United States v. Jarrett

999 F. Supp. 2d 828, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18005, 2014 WL 576393
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 12, 2014
DocketNo. CR 13-28 ERIE
StatusPublished

This text of 999 F. Supp. 2d 828 (United States v. Jarrett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Jarrett, 999 F. Supp. 2d 828, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18005, 2014 WL 576393 (W.D. Pa. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

MAURICE B. COHILL, JR., Senior District Judge.

Defendant Gerod Maurice Jarrett is charged in a one-count Indictment with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Presently before the Court is Defendant’s “Motion to Suppress” [ECF No. 28]. In it he seeks an Order that would suppress a loaded firearm and ring found by the police when Mr. Jarrett was stopped while driving his girlfriend’s black SUV, as well as several statements he made to the police after he was arrested. In response to Defendant’s Motion to Suppress, and 2 supplemental briefs, Defendant’s “Post-Hearing Brief’ and “Defendant’s Reply to Government’s Response to His Post-Hearing Brief,” the Government filed five (5) responses/briefs; (1) “Government’s Response to Defendant’s Motion to Suppress,” “Government’s Supplemental Response to Defendant’s Motion to Suppress,” “Government’s Post-Suppression Hearing Brief,” “Government’s Response to Defendant’s Post-Hearing Brief,” and “Government’s Surreply to Defendant’s Reply.”

A hearing on the Motion to Suppress was held on November 21, 2013. At the hearing credible testimony was presented from the following witnesses, all law enforcement personnel; (1) Jason Triana; (2) Jerry Stevens; (3) William Goozdich; (4) Rick Lorah; (5) Jamie Russo; and (6) Pete Mitchell. For the reasons that follow, Defendant’s motion to suppress is denied.

I. Facts.

The first law enforcement officer to testify at the hearing was Jason Triana (“Detective Triana”), He is a detective with the Erie Police Department and testified credibly. On April 9, 2013, Detective Triana was investigating a robbery that had occurred on April 8, 2013; the victim had been robbed at gunpoint of jewelry, including a ring that was silver with a yellow top, and money. The weapon used in the robbery was a large, dark in color, semiautomatic handgun. The victim had seen the robber prior to the robbery in a dark colored sport utility vehicle (“SUV”), The victim knew the robber to have the nickname “Smoke.” Detective Triana was familiar with that nickname because a week [831]*831before the April 8 robbery, an anonymous tip had been called in on another robbery; the caller had said that the earlier robbery, of a gas station, had been committed by Gerod Jarrett, whose nickname was “Smoke.”

Based on this information, Detective Triana created a photo lineup that included Mr. Jarrett’s photo, and had the robbery victim come to the police station and look at the photos. The victim immediately identified Mr. Jarrett’s photograph as the man who robbed him. Detective Triana then filed a complaint for a warrant for Mr. Jarrett’s arrest, charging Mr. Jarrett with robbery, aggravated assault, unlawful taking, recklessly endangering another person, persons not to possess or manufacture, control or sell firearms, possessing instruments of a crime, terroristic threats, and receiving stolen property.

Detective Triana also reviewed Mr. Jarrett’s criminal history; so he knew he had several prior felony convictions, including a conviction for stabbing a prison guard in the face, a home invasion robbery, and firearms offenses. He also knew that Mr. Jarrett was on state parole.

After the complaint was signed and the arrest warrant obtained, Detective Triana then compiled a wanted poster with Mr. Jarrett’s name, his aliases, the most current photographs he had of Mr. Jarrett, his date of birth, gender, race, height, hair color, eye color, a list of the crimes for which there was an outstanding warrant, that Mr. Jarrett was armed and dangerous and that he’d been last seen in a black truck or SUV.

Around 4:00 p.m. on April 9, 2013, Detective Triana gathered the Erie police department’s Saturation Unit and some of the patrolmen that were working the street at the time, including Officers Jerry Stevens and William Goozdich. He handed out the wanted poster and discussed serving the arrest warrant on Mr. Jarrett at his place of business. Detective Jarrett and these officers then left the police station by vehicle to effectuate the warrant.

A few minutes after leaving the police station, Detective Triana heard over the police car’s radio, from Officers Goozdich and Stevens, that the wanted person, Mr. Jarrett, had just driven past them and they had performed a traffic stop in the Boston Store parking lot, at 7th and State Streets, which is located across the street from the police station.

When Detective Triana arrived at the traffic stop, Mr. Jarrett was already in custody; Officers Goozdich and Stevens had the Defendant in handcuffs and were walking him across the street to the police station. Detective Triana noticed that Mr. Jarrett was wearing a necklace, watch, and bracelet that matched the description of jewelry the victim said had been stolen from him the day before.

Either Officer Goozdich or Officer Stevens and Officer Lorah told Detective Triana that a weapon had been found in plain view under the driver’s seat Detective Triana went over to the black SUV that Defendant had been driving and from the outside of the car, the driver’s door which he believed was open, he could clearly see the butt of an automatic weapon underneath the seat.

Detective Triana instructed Officer Lo-rah to photograph the weapon under the seat and then secure the weapon.

At some time after the stop, Officer Goozdich told Detective Triana that Jarrett had told him that he’d left a ring on the top of his car, but that actually the ring was found under the seat by the firearm. Detective Triana did not notice the ring next to the gun when he first saw the gun.

Detective Triana had a tow truck driver come to tow the SUV across the street to [832]*832the police department’s underground lot. When the tow truck arrived, the driver explained that because it was an all-wheel vehicle, he needed a flatbed truck to tow the vehicle. That caused a problem, because a flatbed truck with a vehicle on it does not fit in the underground lot of the police station. So Detective Triana decided that he and Officer Stevens would drive the SUV across the street and into the police station’s underground lot, which they did.

When Detective Triana drove the vehicle to the lot, it was his intention to apply for a search warrant the next day. In the end, however, he did not need to apply for one because the vehicle’s owner, Tracey Clark, Jarrett’s girlfriend, called the station and agreed to meet with Detective Triana in order to give consent for the vehicle to be searched. Written consent, a copy of which was admitted into evidence at the suppression hearing, was given after Detective Triana explained to Ms. Clark what had happened, including that they’d found a stolen firearm in the vehicle, and that he was going to get a search warrant for the vehicle because he was investigating a robbery. Ms. Clark also consented to having her apartment/motel room searched.

As a result of the search of the SUV, Detective Triana found a silver ring with a yellow top that matched the description provided by the victim of the April 8 robbery, an id card of Gerod Jarrett, and a black cell phone.

Erie police officer Jerry Stevens (“Officer Stevens”) testified next at the suppression hearing and testified credibly.

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Bluebook (online)
999 F. Supp. 2d 828, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18005, 2014 WL 576393, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jarrett-pawd-2014.