United States v. Kyle Olson

41 F.4th 792
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedJuly 18, 2022
Docket21-2128
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 41 F.4th 792 (United States v. Kyle Olson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh 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. Kyle Olson, 41 F.4th 792 (7th Cir. 2022).

Opinion

In the

United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ No. 21-2128 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v.

KYLE C. OLSON, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. No. 20-cr-75-1 — William M. Conley, Judge. ____________________

ARGUED FEBRUARY 17, 2022 — DECIDED JULY 18, 2022 ____________________

Before ROVNER, HAMILTON, and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges. ST. EVE, Circuit Judge. Kyle Olson arrived in Madison, Wis- consin in the midst of the second night of violent civil unrest following the death of George Floyd and armed himself with a gun. Little did he know, three officers of the Madison Police Department observed Olson take the gun from the trunk of his car. In short order, the officers apprehended Olson, who turned out to be a felon, retrieved the gun, and placed him under arrest. Olson attempted unsuccessfully to suppress the 2 No. 21-2128

gun and now appeals the district court’s denial of his suppres- sion motion. We affirm. I. Background A. The George Floyd Protests Like many major American cities, Madison, Wisconsin was embroiled in violent and disruptive protests during the weekend of May 30–31, 2020, in the wake of George Floyd’s death. In Madison, crowds of hundreds engaged in rampant looting, vandalism, arson, and widespread violence. This cha- otic situation was dangerous for civilians and law enforce- ment alike. Some protestors wore body armor and gas masks and armed themselves with weapons, including guns. Mem- bers of the Madison Police Department (“MPD”) were a par- ticular target of some of the protestors. Protestors verbally threatened MPD officers with injury and death and hurled projectiles, injuring several officers. Over the course of the weekend, protestors torched a marked MPD squad car after stealing an AR-15 rifle from inside. In an attempt to restore order, Satya Rhodes-Conway, Mayor of Madison, declared a state of emergency on May 30, 2020, and imposed a city-wide curfew. 1 MPD officers were impressed into near 24-hour ser- vice. Officers Christopher Marzullo, Daniel Hamilton, and Ma- nuel Gatdula were on duty the evening of May 31, 2020.

1 PROCLAMATION OF EMERGENCY, May 30, 2020, available at https://www.cityofmadison.com/sites/default/files/news/attach- ments/emergency_order.pdf (last accessed Jul. 6, 2022); see also id. at 1, § 6.a (“A curfew is hereby imposed at the following times: i. May 31, 2020, at 12:01 a.m. until May 31, 2020, at 5:00 a.m. [and] ii. May 31, 2020, at 9:30 p.m. until June 1, 2020, at 5:00 a.m.”). No. 21-2128 3

Marzullo was a 7-year veteran of the force while Hamilton and Gatdula were 13-year veterans. Around 11:00 p.m., the three officers were on the second floor of the Wisconsin Lu- theran Chapel and Student Center which served as a law en- forcement resupply and stand-down area. A group of MPD officers had recently left the chapel to render aid to a nearby officer who had been assaulted by the crowd. It was at this point, while overlooking the street below from the chapel’s large, second-story window, that Marzullo, Hamilton, and Gatdula first saw Appellant Kyle Olson.2 Olson parked a car directly across from the chapel. He was drinking an unknown liquid, which Hamilton believed could be alcohol, from a “tallboy” aluminum can and looking around at his surroundings. Both Hamilton and Gatdula con- sidered this behavior unusual under the circumstances. Ham- ilton noted Olson appeared to be “checking a full 360” and scanning his environment to ensure he was not followed or observed by law enforcement. Gatdula also interpreted Ol- son’s behavior as designed to determine whether he was be- ing watched. Given the unrest, Gatdula believed Olson was preparing to engage in activity he did not want seen or dis- covered. All three officers then watched Olson take a black pistol from the trunk of the car, tuck the gun into his waist- band at the small of his back, and pull his shirt over the gun. The officers decided to confront Olson. Marzullo radioed the

2 Accounts of the interaction—specifically, the sequence of several key events—vary to some degree and form the basis of this appeal. Presently, unless otherwise noted, we describe those uncontested aspects of the en- counter, those documented in the officers’ recorded radio transmissions to the MPD command post, and their written reports from that evening. 4 No. 21-2128

MPD command post that they were “going to deal with a gen- tleman that possibly has a [gun] outside the church.” Marzullo, Hamilton, and Gatdula exited the chapel and approached Olson with their service weapons drawn and trained on him. Marzullo ordered Olson to place his hands on the top of the car, and Olson immediately complied. Marzullo and Hamilton secured Olson’s hands while Gatdula pro- ceeded to pat down Olson’s back. Gatdula felt what he be- lieved to be the grip of a pistol at the small of Olson’s back, lifted Olson’s shirt, and pulled a black pistol from Olson’s waistband. Gatdula then walked approximately 10 feet away to a sidewalk to inspect the gun, which was fully loaded with a round in the chamber. At some point during this sequence of events, Hamilton radioed the MPD command post “[gun] secure. One at gunpoint.” Approximately 40 seconds elapsed between Marzullo’s initial call to the MPD command post re- garding the officers’ intent to approach Olson and Hamilton’s call that the gun was secure. Marzullo and Hamilton handcuffed Olson and Hamilton radioed the MPD command post they had “[o]ne [arrest] in front of the church.” Twenty-four seconds elapsed between Hamilton’s call to the MPD command post that the gun was secured and his call that the officers made an arrest. Marzullo searched Olson incident to arrest and discovered drug para- phernalia. During this search, Marzullo reported Olson “ma[de] an excited utterance stating that he was a felon.” While the officers took Olson into custody, they drew at- tention from an increasingly hostile crowd. Several people passed the officers yelling “fuck 12” and “let him go,” pre- sumably referring to Olson. Several large crowds of up to 100 people continued to gather and approach the officers’ No. 21-2128 5

position from a block away. Hamilton believed the approach- ing crowds were responsible for setting several fires that night and damaging property, including with a baseball bat. For everyone’s safety, Marzullo and Hamilton moved Olson out of the street to a nearby front porch where Marzullo radi- oed for assistance transporting Olson to the Dane County Jail. While awaiting transportation, Hamilton reported Olson con- fessed he was a convicted felon. All three officers filed written reports documenting their interaction with Olson in the early hours of June 1, 2020. B. Motion to Suppress the Gun The government charged Olson with one count of posses- sion of a gun as a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Olson moved to suppress the gun as fruit of an illegal search shortly thereafter. Olson argued his encounter with the offic- ers was either an arrest from its inception unsupported by probable cause or an unconstitutional Terry stop unsupported by reasonable suspicion. The magistrate judge held a suppression hearing where, in addition to reviewing the officers’ incident reports and the radio transmissions from the night in question, he took live testimony from Marzullo, Hamilton, and Gatdula. Although their testimony largely aligned with their reports, the officers’ accounts at the suppression hearing expanded upon or di- verged in a few key respects. All three officers testified they decided to confront Olson after seeing him place a gun in the waistband at the small of his back to confirm he was lawfully carrying.

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Bluebook (online)
41 F.4th 792, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-kyle-olson-ca7-2022.