United States v. Streett

363 F. Supp. 3d 1212
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Mexico
DecidedNovember 27, 2018
DocketNo. CR 14-3609 JB
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 363 F. Supp. 3d 1212 (United States v. Streett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Mexico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Streett, 363 F. Supp. 3d 1212 (D.N.M. 2018).

Opinion

JAMES O. BROWNING, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

THIS MATTER comes before the Court on: (i) the Defendant's Motion to Suppress Evidence, filed December 1, 2017 (Doc. 78)("Motion"); (ii) the Defendant's Supplemental Motion to Suppress All Evidence Seized and Any Fruits of the Poisonous Tree Obtained as a Result of the Unlawful Search, filed July 24, 2018 (Doc. 141)("Supp. Motion"); (iii) the Defendant Bentley Streett's Motion to Suppress Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, filed November 3, 2018 (Doc. 174)("Streett's Proposed Findings"); and (iv) the United States' Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (September 11, 2018 Evidentiary Hearing), filed November 2, 2018 (Doc. 168)("United States' Proposed Findings"). The Court held an evidentiary hearing on September 11, 2018. The primary issues are: (i) whether the Grand Jury Subpoena Duces Tecum at 1 (issued November 4, 3013), filed July 24, 2018 (Doc. 141-1)("Subpoena"), constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; (ii) whether the Subpoena violates New Mexico law and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States; (iii) whether the Affidavit for Search Warrant (undated), filed July 24, 2018 (Doc. 141-2)("First Affidavit"), provides probable cause to believe that evidence of Streett's alleged criminal activity would be found in his cellular telephone records; (iv) whether, even if the Search Warrant at 4 (issued February 12, 2014), filed July 24, 2018 (Doc. 141-2)("First Warrant"), issued based on the First Affidavit, lacks probable cause, Bernalillo *1228County Sheriff's Office Detective Kyle Hartsock relied on the First Warrant in good faith when he obtained Streett's cellular telephone records; (v) whether the First Affidavit violates the Due Process Clause, because, as Streett argues, it lacks substantial evidence to support probable cause as required by New Mexico law; (vi) whether the Affidavit for Search Warrant (executed February 24, 2014), filed December 1, 2017 (Doc. 78-1)("Second Affidavit"), provides probable cause to believe that evidence of Streett's alleged criminal activity would be found at the residence at 4620 Plume Road NW, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87120 ("4620 Plume residence"); (vii) whether, even if the Search Warrant at 14 (issued February 24, 2014), filed August 15, 2018 (Doc. 144-5)("Second Warrant"), issued based on the Second Affidavit, lacks probable cause, Hartsock relied on the Second Warrant in good faith when he searched the 4620 Plume residence; (viii) whether, even if the Second Warrant lacks probable cause and Hartsock did not execute the Second Warrant in good faith, law enforcement inevitably would have obtained a warrant to search the 4620 Plume residence; and (ix) whether, even if the Second Warrant contains an incurable defect, even if Hartsock did not execute the Second Warrant in good faith, and even if law enforcement would not have inevitably obtained a search warrant for the 4620 Plume residence, Hartsock would have discovered the identities of the charged victims. The Court will deny the Motion and the Supp. Motion. The Court holds that the Subpoena is not a search under the Fourth Amendment, because of the third-party doctrine. The Court concludes that the Subpoena does not violate New Mexico law, because a grand jury issued it after presentment of evidence, and that the Subpoena does not violate the Due Process Clause, for the same reasons it does not violate the Fourth Amendment or New Mexico law. The Court holds that the First Affidavit provides probable cause to search Streett's cellular telephone records and, even if it does not provide probable cause, that Hartsock relied on the First Warrant in good faith. Finally, the Court holds that the Second Affidavit does not provide probable cause to search the 4620 Plume Residence, but the Court will not suppress the resulting evidence because it concludes that: (i) Hartsock acted in good faith when he executed the Second Warrant; (ii) Hartsock would have inevitably discovered the evidence, because he would have obtained a valid warrant had the Second Warrant not issued; and (iii) Hartsock would have inevitably discovered the victims' identities through Streett's telephone records. Accordingly, the Court will deny the Motion and Supp. Motion, and will not exclude the telephone records or evidence seized from the 4620 Plume residence from the trial.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Rule 12(d) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure requires the Court to state its essential findings on the record when deciding a motion that involves factual issues. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(d) ("When factual issues are involved in deciding a motion, the court must state its essential findings on the record."). The findings of fact in this Memorandum Opinion and Order shall serve as the Court's essential findings for rule 12(d) purposes. The Court makes these findings under the authority of rule 104(a) of the Federal Rules of Evidence, which requires a judge to decide preliminary questions relating to the admissibility of evidence, including the legality of a search or seizure and the voluntariness of an individual's confession or consent to a search. See United States v. Merritt, 695 F.2d 1263, 1269-70 (10th Cir. 1982). In deciding such preliminary questions, the other rules of evidence, except *1229those with respect to privileges, do not bind the Court. See Fed. R. Evid. 104(a) ("The court must decide any preliminary question about whether a witness is qualified, a privilege exists, or evidence is admissible. In so doing, the court is not bound by evidence rules, except those on privilege."). Thus, the Court may consider hearsay in ruling on a motion to suppress. See United States v. Ramirez, 388 F. App'x 807, 810 (10th Cir. 2010) (unpublished)("It is beyond reasonable debate that Ramirez's counsel were not ineffective in failing to make a Confrontation Clause challenge to the use of the confidential informant. The Supreme Court has not yet indicated whether the Confrontation Clause applies to hearsay statements made in suppression hearings.");1 United States v. Garcia, 324 F. App'x 705, 708 (10th Cir. 2009) (unpublished)("We need not resolve whether Crawford [v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004) ]'s[2 ]

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Bluebook (online)
363 F. Supp. 3d 1212, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-streett-nmd-2018.