United States v. Ortiz

943 F. Supp. 2d 447, 2013 WL 1908897
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMay 9, 2013
DocketNo. 12 Cr. 791 (RJS)
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 943 F. Supp. 2d 447 (United States v. Ortiz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Ortiz, 943 F. Supp. 2d 447, 2013 WL 1908897 (S.D.N.Y. 2013).

Opinion

Memorandum and Order

RICHARD J. SULLIVAN, District Judge:

Defendant Sixto Ortiz (“Defendant”) is charged in a one-count indictment (the “Indictment”) with being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). Now before the Court is Defendant’s motion to suppress (1) physical evidence seized during a warrantless search of his mother’s apartment; (2) statements Defendant made to New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) officers at the apartment after the search; (3) statements Defendant made to NYPD officers at the police station following his arrest; and (4) statements Defendant made to an agent of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”) following his arrest on a federal warrant. For the reasons set forth below, the Court grants Defendant’s motion as to his statements in the apartment and denies the motion as to the remaining evidence.

I. Procedural History

Defendant was arrested pursuant to a federal warrant on September 17, 2012. On October 17, 2012, a grand jury returned the Indictment, charging Defendant with violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) by being a felon in possession of a firearm. (Doc. No. 9.) Defendant filed the instant motion on December 21, 2012 (Doc. No. 13), together with a Memorandum of Law in Support of the Motion (“Def. Mem.”) (Doc. No. 15). On January 7, 2013, the government filed its Memorandum in Opposition to the Motion (“Gov’t Opp’n”) (Doc. No. 16), and Defendant filed his Reply on January 14, 2013 (“Def. Reply”) (Doc. No. 17). Because Defendant’s motion turned on several contested factual issues, the Court held an evidentiary hearing on January 24, 2013, at which the government called four witnesses — NYPD Sergeant Janette Cruz (“Cruz”), NYPD Officer Isaías Martinez (“Martinez”), NYPD Detective Johnnie Rosario (“Rosario”), and ATF Special Agent Veronica Morales (“Agent Morales”) — and Defendant called one — Rosa Montañez, Defendant’s mother (“Montañez”). Defendant and the government each cross-examined one another’s witnesses. On February 8, 2013, the parties submitted supplemental [450]*450memoranda regarding Defendant’s motion (“Def. Supp. Mem.” and “Gov’t Supp. Mem.”) (Doc. Nos. 20, 21), and the Court held oral argument on February 26, 2013.

II. Findings of Fact1

On July 24, 2012, Cruz, a sergeant in the NYPD Criminal Intelligence Section, received a tip that an illegal handgun was located at 380 East 143rd Street, Apartment 12F, Bronx, New York (the “Apartment”). (Tr. at 13:14-14:19.) Upon receiving the tip, Cruz ascertained that the Apartment had two residents: Montanez, the leaseholder, and Defendant. (Id. at 14:24-15:8.) Cruz also determined that Defendant had two outstanding bench warrants for failing to respond to summonses related to dog-walking and alcohol consumption. (Id. at 17:15-24.) Around 5:00 p.m. that day, Cruz, together with three other NYPD officers — Martinez, Detective Jaquan Morales (“Detective Morales”), and Officer David Montañez (“Officer Montañez”) — went to the Apartment. (Id. at 15:9-16.) The four officers were dressed in plainclothes but were wearing bulletproof vests and had their shields visible around their necks. (Id. at 15:18-19.) In addition, they were carrying police radios, guns, and handcuffs. (Id. at 56:13-16.) Although the purpose of their visit was to investigate the tip concerning the firearm, Cruz also intended to arrest Defendant on the outstanding bench warrants. (Id. at 43:10-25.)

The NYPD officers were able to obtain entry to 380 East 143rd Street without being buzzed in and went up to the 12th Floor, where they knocked on the Apartment’s front door. (Id. at 15:20-22, 44:1-5.) Montañez answered. (Id. at 15:23-24, 55:23-56:1.) The parties dispute whether the officers identified themselves as police.

The Court, however, finds that Cruz and Martinez both testified credibly that the officers identified themselves as such when Montañez answered the door. (Id. at 15:25-16:4, 56:10-12.)

By contrast, the version of events Montañez offered strains belief. Montañez testified that the officers did not identify themselves. Rather, she stated that when she came to the door and looked through the peephole, she believed the officers were Jehovah’s Witnesses. (Tr. at 126:1-2.) She then opened the door, she explained, because she sometimes engaged Jehovah’s Witnesses in conversation in order to convert them to Catholicism, her faith. (Id. at 126:4-9.) Montañez testified that when the officers then asked if Defendant was present in the apartment, she concluded that they were not Jehovah’s Witnesses and instead assumed that they were Defendant’s friends. (Id. at 126:12-15.) She testified that she admitted them into the apartment on that basis and proceeded to speak with Cruz for several minutes while continuing to believe that the officers were Defendant’s friends. (Id. at 126:17-128:18.) The other officers did not accept her invitation to sit down in the living room. (Id. at 126:21-25.) It was only when the officers began searching the closets, Montañez testified, that she realized they were police. (Id. at 128:16-18.)

Montañez’s version of events is not credible for several reasons. First, her affidavit dated December 19, 2012 stated only that “[o]n July 24, 2012, four officers arrived at my door dressed in civilian clothes.” (Decl. of Julia Gatto, dated Dec. 21, 2012, Doe. No. 14 (“Gatto Deck”), Ex. A (“Montañez Aff.”) ¶4.) The affidavit makes no reference to having admitted the [451]*451officers based on the belief that they were her son’s friends — an account she first offered only at the January 24, 2013 evidentiary hearing. Second, Montañez’s uncorroborated testimony flatly contradicts the accounts offered by Cruz and Martinez, veteran officers with twenty and eleven years of experience, respectively, both of whom testified that the officers not only identified themselves as police when Montañez came to the door but were outfitted in a manner that made their identity as law enforcement officers unmistakable. (See, e.g., Tr. at 15:18-19 (indicating that the officers had their shields visible).) Finally, Montañez’s claim that she realized the four officers were police only when they began to search the closets is simply incredible, even under the terms of her own testimony. In the time between the officers’ entrance into the apartment and the beginning of their search, according to Montañez, the officers said nothing to reinforce her belief that they were Defendant’s friends and behaved in a manner highly inconsistent with a social call, spreading out over the apartment and ignoring her invitation to sit down in the living room. (Tr. at 126:24-128:2.)

In any event, Montañez voluntarily admitted the officers to the Apartment, which was, at the time, occupied by three individuals: Montañez, Defendant, and Montañez’s elderly sister. (Id. at 57:1-7, 125:11-13.) It is undisputed that after Montañez admitted the officers to the Apartment, Cruz and Montañez engaged in conversation in Spanish (id. at 16:7-8, 56:2-5, 127:9-10), which Cruz and Martinez speak fluently (id. at 14:9, 55:10-13). Once again, however, the parties offer different versions of what transpired.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Foster v. McCabe
W.D. New York, 2024
State of Louisiana v. Logan Smith
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2023
Harig v. City of Buffalo
W.D. New York, 2021
United States v. Gonzalez-Espinal
253 F. Supp. 3d 409 (D. Puerto Rico, 2017)
United States v. Goins
157 F. Supp. 3d 148 (D. Connecticut, 2016)
State v. Grimes
Nebraska Court of Appeals, 2015
United States v. Faux
94 F. Supp. 3d 258 (D. Connecticut, 2015)
United States v. Hufstetler
782 F.3d 19 (First Circuit, 2015)
Jackson ex rel. Jackson v. Suffolk County
87 F. Supp. 3d 386 (E.D. New York, 2015)
United States v. Munoz
987 F. Supp. 2d 438 (S.D. New York, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
943 F. Supp. 2d 447, 2013 WL 1908897, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-ortiz-nysd-2013.