United States v. Martinez

982 F. Supp. 2d 421, 2013 WL 5525107, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144499
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 7, 2013
DocketCrim. No. 11-490
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 982 F. Supp. 2d 421 (United States v. Martinez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania 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, 982 F. Supp. 2d 421, 2013 WL 5525107, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144499 (E.D. Pa. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

DIAMOND, District Judge.

In 2011, Defendant Edgardo Martinez, a suspect in a 2006 New Jersey homicide, was detained in Philadelphia by police who were executing an “Emergent Order for Investigative Detention” to collect Defendant’s DNA. Under New Jersey law, such an “Emergent” Order — once signed by a New Jersey Superior Court Judge — authorizes the police, on less than probable cause, to detain a suspect to obtain evidence of his “physical characteristics.” After stopping Defendant pursuant to the Order, officers took a buccal swab, which indicated that Defendant’s DNA did not link him to the 2006 homicide. Officers found a loaded firearm in his waistband, however, and a full magazine for the weapon in his car. As a result, Defendant has been charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(e).

The “Emergent” Order — obtained and executed some five years after the 2006 homicide — was supported by the Affidavit of a New Jersey Detective, who sought the review of a Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney and a Common Pleas Court Judge. Remarkably, the Assistant District Attorney and the Judge approved the document even though no such Emergent Order exists under Pennsylvania law, even though the Order includes an explicit finding of less than probable cause to detain Defendant forcibly for up to five hours, and even though the Affidavit — stripped of its misleading, incredible, and confusing observations — plainly does not make out probable cause.

Defendant moves to suppress the gun and magazine. Because the Emergent Order is not based on probable cause, and because the good faith exception does not apply, I will grant Defendant’s Motion.

[425]*425 FINDINGS OF FACT

Having conducted a suppression hearing, I make the following findings pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(d).

At the hearing, the Government called New Jersey Detective Stacie Lick, and Philadelphia Police Detective Dennis Watson and Sergeant Thomas Rehiel. Defendant called no witnesses. I credit Detective Watson and Sergeant Rehiel, who testified only as to the detention of Defendant and execution of the Order. I credit Detective Lick only in part.

A. 2006 New Jersey Homicide

On January 20, 2006, Washington Township Police found Juan Cuevas, Sr. dead in his home in Sewell, New Jersey, the victim of “blunt force trauma to the head.” (Lick Aff. ¶¶ 5-6, ECF No. 3b, Ex. B.) Cuevas’s children were in the home during the attack. (Aff. ¶ 10.) Through Detective Lick’s Affidavit and testimony, the Government offered cursory detail respecting the Cuevas investigation. At the crime scene, police extracted DNA from a straw and a cigarette butt believed to have been used by the attackers. (Aff. ¶ 5.) In 2009, when Ms. Lick was assigned to the Cuevas investigation, she had been a Detective with the Major Crimes Unit of the Gloucester County, New Jersey Prosecutor’s Office for approximately 6 years, and had served as an Investigator for 3 years with the state Attorney General. (Hr’g Tr. 3:2-13, 11:7-14, Feb. 19, 2013, ECF No. b6; Aff. ¶ 1.) She had also received extensive law enforcement training. (Aff. ¶ 2.) The Government presented no other evidence as to the nature, scope, or circumstances of the murder investigation, whether any other officers were assigned to the matter, or how far the investigation progressed. To date, no one has been prosecuted for the Cuevas killing. (Hr’g Tr. 14:12-19.)

B. Detective Lick Seeks an Emergent Order

During her two year investigation, Detective Lick identified Defendant as a suspect in the Cuevas homicide. (Hr’g Tr. 3:14-24.) She sought to compare his DNA to that recovered from the crime scene. (Id.) Accordingly, sometime in 2011 (she did not indicate when), she prepared an “Emergent Order for Investigative Detention” and a supporting Affidavit, by which she sought to collect Defendant’s DNA. (Hr’g Tr. 4:6-7.) This is the only such order Detective Lick has prepared in her 13 years in law enforcement. (Hr’g Tr. 17:7-13.)

New Jersey law provides that a judge may issue, “[pjrior to the filing of a formal criminal charge against a person, an order authorizing the temporary detention of that person and compelling that person to submit to non-testimonial identification procedures for the purpose of obtaining evidence of that person’s physical characteristics.” N.J. C.R. 3:5A-1. The emergent order may issue if a judge finds “a reasonable and well-grounded basis from which to believe that the person sought may have committed the crime,” and that “the results of the physical characteristics obtained ... [will] determine whether or not the individual probably committed the crime.” Id. 3:5A-4. The judge may issue the order without notice to the person to be detained if the judge “is satisfied that its underlying purpose would be frustrated were notice to be given,” and certifies that “the matter is emergent.” Id. 3:5A-6. The order may authorize officers “to use reasonable force in effectuating the detention of the person.” Id. Because she had not reviewed applicable law, Detective Lick was not aware that an emergent order is void if not “served within five days of its [426]*426signing.” Id. 3:5A-7; (Hr’g Tr. 17:22-25, 18:4-5.)

C. The Order and Supporting Affidavit

At the hearing, the Government introduced Detective Lick’s Affidavit and the Emergent Order itself. (Hr’g Tr. 5:9-13.) The Affidavit is an extremely confusing agglomeration of facts, many of which are misleading, contradictory, incredible, or unreliable.

Detective Lick included in her Affidavit an extended account of the Gloucester Township home invasion and robbery of the Moreno family — crimes that are utterly unrelated to Defendant or to Detective Lick’s investigation of the Cuevas homicide. (Aff. ¶ 9.) Detective Lick thus averred that, “four masked individuals” entered the Moreno home “in an attempt to rob the owner.” (Id.) The assailants, members of a gang “known by police to invade the homes of narcotics dealers who reside in the suburbs,” encountered “seven children who they bound with duct tape.” (Id.) The Moreno children described the armed assailants as “wearing all black clothing, with masks covering the majority of their faces.” (Id.) The children also reported that one of the assailants asked the others whether the “Washington Township home was in close proximity to Atlantic City.” (Aff. ¶ 7.)

According to Detective Lick, “[t]he Moreno children provided police with descriptions of the suspects and composite sketches were made of same.” (Id.) Yet, the Affidavit also notes the “marked[ ] similarity]” between Defendant and a composite sketch provided by the Cuevas children. (Aff. ¶ 14.) Detective Lick did not explain why she averred that the Cuevas children had provided a sketch of a suspect that was actually provided by the Moreno children. Moreover, during the hearing, Detective Lick again conflated the Moreno and Cuevas crimes, testifying that the Cuevas children provided the composite sketch. (Hr’g Tr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
982 F. Supp. 2d 421, 2013 WL 5525107, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144499, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-martinez-paed-2013.