United States v. Maneti

781 F. Supp. 169, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18787, 1991 WL 279566
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. New York
DecidedDecember 18, 1991
DocketCr. 90-67L
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 781 F. Supp. 169 (United States v. Maneti) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.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. Maneti, 781 F. Supp. 169, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18787, 1991 WL 279566 (W.D.N.Y. 1991).

Opinion

*172 DECISION AND ORDER

LARIMER, District Judge.

Defendant has filed various motions seeking discovery, a bill of particulars and suppression of physical evidence and oral statements. The Court held argument on all motions and conducted an extensive suppression hearing.

This constitutes the Court’s decision concerning the several pretrial motions filed by defendant.

I. DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO SUPPRESS.

Defendant moves to suppress physical evidence seized pursuant to a search warrant of his home at 3457 Latta Road, Greece, New York (“the premises”) on February 15, 1990. Defendant does not challenge the execution of the search warrant. Rather, he maintains that the warrant was defective on its face because the description of the premises failed to describe the premises as a two-family dwelling.

Defendant also moves to suppress certain oral statements that he made to law enforcement officers during the execution of the search warrant. Defendant maintains that these statements were the fruits of the illegal entry and that the statements must be suppressed. In addition, defendant claims that he made these statements during interrogation by the police and that he never received any Miranda warnings. Therefore, defendant maintains that the statements must be suppressed under the Fifth Amendment.

A. Facts.

The Court conducted an extensive suppression hearing concerning the circumstances surrounding the application for the search warrant and its execution. Under Maryland v. Garrison, 480 U.S. 79, 107 S.Ct. 1013, 94 L.Ed.2d 72 (1987), the hearing focused on the nature of the police investigation as to the type and description of the building to be searched.

In a nutshell, the officers who applied for the warrant believed from their observations of the premises that it was a single family residential home. The application for the warrant sworn to by Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Agent Nancy J. Roward, described the premises as “3457 Latta Road, Greece, New York (2 story white wood colonial, 1 car attached garage, 2 car detached garage in rear. 3457 on mailbox in front of house).”

Defendant maintains that the warrant is defective because the premises at 3457 Lat-ta Road was, and has been for many years, a two-family dwelling and that the defendant maintained the front apartment on the premises. Defendant’s mother resided in a separate apartment in the rear. Defendant claims that the officers upon reasonable inspection and investigation should have known that the dwelling was a two-family unit and should have obtained a warrant only for his apartment.

Several law enforcement agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Rochester Police Department (RPD), and the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Division of the Treasury Department had conducted an investigation concerning the manufacture and sale of firearm silencers in January and February 1990. On February 15, 1990, several targets of the investigation were arrested in Rochester, New York. These defendants included Leonard Stebbins, Michael Shea and Marvin Shacket. Messrs. Shea and Stebbins were arrested at approximately 2:00 p.m. and Shacket was in custody at least by 4:00 p.m. Shacket was taken to the FBI Office in downtown Rochester where he confessed to the manufacture and distribution of silencers and agreed to cooperate with the FBI. Special Agent Christopher Cuyler of ATF estimated that the interrogation of Shacket commenced between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m. on February 15.

During the debriefing of Shacket, he told the officers that he had sold ten silencers to a “Jesse Maneti” who lived on Latta Road in Greece, New York. Shacket was unable to provide the precise spelling of Maneti’s last name and although he had a telephone number for Maneti, he did not know Maneti’s precise address on Latta Road.

*173 Through the use of a city directory, telephone books, a check with the Department of Motor Vehicles and Shacket’s address book, the police determined that a Jesse Maneti lived at 3457 Latta Road and a decision was made to obtain a search warrant as soon as possible for that address.

The agents verified the address on Latta Road by using the' Polk City Directory. Agent Roward testified that another agent had the book open to page 484 (Ex. 5A) where the name “Jesse Maneti” at 3457 Latta Road was listed. Roward testified that she only noticed the name Jesse Mane-ti at that address. She testified that she did not notice, prior to obtaining the warrant, that there were two other Maneti’s listed at the same address, Mrs. Mary Maneti and Tyrone F. Maneti.

Shacket, Shea and Stebbins were all presented to the United States Magistrate that afternoon, and had all been released from custody before the agents were able to obtain a search warrant from the same Magistrate. Several officers testified at the hearing that they were concerned that one or more of the individuals who had been arrested might notify Maneti and warn him of the arrests and the police investigation. The officers were anxious to obtain the warrant as soon as possible.

A decision was made to send several agents to the premises for two purposes: to obtain a description of the premises for the search warrant and to maintain surveillance of the property to monitor the activities there. It was determined that agents of ATF would perform these functions and Cuyler, a supervisor, directed several agents in two ears to report to 3457 Latta Road.

Scott Samis, an ATF agent, testified that he received the duty assignment to go to Latta Road at about 6:30 p.m. on February 15. He understood that his assignment was to get a description of the residence for the search warrant and he was to maintain surveillance of the property. Samis left the Federal Building with two other ATF agents, Thomas Clark, a 22 year veteran with ATF and Agent William Cook. Another car containing two other agents provided backup.

Samis testified that it had been snowing all day and that the roads were slippery and icy. Visibility was very poor. He described visibility as being only fifty to sixty feet as they drove toward the premises in Greeee.

Neither Samis nor any of the agents who had accompanied him had ever heard of Maneti prior to that day and none of them had ever been to the premises. In fact, the agents were not from Rochester and they were not familiar with the area around Latta Road. The officers drove slowly down Latta Road until they found the mailbox with the numbers 3457. The agents drove past the house, turned around, came back and parked directly in front of the house. Samis estimated that he was approximately forty to fifty feet from the front of the house from his vantage point in the police car. Samis made all his observations of the house from the car. He was about ten feet from the roadside mailbox and he observed only one address on the box and the pole held only one mailbox and one plastic newspaper container.

He described the house as a two-story white colonial structure. He only observed one front entrance. There were conifer trees and bushes in front of the house which obscured much’ of his view.

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Bluebook (online)
781 F. Supp. 169, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18787, 1991 WL 279566, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-maneti-nywd-1991.