United States v. Massaro

560 F. Supp. 2d 96, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44554, 2008 WL 2331025
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedJune 2, 2008
DocketCriminal 07-10169-NMG
StatusPublished

This text of 560 F. Supp. 2d 96 (United States v. Massaro) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Massaro, 560 F. Supp. 2d 96, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44554, 2008 WL 2331025 (D. Mass. 2008).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

GORTON, J.

The defendant James W. Massaro (“Massaro”) was indicted on May 22, 2007 *99 for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). On January 31, 2008, he filed five motions to suppress and a motion for a Franks hearing. The government has opposed three of those motions.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

At approximately 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 24, 2007, a 911 operator at the Lawrence Police Department (“the LPD”) received a call on its recorded line. The call was from a woman in an apartment of the Valley Lodge complex, which is approximately three blocks away from the headquarters of the LPD. The Valley Lodge is a transient housing facility and the police regularly respond to reports of domestic disturbances, fights, loitering and drug use at that complex. The female caller on the day in question reported that she had been looking out her window when she heard an altercation, saw a man get out of a parked car and saw him pull out a gun and point it at another man. She reported that the license plate of the parked car was “Massachusetts 146843”. She told the operator where she lived and her apartment number before hanging up.

Shortly after that pre-dawn call, Officer William Wolfindale (‘Wolfindale”), who was sitting with the operator in the dispatch room, answered a call on the non-recorded police land line. The caller had a Spanish accent and did not identify himself or his location. He told Wolfindale that a man in a green car was waving a gun and that the car was at or near the French Social Club. Neither caller gave any specific description of the man with the gun. The 911 operator shared information from his call with Wolfindale who, as the dispatcher, sent out a police broadcast that there was a green car in the parking lot in front of the social club on Broadway the occupant of which was pointing a gun out the window. Wolfindale also repeated the license plate number reported by the female caller but indicated that he was not sure if it was a Massachusetts or New Hampshire plate.

Sergeant John Dushame (“Dushame”) and Officer Thaddeus Czarnecki (“Czarnecki”) of the LPD drove to the French Social Club parking lot on Broadway. Dushame’s cruiser was very close to the club when he received the broadcast. The officers noticed two cars in the parking lot, neither of which matched the subject license plate number or were warm to the touch. After communicating that information to dispatch, the officers were directed to go to the address of the 911 caller to speak with her. As Dushame proceeded on his way, he noticed a green Volvo parked on the opposite side of the street from the parking lot. He slowed his cruiser, observed that the license plate number of the Volvo was 14GB43 and that the two men in the car looked away from him and slumped down in their seats. The driver of the car had a baseball cap on shielding his face. There were no other cars or people near the green Volvo. The man in the driver’s seat was later identified as the defendant, Massaro, and the man in the passenger seat as Jose Valdez (“Valdez”).

Dushame radioed dispatch, made a U-turn, pulled up about 15 feet behind the green car and turned on his blue lights. He also activated his cruiser’s spotlight and forward flashing “takedown” lights. Both occupants looked back at the cruiser and the driver slouched forward in his seat until Dushame could no longer see him. Within a very short time, five additional police cars surrounded the Volvo and at least six officers were present at the scene. Dushame addressed the occupants of the car over his public address system. Although Dushame had to repeat his orders several times, eventually both occupants, *100 in turn, got out of the car, approached Dushame’s cruiser walking backwards and lay down on the pavement. Officer Czar-necki testified that as the two occupants got out of the Volvo, all responding officers had their guns drawn, some pointed at Massaro and some at Valdez. The two suspects were told that they were being handcuffed for officer safety and after they were handcuffed, the officers reholstered their weapons.

The officers frisked the two suspects who were asked if they had FID cards or licenses to carry a firearm. Massaro replied that he did not. Neither of the suspects had a firearm on his person but when Czarnecki looked inside the Volvo, he saw the black grip of a gun sticking out from under the driver’s seat. He retrieved the weapon, which was a fully loaded .22 caliber revolver. After the police found the gun, Massaro and Valdez were placed in the rear seats of separate police cruisers. Valdez told Dushame that the gun was not his and that Massaro “told me the gun wasn’t real”.

Officer William Hale (“Hale”) drove around the corner to speak with the 911 caller. The woman reported that the man with the gun had appeared to be about 5'9", male and wearing a baseball cap. She said she had witnessed the man in an altercation, pointing the gun and heard him yell: “I’m [expletive] Clint Eastwood”. She told Hale that she thought she could identify the man if she saw him again. Shortly thereafter, Officer Eric Cerullo (“Cerullo”) drove Massaro to the Valley Lodge apartment building. In Hale’s presence, a few feet away from the cruiser in which Massaro was sitting, the woman positively identified Massaro as the man who had been waving the gun. Cerullo then put the baseball cap that Massaro had been wearing back on his head.

After learning about the positive identification, Dushame released Valdez and told him that he was free to go. Massaro was arrested and charged with unauthorized possession of a firearm and ammunition and possession of an open container of alcohol. At his subsequent booking, Massaro was read his Miranda rights and made some unsolicited statements, including a recitation of Jack Nicholson’s famous utterance about truth from A New Good Men. Massaro was released on bail and later a warrant was issued for his arrest. On March 28, 2007, after he failed to appear at his scheduled arraignment, Massaro was arrested in Chelsea. Apparently, he made statements to the police after that arrest.

On May 25, 2007, after the federal indictment was returned against Massaro, Special Agents Patrick Kelly (“Kelly”) and Angelo Thurman (“Thurman”) from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) went to Lawrence District Court to take custody of Massaro pursuant to the federal arrest warrant. Massaro was placed in the back of the agents’ cruiser next to Thurman who told him that he was under arrest and began to read him his Miranda rights. Massaro indicated that he did not need or want to hear them. Thurman, observing that Mas-saro was agitated, said that he knew Mas-saro’s lawyer had told him not to say anything, to which Massaro nodded his head. The agent asked Massaro a few personal history questions which he answered. Then, without prompting, Massa-ro asked, “Was it real, has it been tested?” Massaro repeated this question and then said, “f ... in’ peashooter.” Kelly told him that they would not respond to anything Massaro said without his rights being read to him.

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Bluebook (online)
560 F. Supp. 2d 96, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44554, 2008 WL 2331025, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-massaro-mad-2008.