United States v. Jose Morales

788 F.2d 883, 1986 U.S. App. LEXIS 24372
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedApril 16, 1986
Docket354, Docket 85-1256
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 788 F.2d 883 (United States v. Jose Morales) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Jose Morales, 788 F.2d 883, 1986 U.S. App. LEXIS 24372 (2d Cir. 1986).

Opinions

MESKILL, Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal from part of an order entered in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Knapp, J., dated June 19, 1985, and modified on June 21,1985, suppressing appellee Jose Morales’ pre- and post-arrest statements and certain physical evidence seized in a search incident to his arrest. Morales was indicted on a charge of possession with intent to distribute ten glassine envelopes containing heroin, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 812, 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(B) (1982). He moved to suppress his statements as well as the physical evidence. On June 19, 1985, the court granted the suppression motion. United States v. Morales, 611 F.Supp. 242, 246 (S.D.N.Y.1985).

The government appeals from part of the district court’s suppression order pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3731 (1982). The portion of the order appealed from is reversed and [884]*884the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

BACKGROUND

New York City police officers obtained a search warrant for three apartments in a lower East Side building believed to be a cocaine distribution center. Mentioned in the warrant were the occupants of the three apartments, Maria Hernandez, Abby Morales, Maria Morales and one Afro Morales. The defendant-appellee was not mentioned in the warrant. J.App. at 124.

Acting under the warrant, five police officers entered the apartment of Maria Hernandez. They found Hernandez and her young niece in the kitchen; appellee Jose Morales was standing in the living room near a doorway leading into a back bedroom. The police directed Morales to sit on a couch in the living room, frisked him for weapons and placed him under guard. At this time, only Hernandez was advised of her rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966).

During a search of the apartment, police found three glassine envelopes of white powder resembling heroin on the back bedroom floor near where Morales had been standing. An Officer Cannon picked up the envelopes and gave them to an Officer Solberg who stepped into the living room, held up the envelopes and asked “Whose are these?” J.App. at 63. At the suppression hearing, Officer Solberg testified that he was not addressing this question to anyone in particular, J.App. at 97, although Officer Cannon stated that Solberg had approached and addressed Morales. J.App. at 82. When Morales responded “They are mine,” he was handcuffed, advised of his Miranda rights and arrested. Morales indicated that he understood his rights.

The police searched the apartment for another thirty minutes but found no more narcotics. They then told Morales that he would be strip-searched and asked if he wanted to tell the police now if he had anything else on his person. At this point, Morales said he had seven more envelopes in the waistband of his pants. Police asked why he had not dumped all of the glassine envelopes and he responded that he had not had time. An officer seized the seven envelopes. Morales was then taken to the police station.

After indictment, the government provided discovery to Morales pursuant to Fed.R. Crim.P. 16, notifying him that at trial it intended to use the oral statements made in the apartment before and after his arrest. Morales moved to suppress all of the statements, as well as the physical evidence seized.

The district court held an evidentiary hearing on the motion on May 9, 1985. At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Knapp found as a matter of fact that “the police officer[s], acting in good faith, believed that everything they did was lawful.” J.App. at 108. Several weeks later, at a conference called by the court, the court made tentative findings that there was “a technical violation of Miranda,” J.App. at 115; that the oral statements had been made voluntarily and with “absolutely no compulsion of any sort imposed on” Morales, J.App. at 117; and, again, that the arresting officers had acted in good faith, with “no intent ... to violate the defendant’s rights,” id.1

On June 14, 1985, the government informed Morales’ attorney by letter that on the evening of the arrest, Morales had asked an officer at the police station to tell him about the federal system. According to the government’s letter, the officer had asked what he wanted to know and Morales had then stated in substance, that he had been caught with ten bags of heroin and had no choice but to plead guilty. While those statements did not come to light until after the suppression hearing, they were included in the suppression order. 611 F.Supp. at 246.

The district court found that Morales had been lawfully detained, id. at 244-45 (citing [885]*885Michigan v. Summers, 452 U.S. 692, 101 S.Ct. 2587, 69 L.Ed.2d 340 (1981)), that the circumstances of the detention did not suggest an arrest, id. at 245 (citing United States v. Harley, 682 F.2d 398 (2d Cir. 1982); United States v. Timpani, 665 F.2d 1 (1st Cir.1981)), but that Morales nevertheless had been subjected to custodial interrogation, id. The pre-warning, pre-arrest statement, “They are mine,” was therefore suppressed under Miranda. This ruling is not challenged on appeal.

The court found that the probable cause for Morales’ arrest derived entirely from Morales’ unwarned admission, not from the officers’ discovery of drugs in the bedroom. It concluded that under United States v. Marchand, 564 F.2d 983, 991 (2d Cir.1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1015, 98 S.Ct. 732, 54 L.Ed.2d 760 (1978), the arrest was invalid and the statements made and physical evidence discovered subsequent to the arrest must be suppressed as “fruits” of the illegal arrest. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 487-88, 83 S.Ct. 407, 417, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963).

DISCUSSION

The government contends that there is no reason to exclude Morales’ voluntary, unwarned statement, “They are mine,” in determining probable cause. It then argues that the statement furnished probable cause for the arrest. Therefore, the government argues, the arrest was legal and there was no basis for suppressing the derivative evidence. Appellee’s counter-argument is in essence that his statement admitting possession made prior to Miranda warnings cannot be considered by police officers in determining probable cause to arrest when that same statement is inadmissible at trial, and that consequently the arrest was illegal and the suppression of the evidence was proper.

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

Related

State of Tennessee v. Ambreia Washington
Tennessee Supreme Court, 2025
United States v. Chhay Lim
897 F.3d 673 (Fifth Circuit, 2018)
United States v. Bernacet
724 F.3d 269 (Second Circuit, 2013)
State v. Martin
2012 WI 96 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 2012)
Wood v. Ercole
644 F.3d 83 (Second Circuit, 2011)
United States v. $107,840.00 in U.S. Currency
784 F. Supp. 2d 1109 (S.D. Iowa, 2011)
United States v. Capers
627 F.3d 470 (Second Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Aragon-Ruiz
551 F. Supp. 2d 904 (D. Minnesota, 2008)
United States v. Buckner
417 F. Supp. 2d 240 (S.D. New York, 2005)
United States v. Newton
181 F. Supp. 2d 157 (E.D. New York, 2002)
State v. Walton
41 S.W.3d 75 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2001)
State v. Timothy Walton
Tennessee Supreme Court, 2000
United States v. Benjamin
72 F. Supp. 2d 161 (W.D. New York, 1999)
Nova v. Bartlett
63 F. Supp. 2d 449 (S.D. New York, 1999)
United States v. Gallardo
58 F. Supp. 2d 1018 (S.D. Iowa, 1999)
United States v. Eggers
21 F. Supp. 2d 261 (S.D. New York, 1998)
United States v. Guzman
11 F. Supp. 2d 292 (S.D. New York, 1998)
Porcello v. Commissioner of Motor Veh., No. Cv 96 056 53 62 (Mar. 3, 1997)
1997 Conn. Super. Ct. 1978 (Connecticut Superior Court, 1997)
United States v. Yousef
925 F. Supp. 1063 (S.D. New York, 1996)
Thompson v. United States
821 F. Supp. 110 (W.D. New York, 1993)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
788 F.2d 883, 1986 U.S. App. LEXIS 24372, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jose-morales-ca2-1986.