is before the Court on Defendant Delvonte E. Harris’ (“Harris”) Motion to Suppress Statements, titled SUPPLEMENT TO DEFENDANT’S RESPONSE TO GOVERNMENT’S NOTICE OF INTENT TO INTRODUCE ALLEGED 404(b) EVIDENCE.1 (ECF No. 29). For the reasons set forth herein, Defendant’s motion will be denied.

BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

On September 6, 2014, at approximately 8:30 p.m., Officers Robert Langston and Nicholas Caesar of the Richmond City Police Department heard gunshots in the Midlothian Village. Apartment Complex (“Midlothian Village”). (Government’s Motion in Limine and Notice of Intent to Introduce Evidence under FRE 404(b) (“Gov. Mot.”, ECF No. 22) at 2). The officers had been patrolling the Midlothian [301]*301Village area in response to reports of a nearby shooting approximately two and a half hours earlier. Id. Responding toward the sound of the gunshots, the officers observed an orange Dodge Avenger speeding and running through a stop sign, and initiated a traffic stop. Id. Upon approaching the vehicle, the officers observed Harris moving furtively in the front seat, and remoyed him from the car, at which time ■ they discovered he had been sitting on a Ruger .40 caliber semiautomatic handgun. Id. Later, police also recovered a Glock 9mm with an extended magazine from under Harris’ seat. Id.

Shortly after 8:30 p.m., the officers arrested Harris, and, noticing that Harris’ ankle appeared to be severely injured, immediately transported him to the Medical College of Virginia Hospital (“MCV”) for medical treatment. Around 12:30 a.m., the local magistrate came to MCV2 and served three arrest warrants on Harris relating to the two firearms found in the vehicle. (Supplemental Brief in Support of Defendant’s Motion to Suppress (“Def. Supp. Br.”, ECF No. 37) at 2). Pursuant to the warrants, Harris was transferred to the custody of the Richmond City Sheriffs Department^ and a Sheriff’s, deputy was assigned to guard his room. (Transcript of Nov. 2, 2015 Hrg. (“Tr.”, ECF No. 36) at 16:4-13). For medical reasons, the rails on Harris’ hospital bed were raised, and his leg was placed in a cast and secured to an elevating mechanism. Id. at 17:7-17. However, the record does not disclose whether the Sheriffs deputy placed any additional restraints on Harris when he was transferred to the Sheriffs custody.

Sometime after 8:00 a.m. the next morning, Sergeant Wayne Skinner (“Skinner”) and Detective Amira Sleem (“Sleem”) of the Richmond Police Department’s Homicide Division visited Harris in the hospital to talk with Harris about an upcoming robbery trial in which Harris was to be a witness. Id. at 15:22-26. The officers also hoped that Harris would be able to provide them with information about the shooting that had occurred in Midlothian Village approximately two hours before his arrest. Id. at 14:18-15:1. Before speaking with Harris, Skinner asked the Sheriffs deputy guarding Harris to step out of the room, so that the officers’ conversation with Harris would not “get back to the jail.” Id. at 16:16-23. 1

During the interview;, the officers, dressed in plain clothes, stood at' the foot of Harris’ bed, where Harris lay with a cast on his injured leg. Id. at 17:9-20. Both officers were armed, but Skinner testified that his firearm was covered by his coat. Id. at 18:9-16. Neither officer unholstered a firearm during the interview. Id. Skinner could not recall whether Harris was handcuffed to the bed, though he admitted it was “possible.” Id. at 30:18-31:5. Skinner also could not recall whether the door to the room was open or shut during the interview, but thought that he “easily could have” shut the door after asking the Sheriffs deputy to leave. Id. at 31:14-16. The interview lasted approximately twenty to thirty minutes,, and Skinner described the tone of the discussion as “conversational” and. “not heated,”, but “not friendly.” Id. at 19:8-20:5. At no time before or during th,e interview did the officers advise Harris of the rights specified in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Id. at 24:1-4.

[302]*302The officers began their questioning by asking Harris if he could “shed some light” on the circumstances surrounding the shooting in Midlothian Village that had occurred-about two hours before Harris was arrested. Id. at 14:16-15:1. Skinner stated that he did not approach Harris as a suspect in that shooting, but thought that he may have been a victim. Id. Harris readily confirmed that “he and the group he was with were being shot at,” but did not disclose the identity of the shooter. Id. at 22:2-10. Next, Skinner asked Harris to confirm that he would be willing to testify in an upcoming trial as the victim of a robbery and shooting, that hád occurred in February 2014. Id. at 15:19-16:3.

The conversation then returned to the events that had occurred in Midlothian Village at 6 p.m. the previous evening. When Harris expressed hesitánce to discuss his involvement in the earlier shooting, Skinner disclosed to Harris that there was a video recording of Hams walking through a courtyard in Midlothian Village carrying a fíréarm immediately prior to the earlier shooting. Id. at 20:6-22 (“And then I said, well, I have' you on videotape walking across the yard with a gun. I’m just curious as to why you were doing it.”). Harris at first refused to admit that he had been carrying a firearm, and asked the officers tó' describe what he had been wearing' in the video, to which Skinner replied, “it doesn’t work that way.” Id. at 38:7-16. When pressed, however, Harris soon admitted that he had been carrying a Glock 9mm with an extended magazine in Midlothian Village the prior evening; and that he carried the weapon “for protection,” because “eight to ten people” were “after him” as a result of his agreement to testify in the upcoming robbery trial. Id. at 20:6-21:2. Harris also expressed concern for the safety of his girlfriend and her daughter, and asked the officers to help remove them from Midlothian Village. Id. at 22:19-24:1.

B. Procedural History

On June 2, 20Í5, Harris was indicted for possession of a firearm as a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The original indictment charged Harris with possession of only the'Ruger .40 caliber handgun that was found under his buttocks at the time of his arrest. (ECF No. 1). Oh October 21, 2015, the United States filed a motion seeking to introduce Harris’ statements in his interview with Skinner and Sleem at trial pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 404(b). (ECF No. 22). In response, Harris filed the pending motion to suppress. (ECF No. 29). The Court held a hearing on both motions on November 2, 2015.

Following the hearing, the Court ordered the parties to provide supplemental briefing on two issues: first, whether Harris was “in custody” for Miranda purposes during the September 7, interview, in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Howes v. Fields, — U.S. ——, 132 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
154 F. Supp. 3d 299, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 167706, 2015 WL 9008253, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-harris-vaed-2015.