United States v. Takai

943 F. Supp. 2d 1315, 2013 WL 1831993, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 61698
CourtDistrict Court, D. Utah
DecidedApril 30, 2013
DocketCase No. 2:11-cr-00542-CW
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 943 F. Supp. 2d 1315 (United States v. Takai) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Takai, 943 F. Supp. 2d 1315, 2013 WL 1831993, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 61698 (D. Utah 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER

CLARK WADDOUPS, District Judge.

Following the court’s Memorandum Decision and Order dated May 18, 2012 (the “Order”) [Dkt. No. 73] denying Defendant’s request for a Franks hearing, Defendant moved the court to reopen the issue and reconsider granting Defendant a Franks hearing. (Def.’s Mot. Re-open Ev. Hrg. [Dkt. No. 74] and Def.’s Renewed Mot. for Franks Hrg. [Dkt. No. 94].) Defendant also filed a Motion to Suppress statements made by Defendant in a confession to police and evidence obtained upon a search of Defendant’s home. [Dkt. Nos. 47 & 95.] The court refers to its previous Order [Dkt. No. 73] for general background facts. For the reasons discussed below, the court denies Defendant’s renewed motion for a Franks hearing and denies in part and grants in part Defendant’s Motion to Suppress.

BACKGROUND

During the day of June 15, 2011, in the course of investigating the armed robbery and shooting at the Redwood Road 7-Eleven convenience store that occurred in the early morning hours of June 15, 2011, detectives and officers reviewed video surveillance footage from that robbery and from another incident that had occurred about an hour earlier at a nearby 7-Eleven store located on California Avenue. In the California Avénue incident, surveillance footage shows Defendant speaking at length with the clerk about what appears to be cans of chewing tobacco while Defendants’ associates purchase beer and are also seen hiding cans of beer in their clothing and stealing them. Detective Merino, a gang unit detective familiar with Defendant, clearly identified Defendant as the perpetrator talking with the clerk in the theft of beer from the California Avenue 7-Eleven store. Comparing that footage with the footage from the robbery and shooting at the Redwood Road 7-Eleven store, Detective Merino was also able to identify Defendant as a suspect in the Redwood Road 7-Eleven robbery and shooting.

Based on this identification of Defendant, in the early evening hours of June 15, 2011, at least a dozen gang unit detectives, investigating detectives, and other law enforcement officers met to discuss the robbery and Defendant. Gang unit detectives familiar with Defendant and the various gangs active in the area, including gangs with which Defendant was known to be associated, informed Detective Spangenberg and the other officers present that Defendant was violent and considered to be armed and dangerous. Teams were then dispatched to search known hangouts for Defendant, so that Defendant could be taken into custody for the theft at the California Avenue 7-Eleven store and for [1318]*1318questioning relating to the Redwood Road robbery and shooting. One of those addresses was a location known as “The Garage” on Pacific Avenue. Detectives Wiley and Kobayashi were assigned to stake out The Garage for any sign of Defendant or his known associates.

Meanwhile, based on the violence of the Redwood Road robbery, in which the suspect shot the clerk in the face for no apparent reason, Detective Spangenberg made an emergency application to AT & T for the GPS information on two phones that police believed Defendant may have been using. Gang unit detectives had informed him that Defendant was known to be violent and believed to be currently armed and dangerous. Based on his own past experience dealing with the' gangs with which Defendant was believed to be associated, Detective Spangenberg was also aware that the “beer run robbery” had been one of the signature crimes known to be committed by such gangs. As a result, Detective Spangenberg believed Defendant may be in the process of preparing for or undertaking' further such violent robberies.

From the results' of the cellphone pinging request, Detective Spangenberg learned that one of the phones was pinging in the area of The Garage location that was already being staked out by Detectives Wiley and Kobayashi. At around 11:30 p.m., the detectives observed three adult males leaving that location and, upon approaching in their car to get a closer look, recognized Defendant from the mugshot Detective Spangenberg had showed them. Detective Wiley confronted Defendant as he tried to walk away into the yard of a nearby home, identified himself as a police officer, and asked Defendant if he would speak to him. Defendant complied and was patted down. He said he did not have any identification and then falsely gave police his brother’s name, Billy Takai. Two further detectives then arrived on the scene and correctly identified Defendant as Siosaia Takai rather than Billy. Defendant was taken into custody and interviewed by detectives in the early hours of the morning of June 16, 2011.

Detective Merino informed Defendant of his Miranda rights and interviewed Defendant for an hour and a half. Defendant did not appear impaired by drugs or alcohol and did not appear to suffer from any physical or mental impairment. In the interview, Defendant denied involvement in the Redwood Road robbery/shooting. Defendant was then booked into jail for the theft at the California Avenue store.

A week later, Defendant was interviewed again by law enforcement officers, this time by Detective Coats together with Special Agent Quirk of the FBI. Defendant was informed of his Miranda rights and then during the interview confessed to the Redwood Road 7-Eleven robbery and to shooting the clerk in the face. Defendant now seeks suppression of this confession and any evidence seized in the search of his apartment on June 16, 2011.

DISCUSSION

I. Renewed Motion for Franks Hearing

Defendant has still not satisfied his initial burden to be granted an evidentiary hearing in support of his challenge to the validity of the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant1 for Defendant’s home. The search provided evidence linking him to the robbery. To be entitled to an evidentiary hearing under Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 171, 98 S.Ct 2674, 57 [1319]*1319L.Ed.2d 667 (1978), the Defendant must make an initial showing that statements in the affidavit were deliberately false or made with a reckless disregard for the truth. “Allegations of negligence or innocent mistake are insufficient.” Id. The court previously found that Defendant was not entitled to an evidentiary hearing under Franks because he “has not offered sufficient proof that any of the specific portions of the affidavit alleged to be false were made with the requisite intent to warrant an evidentiary hearing.” (Order at 3 [Dkt. No. 73].) Nevertheless, the court allowed Defendant to probe substantially into these issues at an evidentiary hearing on August 21, 2012 on his separate Motion to Suppress. (See generally Tr. Ev. Hrg. 8/21/12 [Dkt. No. 92].)

Based on the testimony heard at that hearing, the court now rules out any intentional or deliberate falsehood on the part of Detective Spangenberg in his preparation of the search warrant affidavit. Although, as the court noted previously, some wording in the affidavit “may have been less than careful” (Order at 6), the evidence does not support a contention that Detective Spangenberg intentionally or deliberately included inaccurate or misleading information.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
943 F. Supp. 2d 1315, 2013 WL 1831993, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 61698, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-takai-utd-2013.