United States v. Sanchez

334 F. Supp. 3d 1284
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedSeptember 12, 2018
DocketCRIMINAL ACTION NO. 2:16-CR-10-RWS-JCF
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 334 F. Supp. 3d 1284 (United States v. Sanchez) 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. Sanchez, 334 F. Supp. 3d 1284 (N.D. Ga. 2018).

Opinion

RICHARD W. STORY, United States District Judge

This matter is before the Court on the Report and Recommendation of Magistrate Judge J. Clay Fuller [Doc. No. 336]. Defendant Sanchez has filed objections to the Report and Recommendation [Doc. No. 342], and the Court has reviewed his objections de novo. The Court is persuaded by the analysis contained within the Report and Recommendation and finds that the post-arrest statements about Defendant's nickname are admissible.

Defendant Sanchez's objections [Doc. No. 342] are OVERRULED, and the Report and Recommendation [Doc. No. 336] is hereby approved and adopted as the opinion and order of this Court. As such, Defendant's Motions to Suppress [Doc. Nos. 80 and 88] are GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Statements about Defendant's iPhone passcodes and evidence found on his iPhones on February 17, 2016, after he provided his passcodes is suppressed. Other evidence, including evidence obtained as the result of the warrantless search of his car and non-passcode protected cell phones on February 17, 2016, and his post-arrest statements about his nickname, is admissible.

SO ORDERED this 12th day of September, 2018.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

J. Clay Fuller, United States Magistrate Judge

This matter is before the undersigned on Defendant Sanchez's Motion To Suppress Evidence And Motion In Limine (Doc. 80) and Motion To Suppress Statements (Doc. 88).1 For the reasons discussed below, it is RECOMMENDED that Defendant's motions be GRANTED in part and DENIED in part .

Background

Defendant Sanchez and others are charged in a 12-count Indictment with drug-related offenses, including conspiracy. (Doc. 1). Defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence seized by law enforcement officers without a warrant on February 17, 2016 (Doc. 80) and a motion to suppress any statements Defendant made following his February 17th arrest (Doc. 88). Defendant argued that the February 17th search violated his Fourth Amendment *1288rights because he did not consent to the search and there was no probable cause to support the search. (See Doc. 80). He filed a supplemental brief in support of his motions on January 5, 2018 (Doc. 286) in which he argued that even though he was on parole at the time of the search, there was no arrest warrant or revocation petition to support the search, he "had not waived his 4th amendment right as a condition of parole," and reasonable suspicion did not support the search (id. at 3-4). The Court conducted a hearing on Defendant's motions on January 26, 2018 (see Doc. 291), and the transcript of that hearing was filed on February 13, 2018 (Doc. 294).2 The Government filed a post-hearing brief on March 19, 2018 (Doc. 301), and Defendant filed his post-hearing brief on April 4, 2018 (Doc. 306).

Following the January 26, 2018 hearing, the Government submitted a brief in which it argued that the February 17, 2016 search of Defendant's car and cellphones were authorized by the parole search condition; even if reasonable suspicion were required to search, it existed; Defendant was lawfully under arrest when he provided iPhone passcodes and voluntarily provided them; and Defendant's disclosure of his nickname to GBI agents after he was arrested on the state arrest warrant was part of a routine booking procedure and therefore admissible, even though Defendant had asserted his Miranda rights. (Doc. 301). Defendant then filed a reply brief (Doc. 306) in which he asserts that he did not lose the protection of the Fifth Amendment's rights against self-incrimination by virtue of his status as a parolee and therefore his Fifth Amendment rights were violated when he was required to provide his iPhone passcodes and then arrested for failing to do so. (See id. 306 at 7-9).

In an Order entered May 9, 2018 (Doc. 311), the undersigned found that Defendant's discussion of the Fifth Amendment self-incrimination issue was "somewhat conclusory, not particularly well-developed, and made in his reply brief," and required the parties "to submit additional briefing on whether the requirement that Defendant provide his iPhone passcodes violated his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and if so, what evidence, if any, should be suppressed as a result of that violation." (Id. at 9). Defendant then filed a brief (Doc. 316), and the Government responded (Doc. 322). With briefing on Defendant's motions complete, the undersigned now considers their merits.

Facts 3

In early 2016 FBI Special Agent Joe Thompson was the case agent on an investigation using wiretap surveillance with the primary target being Defendant Horace Mayfield. (Tr. 60-61). On January 16, 2016, agents heard Mayfield talking to a person about the price and quantity of methamphetamine Mayfield was going to pick up. (Tr. 61). Although the agents did not know at that time the identity of the person Mayfield was talking to, they knew the person's phone number. (Tr. 61-62). Thompson now believes that the person with whom Mayfield was speaking was Defendant Sanchez, but he and the other agents did not then know that person's *1289identity. (Tr. 62-63). The unidentified person told Mayfield that another person (later identified as Gustav Melendez) would call him and give him an address where Mayfield was going to pick up methamphetamine. (Tr. 62-63). Melendez called Mayfield and gave him an address for a Target store at 2400 North Druid Hills in Atlanta. (Tr. 63-64). Mayfield also asked Melendez, "is this Cholo," and Melendez responded, "no, this is 'G,' Cholo's cousin." (Tr. 73). Melendez also told Mayfield that he was in Cholo's BMW, that it was his now, and Mayfield asked if Cholo had been fired. (Tr. 73). Melendez told him "no ... [Cholo] had just gotten too busy and that [Meledez] had taken over ... some of his business." (Tr. 73). Agents did not then know the identity of Cholo. (Tr. 73, 75). Agents then conducted surveillance at the Target store on January 16th, and Mayfield arrived in a BMW driven by a woman. (Tr. 64). Melendez, who was carrying a package close to his body, got into the car with Mayfield, but when Melendez exited the vehicle he was not carrying the package. (Tr. 64-65). Agents continued conducting surveillance on Melendez after January 16th and saw him in an Audi A6 which was registered to an address at 317 Ard Place in Atlanta. (Tr. 65).

The next day, January 17th, Mayfield communicated with another individual4 via text, and that person asked Mayfield if he had talked to "Droop" and asked Mayfield for Droop's number. (Tr. 74). Mayfield told the person he had spoken with Droop the day before and provided the same phone number as the phone number of the unidentified person Mayfield had initially spoken with the day before to discuss the price and quantity of the methamphetamine he was going to pick up. (Tr. 74). Agent Thompson now believes that number was Defendant Sanchez's, but the agents did not know that at the time, nor did they know the identity of "Droop." (Tr. 74-75).

On January 30th the agents were following Mayfield, who traveled to the same Target store where he met Melendez on the 16th. (Tr. 66).

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Bluebook (online)
334 F. Supp. 3d 1284, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-sanchez-gand-2018.