United States v. Rey Gama Mendoza

421 F.3d 663, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 18643, 2005 WL 2077077
Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit·Decided August 30, 2005·No. 04-1386·Published·Cited by 50 cases

Opinions

WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge.

Rey Gama Mendoza appeals from his conviction on one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(b)(1)(A) and 846, and one count each of aiding and abetting possession with intent to distribute cocaine base and aiding and abetting the distribution of [666] cocaine base, both in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(A), and 18 U.S.C. § 2. We affirm.

I.

In April 2003, a confidential source informed the Minneapolis Police Department that Cassandra Holmes was engaged in dealing both powder and crack cocaine. On May 22, 2003, an undercover agent of the Minneapolis Police Department (Officer Luis Porras) set up a meeting with Holmes at her residence. Porras and Holmes then negotiated the purchase of one ounce of crack for $950. Holmes stepped away from Porras and immediately made a cellular telephone call to an unidentified person, the contents of which Porras was not able to hear. Holmes subsequently returned to Porras and discussed future transactions, mentioning that “her guy” — which Porras took to be an identification of her drug source — was a Hispanic male.

Approximately fifteen minutes after the call, surveillance officers outside the house observed a Hispanic male arrive on a bicycle. The officers testified that their experience and training led them to believe that the individual was a runner — someone who delivers drugs to a low or mid-level dealer and then takes the profits to the drug source. When the individual knocked on Holmes’s door, Holmes told Porras that “her guy” had arrived, stepped out of Por-ras’s sight, and answered the door. The individual delivered one ounce of crack to Holmes and left with the pre-recorded buy money from Porras. Holmes then reappeared and handed the ounce of crack to Porras. Although officers pursued the individual on the bicycle after he left Holmes’s residence, they were unable to capture him.

On June 5, 2003, Porras again arranged to purchase crack from Holmes. Unlike the May 22 deal, however, Porras and Holmes agreed beforehand that Porras would purchase four ounces of crack for $3800. When Porras arrived, Holmes retrieved the drugs from a bag in her kitchen and completed the transaction. After Porras left the residence, Minneapolis narcotics officers entered, arrested Holmes, and secured the scene to await a search warrant. The arresting officers noted that Holmes had a cellular phone in hand when they arrived and had commenced or completed a call just prior to their entry.

Fifteen minutes after the entry, surveillance officers outside the residence observed two Hispanic males approach in a sport utility vehicle. At the time, there were approximately eight undercover police vehicles parked near the residence. The vehicle traveled at slow speed, and both occupants stared intently in the direction of Holmes’s residence. After passing the residence and circling the block, the vehicle approached the scene a second time. The occupants again focused their attention on the residence and, after parking behind one of the undercover vehicles, continued to stare at the house while occasionally looking in other directions and engaging in conversation between themselves.

Eventually, the driver of the vehicle exited and walked approximately two feet away from his door, which remained open. The driver looked at the front door of Holmes’s residence, looked around the whole area, made eye contact with one of the undercover officers, and abruptly got back into the vehicle and drove away at high speed. The undercover officers relayed this information to the officers inside the residence and were told to stop the vehicle. The police then arrested Mendoza, the driver of the vehicle, and seized an identification card and a cellular phone from him. A brief inspection of the phone [667] showed that the last number received on the phone had originated from Holmes’s cellular phone. A subsequent investigation revealed that the call made by Holmes at the May 22 deal had also been placed to Mendoza’s phone.

Prior to trial, Mendoza moved to suppress the cellular phone and all evidence obtained thereby on the ground that the officers lacked probable cause to arrest him. The district court1 denied Mendoza’s motion, and Mendoza was subsequently convicted after a joint trial with Holmes and sentenced to a term of 121 months’ imprisonment, five years of supervised release, and a $300 special assessment.

II.

A.

On appeal, Mendoza renews his argument that the police lacked probable cause to arrest him. We review de novo the district court’s determination of probable cause and its factual findings for clear error. United States v. Cabrera-Reynoso, 195 F.3d 1029, 1031 (8th Cir.1999). Probable cause exists if the totality of the circumstances known to all officers involved at the time of the arrest “were sufficient to warrant a prudent person’s belief that the suspect had committed or was committing an offense.” Id. (citation and internal quotations omitted); United States v. Amaya, 52 F.3d 172, 174 (8th Cir.1995) (totality of the circumstances); United States v. Morgan, 997 F.2d 433, 435 (8th Cir.1993) (court may consider collective knowledge). Because probable cause requires only a probability or substantial chance of criminal activity, rather than an actual showing of criminal activity, United States v. Payne, 119 F.3d 637, 643 (8th Cir.1997), the police need not have amassed enough evidence to justify a conviction prior to making a warrantless arrest. United States v. Caves, 890 F.2d 87, 93 (8th Cir.1989).

In determining whether probable cause exists, we recognize that the police possess specialized law enforcement experience and thus may “draw reasonable inferences of criminal activity from circumstances which the general public may find innocuous.” Id. at 94 (citation and internal quotations omitted). Accordingly, we view the totality of the circumstances in Mendoza’s case through the eyes of the experienced narcotics agents involved in his arrest. See Payne, 119 F.3d at 643. Furthermore, we give “due weight” to inferences drawn from the facts and circumstances of each ease by local law enforcement officers. Id. at 642.

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United States v. Rey Gama Mendoza, 421 F.3d 663, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 18643, 2005 WL 2077077 (8th Cir. 2005).

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