United States v. Terry

915 F.3d 1141
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedFebruary 14, 2019
DocketNo. 18-1305
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 915 F.3d 1141 (United States v. Terry) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh 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. Terry, 915 F.3d 1141 (7th Cir. 2019).

Opinion

Barrett, Circuit Judge.

Is it reasonable for officers to assume that a woman who answers the door in a bathrobe has authority to consent to a search of a male suspect's residence? We hold that the answer is no. The officers could reasonably assume that the woman had spent the night at the apartment, but that's about as far as a bathrobe could take them. Without more, it was unreasonable for them to conclude that she and the suspect shared access to or control over the property.

I.

In February 2012, a team of agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) executed an arrest warrant for Dimitris Terry related to his role in a conspiracy to possess and distribute heroin. The agents didn't want others to know that Terry had been arrested because they hoped to secure his cooperation in the broader investigation; thus, they planned a quick and quiet arrest. They waited for him to return home from taking his son to school one morning, arrested him when he got out of his car, and took him to the DEA's Chicago field division for questioning.

A few agents remained behind. Two of them knocked on the door of Terry's apartment, and a woman answered, wearing a bathrobe and looking sleepy. The agents identified themselves, explained that they had just arrested Terry, and asked to come inside. They didn't ask the woman who she was, how she was related to Terry, or whether she lived at the apartment.

Without hesitation, the woman let the agents in, and they immediately presented her with a consent-to-search form. After she both read the form and had it read aloud to her, she signed it, and the search began. Only then, after the search was underway, did the agents ask the woman who she was. She identified herself as Ena Carson, the mother of Terry's son. She explained that her son lived at Terry's apartment, but she did not. Nevertheless, the agents continued the search for roughly the next hour. They recovered letters addressed to Terry showing proof of residence, four cell phones, and a suspected drug ledger.

Meanwhile, two DEA agents conducted a post-arrest interview of Terry back at the field office. Before asking any questions, the agents read Terry his Miranda rights, which were also spelled out on an advice-of-rights form. The agents signed the form, but Terry refused to do so. When asked if he understood his rights, Terry explained that "he was not going to sign the form or initial it; that, you know, this wasn't his first go-around with law enforcement ... but he was willing to talk." The agents understood Terry's statement to mean that he had prior experience with law enforcement, understood *1144his rights, and was knowingly and voluntarily waiving them by agreeing to talk with the agents. So they wrote "Verbal Only" on the advice-of-rights form, indicating that Terry "gave verbal consent that he understood the form." Terry then answered the agents' questions about the case and made incriminating statements about his role in the conspiracy to distribute heroin.

Terry was charged with possession, distribution, and conspiracy to possess and distribute heroin in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a) and 846. He moved to suppress both the evidence recovered from the search and his post-arrest statements to the agents. First, Terry argued that the search was unlawful because Carson had neither actual nor apparent authority to consent to it-all the agents knew at the time of consent was that she answered the door at Terry's apartment wearing a bathrobe. Had the agents simply inquired, Terry said, they would have discovered that Carson did not live at the apartment. Second, Terry claimed that he had not understood that he was waiving his Miranda rights when he answered the agents' questions. Thus, he argued, the waiver was invalid and his post-arrest statements should be suppressed.

After an evidentiary hearing at which the agents and Terry testified, the district court denied both motions. As to the first, the court determined that it was reasonable for the agents to assume that Carson lived at the residence and had authority to consent to the search because (1) she was permitted to be home when Terry was not; (2) her son resided at the apartment; (3) the bathrobe "indicated she was more than a mere temporary guest"; and (4) she consented to the search without hesitation.

On the second motion, the court found Terry's testimony that he did not know that his statements could be used against him "simply not credible" given his many encounters with law enforcement-he has been arrested at least seventeen times since he turned eighteen-as well as his level of education and success in business. The court thought that this was strong evidence that Terry understood his rights. And because he understood his rights, the court concluded that Terry's answers to the agents' questions provided "a clear and unequivocal waiver of his right to remain silent."

After a bench trial, the district court found Terry guilty and sentenced him to 168 months' imprisonment. Terry asks us to vacate his conviction on the ground that the district court erroneously denied his motions to suppress.

II.

In reviewing a district court's denial of a motion to suppress, we review the district court's legal conclusions de novo and its underlying factual determinations for clear error. United States v. Richards , 741 F.3d 843, 847 (7th Cir. 2014). We give "special deference to the district court's credibility determinations because the resolution of a motion to suppress is almost always a fact-specific inquiry, and it is the district court which heard the testimony and observed the witnesses at the suppression hearing." United States v. Burnside , 588 F.3d 511, 517 (7th Cir. 2009).

A.

As a rule, the Fourth Amendment requires the government to get a warrant before searching someone's property. U.S. CONST. amend. IV ; see also United States v. Basinski , 226 F.3d 829, 833 (7th Cir. 2000). But the warrant requirement is subject to several "carefully defined" exceptions. See Coolidge v. New Hampshire , 403 U.S. 443, 474, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971). One is consent from a person with actual or apparent *1145authority to give it. Basinski

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Bluebook (online)
915 F.3d 1141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-terry-ca7-2019.