United States v. Momodu

909 F. Supp. 1571, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19111, 1995 WL 757856
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedDecember 13, 1995
Docket4:95-cv-00294
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 909 F. Supp. 1571 (United States v. Momodu) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Momodu, 909 F. Supp. 1571, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19111, 1995 WL 757856 (N.D. Ga. 1995).

Opinion

ORDER

RICHARD C. FREEMAN, Senior District Judge.

This action is before the court on the Report and Recommendation [R & R] [# 18-1] of Magistrate Judge Richard H. Deane, recommending that defendant’s motion to suppress [# 12-1] be denied and that the parties’ joint motion for additional time to file briefs [# 16-1] be granted in part and denied in part. Defendant has filed objections to the R & R. For the reasons explained below, the court respectfully declines to adopt the R & R insofar as it relates to the motion to suppress. The court approves and adopts the portion of the R & R dealing with the motion for additional time.

Background

At the beginning of the midnight patrol shift on June 15, 1995, Officer Charles Wood of the Cobb County, Georgia, Police Department was briefed along with other officers about a domestic dispute that had been reported at a local apartment complex. As a result of the dispute, the complex was to receive “zone patrolling,” a practice wherein officers pay particular attention to a location which has been the situs of a reported problem.

During some “slack time” in his shift, Officer Wood parked in the parking lot of the *1574 complex and began doing paper work. At approximately 4:30 a.m., Officer Wood observed defendant Francis Abdul Momodu drive into the parking lot at “a pretty rapid speed.” Transcript of Suppression Hearing [Transcript], at 6. Defendant exited his car carrying something, possibly a bag, and rapidly entered the apartment building. Approximately a minute to two minutes later, Officer Wood observed defendant exit the building still carrying the same item. Defendant returned quickly to his ear and drove out of the parking lot “at a rapid pace.” Id.

As a result of his observations, Officer Wood decided to stop defendant and investigate the circumstances surrounding his presence at the complex. That investigation and a subsequent consent search of a bag in defendant’s car revealed that defendant was in possession of a number of pieces of mail addressed to individuals at other apartment complexes in the vicinity. The majority of the mail appeared to be “credit card applications” or “credit card related.” Id. at 9. The investigation also revealed that defendant was headed to an apartment in an adjacent complex to visit Michelle Davis. Officer Wood arrested defendant for credit card theft.

Subsequently, Wood and other officers went on three occasions to the apartment of Michelle Davis. There, they learned that defendant shared the apartment with Davis. Davis initially declined to give consent to search the apartment, but ultimately permitted the officers to search the apartment twice. Those searches produced additional evidence of defendant’s involvement in criminal activity.

Defendant challenges the legality of the initial stop and the subsequent searches conducted that morning. Further, he seeks to suppress the evidence seized as a result of the stop and searches.

Discussion

A. The Initial Stop

Fourth Amendment protections apply to brief investigatory stops such as the one at issue in this ease. United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 417, 101 S.Ct. 690, 694-95, 66 L.Ed.2d 621 (1981). Investigatory stops must be supported by specific, articula-ble facts sufficient to create a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); United States v. Smith, 799 F.2d 704 (11th Cir.1986). The investigating officer must be able to point to “some objective manifestation that the person stopped is or is about to be engaged in criminal activity.” Cortez, 449 U.S. at 417, 101 S.Ct. at 694. The Supreme Court has noted that the verbal formulations of the standard used to evaluate investigative stops, such as “reasonable suspicion,” are not self-defining and cannot provide clear answers to all factual circumstances that may arise. Id. Thus, a fact specific, case by case analysis is required.

Officer Wood testified at the suppression hearing about the factors which led him to suspect that defendant was involved in criminal activity. He stated:

I saw a Suzuki Side-Kick, dark green, drive into the complex at a pretty rapid speed. The vehicle stopped in front of one of the buildings that was right there close to where I was watching and an individual that was driving, all I could see was one person in the vehicle. He jumped out of the vehicle and rapidly moved into the entrance where the building — looked like he was carrying a bag of some sort, some land of light-colored, possibly a paper bag, plastic bag, something along that line. Went into the entrance way, was in there for a minute or two and then exited again, kind of in a rapid pace, jumped in a vehicle and left at a rapid pace.

Transcript, at 6. Wood also testified that, in addition to a domestic dispute that had been reported earlier from the apartment complex, the area had “had numerous stolen cars ... prowlers, peeping toms, domestic situations, thefts.” 1 Id. at 5.

On cross examination, Wood conceded that defendant did not come close to matching the description of the man involved in the earlier domestic violence call, that defendant’s *1575 clothes and appearance were not suspicious, and that the bag defendant carried was not suspicious in and of itself. Distilled to its essence, Officer Wood’s testimony articulates three facts which arguably create a reasonable suspicion to support an investigative stop: 1) the time of day defendant was observed; 2) prior criminal activity in the area; and 3) the pace at which defendant entered and exited the scene. The court will address these facts in turn.

The time of day during which behavior is observed is a factor that is properly considered in analyzing reasonable suspicion. See, e.g., United States v. Briggman, 931 F.2d 705 (11th Cir.1991). Nighttime activity per se, however, is not sufficient to create reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. United States v. Rideau, 969 F.2d 1572, 1575 (5th Cir.1992) (citing Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47, 52, 99 S.Ct. 2637, 2641, 61 L.Ed.2d 357 (1979)). This is especially true when such activity occurs in a residential setting. One prominent commentator has noted:

As for suspicion of burglary of residential premises, something more than presence in immediate proximity to those premises will ordinarily be required, for persons have occasion to enter and exit their residence at all hours. This is not to suggest, however, that the time of day is unimportant; conduct which might be deemed innocuous in the daytime might be viewed otherwise at night.

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Bluebook (online)
909 F. Supp. 1571, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19111, 1995 WL 757856, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-momodu-gand-1995.