United States v. Lambus

251 F. Supp. 3d 470
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedMay 4, 2017
Docket15-CR-382
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 251 F. Supp. 3d 470 (United States v. Lambus) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Lambus, 251 F. Supp. 3d 470 (E.D.N.Y. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON MOTION TO SUPPRESS

Jack B. Weinstein, Senior United States District Judge

Table of Contents

I. Introduction... 474

II. Facts... 474

A. State Parole Supervision of Lam-bus. . .475

B. Installation of the Ankle Bracelet Tracking Device... 476

C. Federal Takeover.. .477

1. BSS Collaboration with Federal Law Enforcement.. .477

2. Circumvention of the DOCCS Supervisory Bureau...483

3. Use of Tracking Devices Solely to Further the Federal Criminal Investigation. . .485

4. Knowledge by Federal Authorities of Need for Judicial Approval... 487

III. Law...488

A. Motion to Suppress... 488

B. Requirement of Federal Judicial Approval for Placement or Use of Tracking Devices for Investigatory Purposes ...490

C. Supreme Court Requirement of Judicial Approval for Tracking Devices ...492

D. State Searches under Control of Federal Rules if Evidence is to be Used in Federal Prosecutions... 493

IV. Application of Law to Facts... 494

A. Installation of Tracking Devices ...494

B. Use of Tracking Device is a Separate Search...495

C. Rules on Obtaining Judicial Approval Known to Federal Officials... 496

D. Consent Not Given... 497

E. Privacy Right of Defendant Violated. . .498

V. “Good-Faith” Exception to the Exclusionary Rule... 499

VI. Procedural History.. .501

[474]*474VII. Need for. Statutory and Supreme Court Clarification.., 502

VIII. Conclusion... 503.

APPENDIX A: Acronyms and, Defined Terms.. .504

APPENDIX B: Personnel, Agencies and Documents... 506

APPENDIX C: Chronology of Relevant Events on the Use of the Tracking Device Placed on Defendant Kamel Lam-büs... 508

I, Introduction

Absent exigent circumstances, federal investigative or other authorities must obtain a court order before installing or using a location tracking device to monitor the movements of any person or thing. State parole authorities assume they-do not need such an order; they placed a device on a state parolee, Kamel Lambus, and kept it on for over two years under the pretext that it was being used to ensure compliance with a curfew. In fact, almost from the moment of installation, information from the device was exclusively relied upon by federal authorities working cooperatively with a state official to conduct a complex federal criminal investigation of a major heroin conspiracy that resulted in a federal indictment of defendant.

Upon recognizing that they were relying on this device to help track a large heroin distribution ring, federal officials should have 1).checked to see if court approval had been given, and, if not, 2) obtained approval from a federal district or magistrate judge. They did not do so. See infra Part II.C.4; PartIV.B.

The key to the instant case was stated, by Judge Friendly forty-five years ago in United States v, Birrell, 470 F,2d 113 (2d Cir. 1972), Paraphrasing Judge Friendly’s opinion in Birrell: “The propriety of the first intrusion into [defendant’s] privacy [by the state] does not automatically sanction a second [by the federal government]. ,,. [A] search by law enforcement officers of another sovereign for a different ■ purpose could not be made without a warrant.” Id. at 117.

Defendant Kamel Lambus, who wore the tracking, device, has not been charged with a parole violation by the state. He has been indicted by a federal grand jury as a drug conspirator, based in part on evidence obtained from that device. He moves to suppress evidence obtained from the device. His motion is granted in part. Information obtained as a direct—but not indirect—result of use of the device is suppressed, Evidence which may indirectly have been obtained from the device, that is to say, evidence that was obtained with the aid of the device that would have been obtained independently by visual surveillance or otherwise, is not now suppressed.

Suppression is not to be used for punitive purposes; it should be limited to necessary instruction to law enforcement forces and necessary protection of the privacy of those being prosecuted. See Herring v. United States, 555 U.S. 135, 144, 129 S.Ct. 695, 172 L.Ed.2d 496 (2009)’ (“To trigger the exclusionary rule, police conduct must be sufficiently deliberate that exclusion can meaningfully deter it, and sufficiently culpable that such deterrence is worth the,price paid by the, justice system.”).

II. Facts

Following this court’s original decision granting a motion to reconsider its denial of Lambus’s motion to suppress location databan extensive evidentiary hearing was held. See infra Part VI, Procedural History. It provided extensive new information about the placement and use of the device [475]*475on defendant’s ankle and the nature of the relationship between state and federal authorities in obtaining evidence. The court concludes that within one month of placement of the tracking device on defendant’s ankle, the federal authorities, working closely with state authorities, directed use of the device to. provide evidence for the prospective federal criminal case, and not for any state parole supervision or violation charge. See infra Appendix A: Acronyms and Defined Terms (“Appendix A”); Appendix B: Personnel, Agencies and Documents (“Appendix B”); and Appendix C: Chronology of Relevant Events on the Use of the Tracking Device Placed ■ on Defendant Kamel Lambus (“Appendix C”).

A. State Parole Supervision of Lambus

Kamel Lambus was discharged from prison and became a parolee under the supervision of the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (“DOCCS”) on March 7, 2012. Included in the terms of his parole, which was to last for about three years and five months, was an agreement by Lambus to “permit [his] Parole Officer to visit [him] at [his] residence and/or place of employment” and to “fully comply with the instructions-of [his] Parole Officer and obey' such- special additional written conditions as he or she, a Member of the Board of Parole- or an authorized representative of the Division of Parole, may impose.” Gov’t Exh. 1.

Suspecting Lambus of attempting to introduce narcotics into a state prison, a member of the DOCCS Bureau of Special Services (“BSS”), Officer Thomas Scanlon, began investigating Lambus shortly after hjs release from prison. BSS is a specialized division within DOCCS that investigates parolees who may be committing parole violations; the officers traditionally thought of as “parole officers” are members of DOCCS supervisory bureaus. See Apr. 10, 2017 Hr’g Tr. at 65:24-66:5; Dec. 1, 2016 Hr’g Tr. at 67:11-59:18; see also infra

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385 F. Supp. 3d 205 (W.D. New York, 2019)
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897 F.3d 368 (Second Circuit, 2018)

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Bluebook (online)
251 F. Supp. 3d 470, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-lambus-nyed-2017.