United States v. Mark A. McKinnell

888 F.2d 669, 28 Fed. R. Serv. 1309, 1989 U.S. App. LEXIS 16209, 1989 WL 127016
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedOctober 27, 1989
Docket88-1881
StatusPublished
Cited by137 cases

This text of 888 F.2d 669 (United States v. Mark A. McKinnell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth 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. Mark A. McKinnell, 888 F.2d 669, 28 Fed. R. Serv. 1309, 1989 U.S. App. LEXIS 16209, 1989 WL 127016 (10th Cir. 1989).

Opinion

TACHA, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a conviction for using a firearm during or in relation to a drug trafficking crime, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1), and for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). The defendant raises various constitutional, statutory, and evidentiary grounds for reversal. We hold that there were no constitutional violations that prejudiced the defendant, that the defendant waived any remedy that might have been available for the only statutory violation that occurred, and that the trial court acted within its discretion on the evidentiary issues. We affirm.

I.

On July 5, 1987, Officer Patrick Hinkle of the Lenexa, Kansas, Police Department observed an automobile driving slowly through a residential neighborhood. Officer Hinkle radioed that vehicle’s license plate number to the police dispatcher, who informed him that there was an active arrest warrant for the car's owner, Mark A. McKinnell.

After Officer Hinkle stopped and approached the vehicle, he noticed that in the passenger compartment there was a large opaque plastic bag and a device, consisting of a tube connected to a bowl, that he recognized as being associated with the smoking of marijuana. Officer Hinkle arrested McKinnell, handcuffed him, and conducted a pat-down search that yielded eight small bags containing cocaine. The officer then returned to McKinnell’s vehicle and opened the white opaque plastic bag to find a quantity of cocaine and a roll of United States currency. Under the bag he found a loaded .41 magnum caliber revolver.

The Government indicted McKinnell on one count of using or carrying a firearm during or in relation to a drug trafficking crime in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1). The indictment specified the drug trafficking crime to be distribution of cocaine. A federal grand jury returned a two count superseding indictment which again charged the defendant with using or carry *672 ing a firearm during or in relation to a drug trafficking crime. This indictment, however, changed the drug trafficking crime to possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. Count two of the superseding indictment charged McKinnell with possession of approximately forty-eight grams of cocaine with intent to distribute.

On March 28, 1988, McKinnell was tried in federal district court, and a jury returned a verdict of guilty on both counts of the superseding indictment. The court denied the defendant’s motion for a new trial and entered judgment against McKinnell. McKinnell appealed to this court.

II.

On appeal, McKinnell first contends that the trial court erred in failing to suppress evidence allegedly obtained in violation of his fourth amendment rights. U.S. Const. amend. IV. When we review a denial of a motion to suppress, we accept the trial court’s findings of fact unless clearly erroneous. United States v. Cooper, 733 F.2d 1360, 1364 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1255, 104 S.Ct. 3543, 82 L.Ed.2d 847 (1984). The ultimate determination of reasonableness under the fourth amendment is, however, a conclusion of law, see United States v. Basey, 816 F.2d 980, 988 (5th Cir.1987), that we review de novo. See In re Ruti-Sweetwater, Inc. (Heins v. Ruti-Sweetwater, Inc.), 836 F.2d 1263, 1266 (10th Cir.1988).

The fourth amendment to the United States Constitution protects against “unreasonable searches and seizures.” U.S. Const, amend. IV. As a general rule, to be reasonable a search or seizure must be conducted pursuant to a validly issued warrant. See New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 457, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 2862, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981); Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 576, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 1374, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980); United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 105-06, 85 S.Ct. 741, 744-45, 13 L.Ed.2d 684 (1965). Nevertheless, fourth amendment jurisprudence carves out several exceptions to the warrant requirement. See Ventresca, 380 U.S. at 106-07 & n. 2, 85 S.Ct. at 744-45 & n. 2. We conclude that the warrantless search of the defendant’s car was valid under the exceptions governing searches incident to arrest and findings of probable cause.

McKinnell first argues that the exception to the warrant requirement relating to searches of automobiles incident to arrest does not apply here. Noting that “the scope of [a] search must be ‘strictly tied to and justified by’ the circumstances which rendered its initiation permissible,” Belton, 453 U.S. at 457, 101 S.Ct. at 2862 (quoting Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 762, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 2039, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969)), McKinnell contends that the scope of the search of his automobile was not justified by his arrest on an outstanding municipal traffic warrant. We disagree.

In Belton, the Supreme Court made clear that the principles quoted in Chimel permit the police to search the passenger compartment of the automobile pursuant to a lawful custodial arrest of its occupant. Id. 453 U.S. at 460, 101 S.Ct. at 2864. The Court found that the entire passenger compartment constituted an area from which an arrestee might remove evidence or a weapon, id. at 460, 101 S.Ct. at 2864, and concluded:

when a policeman has made a lawful custodial arrest of the occupant of an automobile, he may, as a contemporaneous incident of that arrest, search the passenger compartment of that automobile.
It follows from this conclusion that the police may also examine the contents of any containers found within the passenger compartment, for if the passenger compartment is within reach of the arres-tee, so also will containers in it be within his reach. Such a container may, of course, be searched whether it is open or closed, since the justification for the search is not that the arrestee has no privacy interest in the container, but that the lawful custodial arrest justifies the infringement of any privacy interest the arrestee may have.

Belton, 453 U.S. at 460-61, 101 S.Ct. at *673 2864-65 (footnote and citations omitted). 1 The search remains a valid search incident to arrest even if it occurs after the suspect has been arrested, handcuffed, and placed outside of the vehicle. See United States v. Cotton, 751 F.2d 1146, 1149 (10th Cir.1985).

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Bluebook (online)
888 F.2d 669, 28 Fed. R. Serv. 1309, 1989 U.S. App. LEXIS 16209, 1989 WL 127016, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-mark-a-mckinnell-ca10-1989.