United States v. Jackson

70 F. App'x 844
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in United States v. Jackson. Read the opinion of the Court — 22 F. App'x 396
Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit·Decided July 22, 2003·No. No. 02-5649·Published

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Defendant Joseph Jackson appeals from the final judgment and order denying his motion to suppress. We AFFIRM.

I.

The following facts are derived from the evidentiary hearing on Jackson’s motion to suppress. On January 9, 2001, members of the Metro Gang Unit of the Memphis Police Department arrested Jackson as a suspect in an armed robbery investigation at the home of his girlfriend, Lisa Matthews, at 980 Crestón, in Memphis, Tennessee. The officers first went to the home of Jackson’s mother. Jackson was not there, but his mother received a phone call from Jackson. With that telephone number, the officers were able to determine that the telephone call came from 980 Crestón.

Based on this information, seven or eight officers proceeded to the Crestón address. Four officers positioned themselves at the corners of the house, while Officers Gipson, Wilkerson, Wilson, and Marino went to the door. The front entrance of 980 Crestón had a wooden inner door and a metal outer door, which was [845]*845locked. The officers approached the door, guns drawn. They heard a dog barking inside. One of the officers saw someone looking out of the window. The officers knocked on the door, but no one answered for approximately three to five minutes. Finally, Ms. Lisa Matthews opened the inside wooden door. She was holding her dog by its collar, and her three children were crying. When the officers saw Matthews, they lowered their weapons.

The officers did not have an arrest warrant or a search warrant.

The parties dispute what happened next. Officers Wilkerson, Wilson, and Gipson testified that they told Matthews that they were looking for Jackson and that she replied that he was not there. The officers further stated that they asked to come in and that Matthews assented. The officers claimed that when asked if Jackson was hiding in the house, Matthews looked up at the ceiling twice.

The officers located the stairs to attic, and ordered Jackson to come down, which he did. According to the officers, they asked Jackson if there were any weapons in the residence and he told them that there was a pistol underneath the bed. Officer Jackson testified that they asked Jackson about the presence of any firearms because the officers had not done a protective sweep of the residence, and they did not want “someone else in [the] house to pop up we did not know was there armed with a weapon.” Jackson was then handcuffed and taken outside.

The officers allege that at this point they asked Matthews if she would give them consent to search the house for stolen property. They claimed that Matthews consented to the search and signed a consent form. Officer Wilkerson claimed that he told Matthews that “she did not have to let us search or sign the consent to search.” The consent form was introduced during the suppression hearing as Exhibit l.1 It is signed by Matthews and witnessed by Officers Wilson and Wilkerson.

Officers Wilkerson, Gipson, and Wilson each testified that they did not yell or curse at Matthews, threaten her, or arrest her prior to her letting officers into the house. Each stated that Matthews gave them oral and written consent to search. Finally, the officers claimed that they found two more guns in the house, discovered after Matthews signed the consent form.

Matthews testified that she heard the knock on her door, looked out the living room window, and saw that the police had surrounded her house. Matthews claimed that she went to the den, and heard the officers ordering her to open up. She stated that she opened the inner wooden door, and noticed that the bottom glass of the outer storm door was out. Matthews testified that the officers had their guns drawn, and that they again ordered her to open up. Matthews denied that any officer asked for permission to enter. She admitted that she got the key to open the storm door, but stated that she felt that she did not have a choice, because of the officers’ tone.

Matthews stated that the officers asked for Jackson, but that, when she asked them why they wanted to know, one of the officers said that he did not have to explain what was going on. Matthews claimed that she did not tell the officers anything about Jackson. She admitted that she [846]*846heard a noise in the attic and looked up, but denied pointing or nodding at the ceiling. Matthews contended that she did not sign the consent form until after the officers discovered the guns. She further claimed that she was handcuffed, and that two black officers eventually took them off. Matthews testified that she signed the consent to search form because she “felt like I didn’t have any choice, they had already searched the house, and I never have been put in a position like that before, so I really didn’t know my rights.”

On cross-examination, Matthews admitted that when she came to the door the officers put their guns down and that when they came into her house they were not threatening her with guns. She also acknowledged that she had the dog by the collar when she came to the door.

The magistrate judge issued a report in which he found that Matthews had given the officers consent to search, and recommended that Jackson’s motion to suppress be denied. The magistrate judge basically concluded that the officers were more credible than Matthews. Jackson filed objections. After a de novo review of the record, the district adopted the magistrate judge’s report and denied Jackson’s motion. On appeal, Jackson challenges the district court’s findings that Matthews actually consented to the officers’ entry and that her consent to search was voluntary.

II.

In determining whether the district court erred in denying Jackson’s motion to suppress, we review its findings of fact for clear error and legal conclusions de novo. United States v. Lawrence, 308 F.3d 623, 626-27 (6th Cir.2002); United States v. Ivy, 165 F.3d 397, 401 (6th Cir.1998). As Jackson acknowledges, consent is an exception to the constitutional prohibition against both warrantless entry of police into a person’s home, Ivy, 165 F.3d at 402; United States v. Kelly, 913 F.2d 261, 265 (6th Cir.1990), and an unconsensual search of that home. Schneckloth v. Bustamante, 412 U.S. 218, 219, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973); Ivy, 165 F.3d at 402. The issues presented here, whether consent to enter the house was actually given and whether consent to a search was truly voluntary, are fact questions which we will overturn only if the district court’s fact findings were clearly erroneous. Ivy, 165 F.3d at 401.

Jackson challenges the district court’s factual determination that Matthews consented to the officers’ entry. Regarding consent to enter Matthews’ residence, the district court (by adoption of the magistrate judge’s recommendation) found as a matter of fact that

the testimony of the three officers is more credible than the testimony of Ms. Matthews. All of the testifying officers denied shouting at Ms. Matthews.

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United States v. Jackson, 70 F. App'x 844 (6th Cir. 2003).

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Related

Schneckloth v. Bustamonte
412 U.S. 218 (Supreme Court, 1973)
United States v. Edward Kelly
913 F.2d 261 (Sixth Circuit, 1990)
United States v. James Ivy
165 F.3d 397 (Sixth Circuit, 1998)
United States v. Allen Lawrence, Jr.
308 F.3d 623 (Sixth Circuit, 2002)