United States v. Samuel Valles

521 F. App'x 92
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedApril 23, 2013
Docket12-2011
StatusUnpublished

This text of 521 F. App'x 92 (United States v. Samuel Valles) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Samuel Valles, 521 F. App'x 92 (3d Cir. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

ALDISERT, Circuit Judge.

Samuel Valles appeals a judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in which the Court sentenced Valles to 46 months’ imprisonment after a jury convicted him of two counts of distribution of heroin and three counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Valles contends that the District Court erred by (1) denying his request for an acceptance of responsibility reduction under the Sentencing Guidelines, (2) denying his motion to suppress evidence gathered from his residence pursuant to a search warrant, and (3) denying his motion to dismiss the indictment for violation of the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3161. We disagree, and will affirm the judgment of the District Court.

I.

Because we write primarily for the parties, who are familiar with the facts and proceedings in the District Court, we will revisit them only briefly.

In early 2009, the FBI and the Reading, Pennsylvania Police Department began investigating a drug trafficking operation headed by Steven Santana. Valles, Santana’s uncle, made multiple heroin sales to an undercover officer in late 2009. Law enforcement officers, pursuant to a court-authorized wiretap, intercepted phone conversations between Valles and Santana regarding delivery and collection of drugs and money. Surveillance conducted during the investigation revealed that Valles met with Santana and other suspected drug traffickers and purchasers, in public, on multiple occasions. A grand jury indicted Valles, Santana, and other individuals involved in the drug trafficking operation, and a magistrate judge issued a *94 search warrant for numerous locations, including Valles’s residence. During the search of Valles’s residence, law enforcement officers found heroin, cocaine, and crack cocaine, along with a loaded pistol and $8,440 in cash. They subsequently arrested Valles.

The District Court denied Valles’s motion to suppress the evidence found at his residence, as well as his motion to dismiss the indictment for violation of the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3161. At trial, a jury convicted Valles of two counts of distribution of heroin, and three counts of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances. 1 At sentencing, the District Court denied Valles’s request for a two-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1, sentenced him to 46 months’ imprisonment, and imposed fines and a special assessment totaling $8,000. Valles timely appealed. 2

II.

The District Court did not err in denying Valles’s motion to suppress physical evidence obtained during the search of his residence. In our review of the District Court’s denial of a suppression motion, “we review its factual findings for clear error and exercise plenary review over its legal determinations.” United States v. Shields, 458 F.3d 269, 275-276 (3d Cir.2006) (citation omitted).

Valles contends that the warrant authorizing a search of his residence was not supported by probable cause. He contends that the underlying affidavit contained unsupported opinions and conclusions that constituted false or reckless statements, without which there would not have been probable cause for the search. We disagree. As a reviewing court, we are required only to “ensure that the magistrate had a substantial basis for concluding that probable cause existed.” Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238-239, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983) (internal quotation marks, citation and alterations omitted). The magistrate judge’s role is clear: he or she “is simply to make a practical, common-sense decision whether, given all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit ... there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.” Id. at 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317 (emphasis added). Here, based on the totality of the circumstances, this fair probability clearly existed, given Valles’s observed drug dealing activities and actual sales of drugs to an undercover officer.

Notwithstanding Valles’s protestations that the affidavit contained no indication that he engaged in any illegal activity at his residence, probable cause may be inferred from “the type of crime, the nature of the items sought, the suspect’s opportunity for concealment and normal inferences about where a criminal might hide [evidence].” United States v. Stearn, 597 F.3d 540, 554 (3d Cir.2010) (alteration in original) (quoting United States v. Jones, 994 F.2d 1051, 1056 (3d Cir.1993)). A magistrate judge is permitted to draw the “reasonable inference ... that drug dealers often store evidence of drug crimes in their residences ... [and] application of this inference is based on evidence sup *95 porting three preliminary premises: (1) that the person suspected of drug dealing is actually a drug dealer; (2) that the place to be searched is possessed by, or the domicile of, the dealer; and (3) that the home contains contraband linking it to the dealer’s activities.” Id. at 559 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The evidence clearly supported the first two premises. As to the third premise, that there was a nexus between Valles’s activities and the residence, the affidavit stated that Valles made regular phone calls to Santana from a land line phone at the residence and that investigators observed Valles leaving his residence to meet with Luis Berrios, who was also named in the indictment. In addition, investigators observed Valles leaving the residence to meet with an individual known to purchase drugs from Santana’s associates. In short, there was ample evidence before the Magistrate Judge from which he could permissibly infer that probable cause existed to search Valles’s residence, and we reject Valles’s contentions to the contrary.

We reject also Valles’s related challenge to the statements in the underlying affidavit. Valles correctly notes that a district court is permitted to look behind a warrant to the statements made in the underlying affidavit, and is authorized to conduct a hearing if a defendant “makes a substantial preliminary showing” that the affidavit includes false statements that were made either “knowingly and intentionally, or with reckless disregard for the truth.” Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 155-156, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978). If, however, after setting aside the allegedly false statements, “there remains sufficient content in the warrant affidavit to support a finding of probable cause, no hearing is required.” Id. at 172-173, 98 S.Ct. 2674.

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Related

United States v. Stearn
597 F.3d 540 (Third Circuit, 2010)
Franks v. Delaware
438 U.S. 154 (Supreme Court, 1978)
Illinois v. Gates
462 U.S. 213 (Supreme Court, 1983)
United States v. Henry G. Barr
963 F.2d 641 (Third Circuit, 1992)
United States v. Scott David Lattany
982 F.2d 866 (Third Circuit, 1993)
United States v. John Arbelaez
7 F.3d 344 (Third Circuit, 1993)
United States v. Angelo P. Ceccarani
98 F.3d 126 (Third Circuit, 1996)
United States v. Eric Shields
458 F.3d 269 (Third Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Lessner
498 F.3d 185 (Third Circuit, 2007)
United States v. Jones
994 F.2d 1051 (Third Circuit, 1993)

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Bluebook (online)
521 F. App'x 92, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-samuel-valles-ca3-2013.