United States v. Keefauver

Procedural entryThis page is a short order in United States v. Keefauver. Read the opinion of the Court — 74 M.J. 230
Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces·Decided June 12, 2015·No. 15-0029/AR·Published

Opinion

UNITED STATES, Appellee

v.

Levi A. KEEFAUVER, Specialist U.S. Army, Appellant

No. 15-0029

Crim. App. Dkt. No. 20121026 United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces

Argued April 15, 2015

Decided June 12, 2015

RYAN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BAKER C.J., and ERDMANN, STUCKY, and OHLSON, JJ., joined.

Counsel

For Appellant: Captain Patrick J. Scudieri (argued); Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan F. Potter, Colonel Kevin Boyle, and Major Amy E. Nieman (on brief).

For Appellee: Captain Benjamin W. Hogan (argued); Major A. G. Courie III and Colonel John P. Carrell (on brief); Major Daniel Derner.

Amicus Curiae for Appellant: Curtis J. Hinca (law student) (argued); Catherine E. White (law student) and Steven H. Wright, Esq. (supervising attorney) (on brief) - University of Wisconsin Law School.

Amicus Curiae for Appellee: Veronica Sustic (law student) (argued); Jake Blair (law student) and John A. Pray, Esq. (supervising attorney) (on brief) - University of Wisconsin Law School.

Military Judges: Timothy Grammel and Steven Walburn THIS OPINION IS SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE FINAL PUBLICATION.

Judge RYAN delivered the opinion of the Court.

A military judge sitting as a general court-martial convicted Appellant, contrary to his pleas, of two specifications of violating of a lawful general regulation by wrongfully possessing drug paraphernalia and unregistered weapons on post, one specification of wrongful possession of marijuana, and one specification of child endangerment in violation of Articles 92, 112a, and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C. §§ 892, 912a, 934 (2006). Appellant was sentenced to a bad-conduct discharge, four years’ confinement, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and reduction to the grade of E–1. The convening authority approved the sentence as adjudged.

The United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals (ACCA)

reviewed the case pursuant to Article 66, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. § 866 (2012), and affirmed.1 United States v. Keefauver, 73 M.J. 846, 848, 858 (A. Ct. Crim. App. 2014). We granted Appellant’s petition to review the following issue only:

WHETHER THE ARMY COURT ERRED IN FINDING THE PROTECTIVE SWEEP WAS APPROPRIATE IN TOTAL.

1 Oral argument in this case was heard at University of Wisconsin Law School, Madison, Wisconsin, as part of the Court’s “Project Outreach.” See United States v. Mahoney, 58 M.J. 346, 347 n.1 (C.A.A.F. 2003). This practice was developed as part of a public awareness program to demonstrate the operation of a federal court of appeals and the military justice system.

We hold that the military judge and ACCA erred in upholding the protective sweep. As both the evidence in support of the bulk of the charges and the entirety of the ACCA’s opinion are inextricably intertwined with the protective sweep of Appellant’s home, we reverse the ACCA and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. FACTS

On December 8, 2011, between 7:30 a.m. and 7:45 a.m., postal inspectors at the Louisville, Kentucky, postal processing center notified Inspector Steven Lamp in Bowling Green, Kentucky, that they had discovered a suspicious, heavily taped box that smelled of marijuana. They transported the package to Bowling Green, where Inspector Lamp determined, based on his training and experience, that the box, measuring fifteen inches by twelve inches by ten inches and weighing eight pounds, likely contained marijuana. He determined that no one by the sender’s name, “B. Samuelson,” currently resided at the California return address, but that Appellant and his wife, to whose joint residence the package was addressed, had previously claimed that California address as their own. Because the package was addressed to a Fort Campbell address, Inspector Lamp notified the Criminal Investigation Command (CID) office’s Drug Suppression Team Chief, Special Agent (SA) Steven Roche. At SA Roche’s request, Inspector Lamp and two other inspectors

transported the package to Fort Campbell, joining SA Roche at CID by late morning.

At approximately 11:00 a.m., SA Roche obtained verbal authorization from Captain (CPT) Mark Robinson, the military magistrate, to conduct a “controlled delivery,” whereby a postal inspector would pose as the regular mail carrier and agents would enter the house after the package was taken inside to seize the box and search the room or immediate area in which it was found.2 At approximately 1:00 p.m. at CID, a military working dog (MWD) “alerted on the box,” confirming it likely contained a controlled substance. Agents took the package from CID to the Fort Campbell Post Office, where it was scanned as having arrived at 1:14 p.m. SA Roche then arranged for surveillance teams in front of and behind Appellant’s house as well as down the street.

Agents knew four persons lived at the address -- Appellant;

his wife; his sixteen-year-old stepson, TC-D; and his thirteen- year-old son, EK -- but that none had been seen entering or exiting since surveillance began. They also knew that no one at the address had a firearm registered in his or her name.

2 The confusion over the exact terms and parameters of CPT Robinson’s verbal authorization at trial highlights the danger of using a verbal rather than a written authorization to search. The record supports the military judge’s finding that the authorization was limited to the box itself. United States v. Burris, 21 M.J. 140, 144 (C.M.A. 1985).

A postal investigator made the controlled delivery at 2:36 p.m., first knocking on the door, then, when no one answered, leaving the package on the porch next to the front door. The package remained on the porch until TC-D arrived home at 3:20 p.m. and took it inside. Shortly thereafter, CID agents and postal inspectors moved in, knocking on the front door. When TC-D answered the door, agents informed him that they would be conducting a search. In response, TC-D became verbally abusive. Agents asked TC-D to step outside, where they handcuffed him and seated him next to the garage. SA Roche entered the home and found the package in the hallway, ten feet from the entrance. He noticed a strong odor of marijuana in the house.3 SA Roche conducted what he characterized as a “security sweep” of the entire house. While sweeping the kitchen, SA Roche saw drug paraphernalia on the counter. On the second floor, SA Roche discovered a bag of what appeared to be marijuana as well as additional drug paraphernalia in TC-D’s room, rifles in an unlocked walk-in closet off the hallway, and suspicious boxes in the master bedroom, all in plain view. Based on a misunderstanding of the verbal search authorization, agents then

3 We did not grant the issue, and do not decide the question, whether it was improper for the ACCA to consider evidence that agents smelled marijuana in the house, which evidence was not before the military judge when he ruled on the motion to exclude evidence from the protective sweep. Resolution of that question does not affect the outcome in this case.

reentered the house and conducted a second, full search of the home with MWDs.

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