United States v. Sanchez

608 F.3d 685, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 12166, 2010 WL 2382858
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJune 15, 2010
Docket09-2239
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 608 F.3d 685 (United States v. Sanchez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth 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. Sanchez, 608 F.3d 685, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 12166, 2010 WL 2382858 (10th Cir. 2010).

Opinions

TYMKOVICH, Circuit Judge.

Victor Sanchez appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress the [687]*687admission of 100 kilograms of marijuana discovered by probation officers during a home visit. The home visit followed a tip that Sanchez was living beyond his means and had recently purchased a new home and car shortly after his release from prison. The district court held that Sanchez’s 15-year-old daughter who was home babysitting at the time, validly consented to the inspection of the home.

We agree with the district court that Sanchez’s daughter had actual authority to consent to the home visit and the officers properly relied on her consent. Although the district court found that the officers’ discovery of over $100,000 cash in a bedroom was the fruit of an illegal search, it found no infirmity to the discovery of the marijuana. Since no limitations were placed on the scope of the inspection and the officers had information that led them to believe Sanchez had purchased the home and a new car without adequate financial resources, the court properly concluded the officers would have discovered the marijuana in the home’s garage.

Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we AFFIRM.

I. Background

In 2005, Sanchez was convicted for possession of cocaine and a related drug conspiracy. He was sentenced to two consecutive terms of 18 months’ imprisonment, suspended to three years of probation. Among other conditions, Sanchez’s probation order stipulated that “I [Sanchez] will permit any Probation/Parole Officer to visit me at my home or place of employment at any time.” ROA, Vol. 1 at 35. Sanchez was also required “to advise all members of [his] household that Probation & Parole Officers will occasionally visit the residence and ask them to show courtesy and respect toward the Officers.” ROA, Vol. 1 at 37.

Sanchez subsequently was imprisoned for a parole violation. After his release from prison in 2006, Sanchez moved into a home in Albuquerque with his wife and children. In December 2006, Sanchez’s probation officer received a tip that Sanchez was living beyond his means. Although Sanchez was earning between $6.50 and $10 per hour at his job, the officer was told that Sanchez recently had bought a new house and car. Two probation officers were dispatched to Sanchez’s residence to conduct a home visit.

A.L., Sanchez’s 15-year-old daughter, greeted the officers when they arrived at the front door. The daughter stated that her father was not home. The officers, in plain clothes but displaying badges, explained that they wanted to conduct a home visit and asked whether she would “show them around the house.” ROA, Vol. 3 at 118. She agreed.

The officers’ and AL.’s testimonies conflict as to what happened next. The officers testified that A.L. led them through the living room, kitchen, and eventually upstairs to the bedrooms, while A.L. claims the officers asked her to show them her father’s bedroom immediately. The district court credited the officers’ testimony in part because the officers had no information before the search that would have piqued their interest in Sanchez’s bedroom.

Once in the bedroom, one of the officers spotted gang paraphernalia in an open closet. The officer believed the clothing evidenced a violation of Sanchez’s probation order, which prohibited him from associating with “any person identified by my Probation/Parole Officer as being detrimental to my Probation supervision.... ” ROA, Vol. 1 at 35. Based on this suspicion, the officer looked in a clothes hamper in the closet and discovered $111,000 in [688]*688cash. At that point the officers called for police backup, fearing that the cash was evidence of drug trafficking.

After backup arrived, one of the officers completed the inspection of the home, unaccompanied by Sanchez’s daughter. When the officer opened the door to the garage, he smelled marijuana. As the officer walked into the garage, he saw an open bag containing a brick of marijuana on the floor, and in the corner he found an open moving box filled with small packages of marijuana. In total, the officers found more than 100 kilograms of marijuana in the garage.

Sanchez was charged with possession with the intent to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana. Sanchez moved to suppress the admission of the marijuana, arguing it was the product of an illegal search. The district court denied Sanchez’s motion, holding that A.L. voluntarily consented to the home visit, and she had actual and apparent authority to do so. While the court concluded the officers did not have reasonable cause to search the clothes hamper, it found that the officers would have discovered the marijuana in the garage as part of the home visit, and that discovery would have given them reasonable cause to conduct a warrantless search of the rest of the house under the terms of the probation order.

After his motion to suppress failed, Sanchez pleaded guilty but reserved his right to appeal the district court’s suppression ruling. This appeal followed.

II. Discussion

“When reviewing a district court’s grant or denial of a motion to suppress, we accept the court’s findings of fact unless clearly erroneous and consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the government.” United States v. Pena, 143 F.3d 1363, 1365 (10th Cir.1998). We review the district court’s legal conclusions de novo. See United States v. Pettigrew, 468 F.3d 626, 633 (10th Cir.2006).

The district court concluded that A.L.’s consent to the officers’ home visit was valid, and her consent would have included the garage.

A. Consent to the Home Visit

Although “probationers and parolees do not enjoy the full suite of rights provided by the Fourth Amendment,” we recognize “law enforcement officers are not completely untethered from the Fourth Amendment when dealing with probationers.” United States v. Trujillo, 404 F.3d 1238, 1242 (10th Cir.2005). The law allows “reasonable conditions” of probation “that deprive the offender of some freedoms enjoyed by law-abiding citizens,” including conditions requiring the probationer to submit to warrantless searches. See United States v. Knights, 534 U.S. 112, 114, 120-21, 122 S.Ct. 587, 151 L.Ed.2d 497 (2001) (“When an officer has reasonable suspicion that a probationer subject to a search condition is engaged in criminal activity, there is enough likelihood that criminal conduct is occurring that an intrusion on the probationer’s significantly diminished privacy interests is reasonable.”).

The purpose of a home visit is to determine if the probationer is abiding by his probation order. Testimony from the suppression hearing suggests that home visits generally are limited to plain view inspections, although occasionally they can include more intrusive conduct. Sanchez’s probation order required him to permit a home visit “at any time,” and it required him to permit a warrantless search if officers had “reasonable cause” to believe he committed a probation violation.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
608 F.3d 685, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 12166, 2010 WL 2382858, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-sanchez-ca10-2010.