United States v. Mendoza-Trujillo

46 F. Supp. 3d 1204, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124302, 2014 WL 4328233
District Court, D. Utah·Decided September 2, 2014·No. Case No. 2:13-CR-762 DN·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO SUPPRESS

DAVID NUFFER, District Judge.

This order grants Javier Mendoza-Trujillo’s Motion to Suppress.1 An evidentia-ry hearing was held on May 29-30, 2014.2 As directed, the parties submitted draft decisions.3 Argument was heard August 14, 2014.4 This Memorandum Decision and Order is entered after thorough review and consideration of the evidence presented, draft decisions and argument at the hearing.

Table of Contents Table of Contents.1209 FINDINGS OF FACT.1210 Incident and First Contact with Officers .1210 Transport to Police Station.1211 Placement in Interview Room.1212 First Interview Segment.1212 Execution of Consent to Search Cell Phone.1213 Bathroom Break ..1215 Execution of Consent to Enter House for Cell Phone .1216 Execution of Third Consent Form.1217 In Forensics.1217 Execution of Fourth Consent Form.1218 Victim Advocates.1219 Search of the Home. 1219 Resumption of Interviews.1220 DISCUSSION.!.1221 I.Mr. Mendoza-Trujillo Was Illegally Seized.'..1221 A. Legal Framework.1221 B. Javier Mendoza-Trujillo Was Illegally Seized.■.1225 II.No Break in the Chain of Events Validates the Consent Forms.1229 A. The Consents to Search Were Executed in the Same Time Frame as the Illegal Seizure.1230 B. No Circumstance Intervened Between the Illegal Seizure and the Consent Form Signatures .1230 C. The Purpose and Flagrancy of the Official Misconduct Show No Break.1231 III.Examined Independently of the Seizure, the Consents Were Not Voluntary.1232 A. Javier Was Not Informed of His Right to Refuse Consent.1233 B. Javier Was Not Generally Cooperative.1234

[1210]*1210C. Coercive Tactics Were Used. D. Other Factors Do Not Suggest Consent CONCLUSION. .1235 to to CO CO 0^ rfx

FINDINGS OF FACT

Incident and First Contact with Officers

In the early morning hours of October 30, 2013, three armed men confronted Ismael Mendoza-Trujillo in the driveway of his brother Javier’s residence at 7133 West Chula Vista Drive in West Valley City, Utah.5 One of the assailants, armed with an automatic pistol, entered the house and went into the master bedroom where Maria del Socorro Mendoza-Trujillo (Javier’s wife) and two small children were lying down.6 Javier was in the bathroom at the time, brushing his teeth.7 Ismael was still outside, fighting with the other two assailants.8 Ismael saw that one of the armed men had entered the home.9 Ismael was able to get away from the other two men that he was fighting with and ran into the house because he was fearful for his brother, Javier, and Maria and the children.10 Wearing only his sweatpants, Javier came out of the bathroom11 to find the assailant pointing a pistol at his wife.12 Crying, Maria yelled for Javier and then jumped out of the bedroom window.13 Maria ran to the downstairs tenants, yelling and screaming to call 911.14

Javier and Ismael engaged the assailant, trying to wrestle away the pistol.15 Javier and Ismael fought the armed assailant for some time, somewhere between eight and 20 minutes,16 ultimately disarming the assailant and immobilizing the assailant with a chokehold after tumbling down the stairs.17 The other two armed assailants never entered Javier’s residence and ran away before the police arrived.18 Medical personnel were dispatched and took the armed assailant to the hospital, where the assailant was placed on life support, and dies from his injuries two days later.19 West Valley City police were dispatched, and officers began arriving at Javier’s house around 5:30 in the morning.20

[1211]*1211The first officers to arrive cleared the home, secured the scene, and made sure all of the adults, including Javier, were placed in a common area with an instruction not to talk to each other.21 Eventually, detectives with Critical Incidents and the Major Crimes response team were dispatched, arriving between 6:30-6:45 a.m.22 Detective Pittman arrived at 7:10.23

The Major Crimes detective, Detective Stanworth, testified to the proper protocol when responding to a home invasion type of crime where one party is seriously injured: 24 the scene must be secured, the scene must be processed for forensic evidence, and the involved parties need to be interviewed.25 Detective Stanworth further testified it is common practice to conduct interviews at the police station in major cases.26 This way, he said, the scene can be properly processed and the interviews can be recorded, both audio and video.27

At the time Javier’s house was being processed by the forensics team, the focus of the police investigation was to ascertain who the two escaping assailants were, who the injured assailant was, and simply to determine what had just happened.28

Transport to Police Station

The five adults (Javier, Ismael, Maria, and the two tenants in the basement apartment) were told they needed to go to the police station.29 Detective Stanworth testified that he could not “necessarily say what these individuals were told, but in this situation we just tell them that due to the nature of the crime we need to interview them in a more formal setting so that the interview is recorded so that we can have a good account of the interview.”30 In response to a question whether they “agreed” to come to the station and submit to an interview, he stated that he “was not made aware of any complaints or hesitation on their part to come to the station.” 31 However, Javier testified that he specifically asked if he had to go to the police station, and was told it was necessary for him to do it (go to the station for the interview).32

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United States v. Mendoza-Trujillo, 46 F. Supp. 3d 1204, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124302, 2014 WL 4328233 (D. Utah 2014).

46 F. Supp. 3d 1204 (United States v. Mendoza-Trujillo) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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