United States v. Martinez

225 F. Supp. 3d 1002, 2016 WL 6902875, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162115
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedNovember 22, 2016
DocketCase No. 15-cr-00575-WHO-1
StatusPublished

This text of 225 F. Supp. 3d 1002 (United States v. Martinez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Martinez, 225 F. Supp. 3d 1002, 2016 WL 6902875, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162115 (N.D. Cal. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO SUPPRESS

WILLIAM H. ORRICK, United States District Judge

INTRODUCTION

The issue in defendant Josué Olman Martinez’s motion to suppress is whether [1004]*1004it was reasonable for officers to continue to search a property that they may have initially assumed was a single family residence once they knew or should have known that it was multi-unit. The officers were searching for a gun used in a murder, had information that the mother of the suspect had hidden the gun at her residence, and were executing a warrant that allowed them to search the residence. But when they arrived, they quickly learned that several other people lived at the premises. After the officers determined where the mother resided, and searched her locked room, they broke into two other padlocked rooms, which were studio apartments, and searched a fourth room by consent and learned that it was a studio apartment as well. Despite this knowledge, which indisputably showed that the warrant they were executing was over-broad, they broke into a fifth room, which was also padlocked, and found methamphetamine and cocaine belonging to Martinez. This case is on all fours with Mena v. Simi Valley, 226 F.3d 1031 (9th Cir. 2000), where the Ninth Circuit found that officers were not entitled to qualified immunity for a very similar search. I GRANT Martinez’s motion to suppress.

BACKGROUND

A. Getting a Search Warrant

The search at issue occurred as a result of the investigation into an unrelated murder. On May 31, 2015, 18-year old Jonathan Sauceda Caballero was shot in John McLaren Park in San Francisco.1 Motion to Suppress (“Mot.”) at 1 (Dkt. No. 52). The police quickly focused the investigation on Caballero’s former girlfriend, 43-year-old Sylvia Lorena Montoya. Id. Based on surveillance footage, detectives determined that a young man, identified as Witness 2, was with Montoya and several other individuals near or at the time of the shooting. Id. at 3. Three weeks after the shooting, on June 23, 2015, Gang Task Force officers arrested Witness 2 and Montoya after witnessing the pair participate in an assault and attempted robbery. Id.

On June 24 and 25, 2015, officers conducted a series of interviews with Witness 2. After denying any involvement in the shooting, Witness 2 eventually admitted that he had been with Montoya and Caballero on the night of the murder. Id. Witness 2’s description of the incident was corroborated by surveillance, physical evidence, and other witness statements. Declaration of Sergeant Discenza (“Discenza Deck”) ¶ 5, (Dkt. No. 58-4).

On June 25, 2015, Witness 2 informed the police that he had additional information about the murder investigation and that he might know where the murder weapon was. Mot. Ex. D-l at 2. (Dkt. No. 52-4). Witness 2 said that he believed the gun was at Montoya’s mother’s house on Madrid Street. Id. Witness 2 offered reasons why he thought the gun was there: (1) he didn’t think it was with Montoya; (2) they always put weapons there; (3) Montoya told him she put the gun there; and (4) he had seen weapons there before. Id. at 3-6.

The officers asked Witness 2 a number of questions about the Madrid Street house. Mot. Ex. D-l. Witness 2 did not know its street address but was able to identify it from a photo as 751 Madrid Street. Mot. Ex. D-3 at 3 (Dkt. No. 52-6). The photos shown to Witness 2 are of a white building, set back from the street, with a small set of stairs leading to a gray door in the center. Mot. Ex. E. (Dkt. 52-8). A set of stairs to the right leads down to a [1005]*1005second door. Id. Each door has its own mailbox and doorbell next to it. Id. Witness 2 explained that Montoya’s mother lived in the main, upper unit, possibly with four other people, but “like two families also live separately there.” Mot. Ex. D-l at 7. He also explained that another family lived separately in the lower unit. Mot. Ex. D-3 at 3. He did not know whether there were any apartments in the back or whether anyone else lived at 751 Madrid. Mot. Ex. D-3 at 6.

That day, officers went to 751 Madrid Street and by observing the outside confirmed that it was a white house with two doors in front evidencing a main floor and a basement unit. Discenza Decl. ¶ 7. Witness 2 told officers that he had been to the house approximately three times. Mot. Ex. D-3 at 2. He helped sketch a rough diagram of the main floor. Id. at 4-5; Mot. Ex. F (Dkt. No. 52-9). This sketch shows that Montoya’s mother, who Witness 2 knew only as Señora, lived in a room in the back of the main unit, and that a family, comprising a mother and two young children, lived in a room at the front of the house on the left. Mot. Ex. F.

Officers asked Witness 2 several questions about the guns and where they were located in the house. Mot. Ex. D-3 at 6. Witness 2 could not tell officers exactly where the guns were kept. He guessed that they would be kept in Señora’s room because that was the only place she could keep them hidden. Id. At various times Witness 2 indicated both that he had seen the guns at 751 Madrid, and that he did not know where the guns were kept in the house. Mot. Ex. D-3 at 2, 6. He explained that there were approximately three guns in the house; one silver, one normal, and one “sheriff style” and that one of them was a .22. Id.

Officers determined that Rufina Murga, Montoya’s mother, resided at 751 Madrid. Discenza Decl. ¶ 7. Murga had gone to the police station to retrieve Montoya’s vehicle, which had been seized during Montoya’s arrest. Murga’s license indicated she lived at 751 Madrid. Mot. Ex. A at 12. A search of Ms. Murga’s license number in the DMV database confirmed that she had a vehicle registered at 751 Madrid. Id.

Based on Witness 2’s statements, the police submitted an affidavit the same day to obtain a warrant to search the property at 751 Madrid Street and Ms. Murga’s vehicle. Id. Sergeant Discenza, the affiant, described the property as follows:

[Sjingle family attached home. The residence is white in color with a gray door and the numbers 751 to the right of the door. The house is set back further than the other houses on the block. In addition any storage rooms, storage areas, containers, trash containers of any kind located in the residence, any out building, sub areas, attic areas are to be searched as well.

Mot. Ex. B at 4. The affidavit does not mention that there was another family or any other people living at the property.

To establish probable cause, Discenza explained that Witness 2 was a witness to the Caballero murder and had been arrested on June 23, 2016 after officers witnessed him participate in an assault and attempted robbery. Mot. Ex. A at 10. He described Witness 2’s statements about the guns at 751 Madrid as follows:

Sgt. Sanders and Inspector Dedet conducted a more detailed interview and [Witness 2] told them, the suspect Lorena Montoya’s mother lived there and had been there about 3 times total. Montoya told him that she knew the police would be coming to her home so she stashed firearms at her Mom’s house on Madrid. [Witness 2] said the last time he was at the Madrid address was about a week ago. He saw three guns at the [1006]*1006house located on 751 Madrid.

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Related

Silverman v. United States
365 U.S. 505 (Supreme Court, 1961)
Maryland v. Garrison
480 U.S. 79 (Supreme Court, 1987)
United States v. Greathouse
297 F. Supp. 2d 1264 (D. Oregon, 2003)
Mena v. City of Simi Valley
226 F.3d 1031 (Ninth Circuit, 2000)
United States v. Alexander
761 F.2d 1294 (Ninth Circuit, 1985)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
225 F. Supp. 3d 1002, 2016 WL 6902875, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162115, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-martinez-cand-2016.